Issa Fires Bardella — UPDATED

UPDATE: Here’s a story on the firing from a local perspective, by my North County Times colleague Mark Walker.

Walker writes:

When Issa, considered Congress’ watchdog through his leadership of the oversight committee, learned from Politico that Bardella was sharing e-mails that reporters expected were private, there was no choice but to fire him, according to Jack Pitney, a former Capitol Hill staffer and respected political scientist at Claremont McKenna College near Los Angeles.

“One thing you don’t want to do as a staffer is create bad publicity for your boss, and sharing e-mails is improper and doesn’t create any confidence in your press operation,” he said. “In the long run, firing the guy probably cuts his (Issa’s) losses and serves as a big lesson for staffers —- don’t drive pins into yourself.”

Read the whole thing here.

I don’t entirely agree with Pitney. While sharing emails is improper, in politics that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The real crime is getting caught.

And now for the original post . . .

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Rep. Darrell Issa has fired his spokesman Kurt Bardella, according to the Politico and the New York Times, which received a press release from Issa about the firing from Issa. The NYT writes:

“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,” Mr. Issa wrote in a statement issued Tuesday. “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. As a consequence, his employment has been terminated.”

Also, Ryan Lizza, who wrote a profile of Issa that showed Bardella in an unflattering light, says Bardella’s activities were known by other members of Issa’s staff. It was no secret, Lizza writes in the New Yorker.

I’m somewhat mystified that Issa required an “investigation” to get to the bottom of this, because inside Issa’s office there was no secret about Bardella’s cooperation. When I was writing my profile of Issa, Bardella openly discussed his cooperation with Leibovich—and not just with me, but with his direct boss as well. For example, during a meeting with Bardella and Issa’s chief of staff, Dale Neugebauer, the three of us had a light-hearted discussion about how extensively Bardella was working with Leibovich.

See?! That’s what happens when you trust those darned reporters!

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(DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion, and not necessarily that of the North County Times, my employer).