Issa says criminal history should be shielded

On Thursday (September 10) a bill called the Fair Chance Act was introduced in Congress. It would stop federal employers and contractors from inquiring about an applicant's criminal history until the final stages of hiring.

North County Rep. Darrell Issa supports the bill, saying, "When 9 percent or nearly one out of ten Americans have a felony on their record and [about] 25 percent have some other blemish or misdemeanor or some other background, can we not take a chance on a quarter of our population? Can we not take a chance on almost 10 percent of our population? We have to take a chance, and the federal government will now be in a position to weigh those chances after they figure out whether or not somebody has earned the qualification to get to that interview."

The bill appears to have bipartisan support.

The publication MediaMatters.org says network and cable interviewers, along with print reporters, generally don't ask Issa about his past. (The New Yorker went over his past in a comprehensive article January 24, 2011.)

Here are some of Issa's brushes with the law, according to MediaMatters.org: In 1982, he was suspected but not charged in an arson incident. An executive charged that Issa used a gun to intimidate the executive, who was being fired.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Issa was twice arrested in 1972 on weapons charges. Also according to the Chronicle, Issa was convicted of possession of an unregistered handgun.

According to the New York Times, Issa was arrested in 1972 for auto theft. That year, he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, according to the Chronicle. The auto theft and concealed weapons charges were dropped.