Will Peter Roskam Give Issa’s Money Back?

Seems like the heroes of 9/11 might regard it as a sensitive gesture.

I learned about this from the blog Calitics. It seems Peter Roskam is one of a number of Republicans who have been beneficiaries of the largess of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), a former car thief turned car alarm magnate. Roskam has received $3,000 in campaign contributions from the Issa for Congress committee.

Issa is the idiot who, during a recent house hearing on aid to 9/11 rescue workers expressed his concern that the federal government “threw buckets of cash” at New York in the aftermath of a mere plane crash:

“I have to ask, why damages from a fire that had no dirty bomb in it, it had no chemical munitions in it, it simply was an aircraft, residue of two aircraft, and residue from the materials used to build this building, why the firefighters who went there and everybody in the City of New York needs to come to the federal government for the dollars versus this being primarily a state consideration.”

Needless to say, Issa’s remark pissed off a bunch of ground zero workers who are having to fight the government to receive health benefits allocated by Congress. The government appears to be spending more money by far on court costs to fight payouts than it is on actual benefits to workers.

So I think it would be a great gesture to 9/11 workers if Roskam gave Issa his $3,000 back and repudiated his words. And also signed on in support of more robust health benefits for those who are suffering from lung diseases and other ailments in the aftermath of their heroic work at Ground Zero.