Surprise connection: OH's ''affirmative defense'' law and the Gray Davis recall

Adrian (MI) arrest haunts California congressman
By Dennis Pelham -- Daily Telegram Staff Writer

Groups opposing the Gray Davis recall effort in California recently unearthed references to a firearm arrest in U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa's background. It turned out to have occurred the night of Dec. 1, 1972, while Issa was driving with a woman student in Lenawee Co., MI.

Issa explained to the arresting officer, he was carrying the handgun because it was legal in his home state of Ohio, where he said anyone could carry a concealed handgun if there was a justifiable reason.

"His justifiable reason was for his car's protection and his," Officer Donald Payne wrote in the report 30 years ago.

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Issa pleaded not guilty to the concealed weapon charge, according to police records. On Jan. 16, 1973, he pleaded guilty to a reduced count of possession of an unregistered handgun. He was sentenced to three months probation and assessed a $100 fine and $107 court costs.

The charge was dismissed altogether in 1974 on a motion by the Lenawee County prosecutor's office.

After completing college and serving in the U.S. Army, Issa went on to make a fortune in the car alarm business, founding Directed Electronics in Vista, Calif., near San Diego. He is currently serving his second term in Congress.

Issa has declared his intention to be a candidate for governor on a recall ballot that California officials may order if recently submitted recall petitions survive challenges.

He told reporters in California that the issue of his gun conviction was irrelevant in the Davis recall campaign.

"I remember plenty of the details, but I don't think 30-year-old misdemeanors are fair play here," Issa said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "Look, I graduated from college, but my grades are nobody's business 30 years later, and I think we need to start looking in those terms. If you are looking at 30-year-old misdemeanors, I think you are missing the point. It's the felonies of Gray Davis that are on trial here today. What the governor has done to California is a felony."

Issa has spent a reported $1.5 million of his own money to help with the petition drive that gathered 1.6 million signatures, nearly double the required number.

OFCC PAC Commentary:
While we're on the subject of gubernatorial recalls...

Click here to read the entire story in the Adrian Daily Telegram.

Click here to read the entire story in the San Francisco Chronicle.