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Recall foes try to tie Issa to Nazis At a news conference, a spokesman for Taxpayers Against the Governor's Recall ran a 10-minute videotape shot by Democratic operatives during now-U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa's failed run for the U.S. Senate in 1998. The video showed an Issa campaign table set up at the entrance to a Southern California gun show; elsewhere on the grounds, the video showed one or more exhibits displaying a flag with a swastika. Issa spokesman Jonathan Wilcox dismissed the video footage as "a crude tactic and gutter politics" and said it indicated desperation on the part of Davis allies. Wilcox also called the congressman, a Christian of Lebanese descent who has traveled to the Middle East to encourage peace, "a friend of Israel." The video never shows Issa, nor does it record any interaction among Issa campaign supporters and anyone displaying Nazi paraphernalia. Instead, the lens zooms in on images of swastikas inside a building at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, which was hosting the Great Western Gun Show, then pans outdoors, where an Issa for Senate table was set up next to a National Rifle Association registration booth. "These are the things that are on display at gun shows like this," said Carroll Wills, a spokesman for the group calling itself Taxpayers Against the Governor's Recall. "It's not to suggest necessarily that Congressman Issa is himself a Nazi sympathizer. However, I think that there are an awful lot of politicians who would eschew the idea of participating in any event where that type of flag is shown." Chuck Michel, a spokesman for the California Rifle and Pistol Association, said World War II memorabilia made up a fraction of the wares at 8,000 exhibitor tables, and that Nazi paraphernalia was only a tiny portion of that war memorabilia. "Right next to that Nazi flag, there's probably a Medal of Honor and Allied memorabilia," he said. "To try to say that's what the gun show was about is the height of deceit." Michel also said Issa was not the only one trying to enlist support at a show that attracted 40,000 visitors during one weekend; local law-enforcement agencies and branches of the U.S. armed forces also had recruitment tables there. "Our law-enforcement agencies are recruiting the same caliber of people they (anti-recall forces) are condemning." The Tuesday morning news conference where the video was shown had been billed an opportunity for gun control advocates to criticize Issa for his support of federal measures favored by the NRA and gun makers. Wilcox said of the congressman's gun platform, "Darrell Issa believes strongly in law-abiding citizens' right to protect themselves." Issa's opponents tried to make guns an issue in 1998, after a former employee claimed the wealthy businessman had once tried to intimidate him by displaying a firearm. No charges were brought, and Issa said the incident never happened. Issa only recently disclosed one gun-related incident; he said he was fined $100 three decades ago for possession of an unregistered firearm that was his brother's but declined to go into detail. Representatives for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and other groups on Tuesday instead highlighted Issa's support of federal legislation, including a measure granting gun makers immunity in certain lawsuits.
Asked why the video highlighted swastikas if guns were the issue, Wills said he was merely airing unedited video shot for the campaign of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Boxer would have faced a general election campaign against Issa had
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