Lawmakers bring different styles to watchdog role

Establishing oneself as a leader in government oversight, particularly when it comes to contracting, is a tried-and-true path to becoming venerated -- or vilified. With a changing of the guard at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the creation of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, new watchdog styles have come into vogue.

House oversight committee chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., and ranking member Darrell Issa, R-Calif., rose to their ranks touting teamwork. And Senate contracting oversight subcommittee chairwoman Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., previously a state auditor, speaks in hard numbers. They all are crossing the political divide to ferret out government waste, fraud and abuse.

These leaders have followed very different paths to their current positions. Towns earned the top spot on the House oversight committee the old-fashioned way-with patience. Despite having been on the committee for almost 27 years and leading the Government Management, Organization and Procurement Subcommittee, he spent little time in the spotlight. The soft-spoken representative of Brooklyn has avoided the blustery speeches and contentious exchanges that made the committee a C-SPAN staple.

Town's predecessor, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., was infamous for dogged, politically tinged investigations and an aggressive style of leading hearings. In his campaign for the chairmanship, Towns pointedly set himself apart by vowing bipartisanship and cooperation. "Mr. Towns has a lower-key personality than Mr. Waxman did," says Stan Soloway, president and chief executive officer of the Professional Services Council. "I don't think he's any less focused on waste, fraud and abuse, but it's a different personality, and he brings a different style to it."

Issa's rise to committee leadership was slightly more accelerated than his chairman's. The fiery conservative, vocal on a range of issues, from technology to Middle East relations, assumed office in 2001. Issa credits his friend, mentor and predecessor, former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., with helping him become ranking member of the committee. "Tom and I were friends before I came to Congress. He helped me get on the committee and helped me rise to the position I have today," Issa says. "People throw the term mentor around pretty lightly. I'm choosing not to throw it around lightly, but a lot of what I plan to do is because I got an opportunity to work so closely with Tom."

Davis says Issa understands the appropriate role of oversight and how to use it. "He gets it," Davis says. The former ranking member also sees Issa's extensive business and technology experience -- the congressman founded Directed Electronics Inc., known for its flagship product, the Viper car alarm -- as an asset to the committee.

McCaskill, chairwoman of the new Senate subcommittee on contracting oversight, says bringing the perspective she gained from serving as Missouri state auditor for eight years to the Senate was natural. "I decided quickly that I wanted to continue to focus on rooting out government waste, and, as we all know, there's plenty of waste in contracting," she says. "As state auditor, it was about following the money, so I think that trained me to look at things differently than some of my colleagues."

The bottom line for all three lawmakers is cooperation. McCaskill fosters a friendly relationship with the subcommittee's acting ranking member, Susan Collins, R-Maine, following the bipartisan tone set by committee chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.

But Towns and Issa must reverse a history of partisan rancor on their committee. Their predecessors, Waxman and Davis, sparred often in hearings and in the press, with Davis frequently accusing Waxman of excessive partisanship in his investigations and in his tone.

Towns and Issa say they have a very productive, friendly working relationship built on a foundation of common interests and priorities. "He seems to be very concerned about waste, fraud and abuse. I'm very concerned about waste, fraud and abuse," Towns says. "He talks about transparency as well and I'm very much into transparency. So we are working together on those kinds of things."

Issa says Towns aims for a win-win situation for both parties. The ranking member says they have forged a rapport and trust. "He's honest, he's kept his promises to me," Issa says. "He doesn't promise the moon and the stars, but if he tells me that he's going to do something or we're going to do something together, I'm going to take him at his word because he's been very good on keeping those promises."

In the August 1 issue of Government Executive, Elizabeth Newell examines the changing roles these lawmakers are playing. Click here to read the full story.