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Issa's bid to recall Davis simmered, then boiled The arrest would haunt him decades later when he tried to enter politics. "I was never in the car. I never touched the car," Issa said. "It's something I'll have to deal with all my life." Ironically, protecting cars from theft would make Issa a millionaire. In the early 1980s, he bought into an electronics company and in two decades turned Directed Electronics Inc. into a leading international seller of automobile security systems. While Issa and his wife ran the business out of San Diego County, most manufacturing took place in Asia. Issa could be ruthless, calling in loans and litigating to maintain his edge. "He grew this business because he was not afraid to take bold moves," said the company's senior vice president, Glenn Busse. "He'd look at what the competitors were doing and say, 'Here's how we're going to beat them.' " Issa came to insist on same-day shipping and revisiting product designs every six months rather than on a two-year cycle, Busse recalled. "He really instilled that culture in our business, the sense of urgency." By the early 1990s, Issa's interest in conservative politics was developing. Over the next several years, he gave about $500,000 to candidates and causes. He backed Propositions 187, 209 and 227, curbing undocumented immigrants' services, affirmative action and bilingual education. In 1998, he decided to run for office, and he aimed high, targeting Boxer's seat in the Senate. In the primary, he faced then-Treasurer Matt Fong, the son of a longtime California political figure. Issa spent nearly $10 million but lost in a nasty race. Opponents dug up records of the car theft arrest and other allegations never supported by police charges. When an employee he'd fired years before surfaced to allege Issa had once tried to intimidate him with a gun, Issa infamously told the Los Angeles Times that "shots were never fired," a statement he maintains was taken out of context. "I did not point a gun at anyone," Issa says today. "I did not have a gun." After the Senate race, Issa regrouped. He sold 80 percent of his share in the business; his family foundation controls the rest. His estimated worth is between $100 million and $250 million. With an eye still on politics, he aimed lower. His congressman, Ron Packard, was retiring and leaving an open seat. Issa won the Republican primary. As someone who is business-friendly, opposes government-funded abortions, and supports school prayer and offshore oil drilling, Issa was a good fit for his district. He skated through the general election and was re-elected last year. The race cost him a bargain $1.5 million. In Congress, he had planned to build his reputation on pro-business legislation. Then came Sept. 11, 2001. Issa's Arab background gave him some credibility advocating for the peace process in the Middle East. On one early trip, Issa made headlines because of a spat with Air France officials, who declined to let him board a one-way flight to Saudi Arabia via Paris. The airline said he arrived after the flight closed. Issa said he was stopped because of racial profiling. He now says his frustration was because the airline did not allow him to clear up concerns quickly. Then, a report in an Iranian newspaper suggesting Issa approved of the terrorist group Hezbollah -- whose tactics he has denounced -- turned one of his congressional offices into the target of an alleged bombing plot by an extremist Jewish group.
Issa wanted another shot at Boxer's seat but confided to friends that he was worried that
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