Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), less than two months into his tenure as one of the most powerful committee chairmen on Capitol Hill, fired a close adviser Tuesday after learning that the aide had been sharing e-mails with an author working on a book about Washington's political culture.
Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, dismissed his deputy communications director, Kurt Bardella, after a review of Bardella's work showed that he had been sending e-mails from other reporters seeking information about Issa's work to the reporter for the New York Times who is writing a book.
"It has become clear that the committee's Deputy Communications Director Kurt Bardella did share reporter e-mail correspondence with New York Times journalist Mark Leibovich for a book project. Though limited, these actions were highly inappropriate, a basic breach of trust with the reporters it was his job to assist, and inconsistent with established communications office policies," Issa said in a prepared statement, less than 24 hours after initially saying he would investigate the matter.
Bardella, 27, had worked for Issa for two years and had become one of his most trusted aides, overseeing what the lawmaker and staffer publicly acknowledged was an aggressive media strategy to gain Issa attention among the capital's most important insiders. The strategy was designed both to increase Issa's profile and to raise concerns in President Obama's administration that, as chairman of the oversight panel, he would be the "new sheriff" in town. The chairman's post has almost limitless subpoena power.
Read more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/01/AR2011030103857.htmlHmmm: More republican skulduggery.
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