Darryl Issa does not have a good reputation in liberal circles. The head of the House Oversight Committee has been accused more than once of helping financial firms rather than the American people. If that is Issa's bent, you would expect him to hire people with a similar mind set. Two of his staff seem to be of that type.
Peter Haller has certainly bounced back and forth between the federal government and the so-called private sector. Here's what Think Progress reports on his comings and goings.
- After completing his law degree in 2000, Haller was employed by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as an economist, and later with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Office of Enforcement.
- In April of 2005, Haller resigned from the SEC to take a job with Goldman Sachs. He soon began lobbying the SEC on behalf of Goldman Sachs.
- On September 2, 2009, Haller left Goldman Sachs to take a job with the law/lobbying firm Brickfield Burchette Ritts & Stone.
- In January of 2011, Haller was hired to work for Issa on the Oversight Committee."
In his new position Mr. Haller, on behalf of Rep. Issa, wrote to top government regulators demanding that they back off and provide more justification for new margin requirements for financial firms dealing in derivatives, such as Goldman Sachs.
Another Peter - Peter Warren - employed by Issa as his policy director,worked for a student loan lobbying group last year. Mr. Warren and other Issa staff members seem dedicated to weakening or disbanding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which, incidentally, oversees student loans.
This questionable action is mirrored by the behavior of Rep. Issa. Although he owned a fair amount of Goldman Sachs bonds, he led the fight to prevent any investigation of Goldman's possible defrauding of its clients.
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