'Disturbing' smiley face email request by Dickstein Shapiro lobbyist is revealed by Darrell Issa
Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, released an email by a Dickstein Shapiro lobbyist on Tuesday and proclaimed it “disturbing.”
The email, sent to a congressional staffer, ended with a smiley face emoticon, but that wasn’t the reason for Issa’s ire. It had a request for the committee: “If possible, please do not direct questions to Jonathan Silver,” the email read. “He’s a client of my firm.” The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times and the Washington Times have coverage.
Silver once headed the Department of Energy office that oversaw the loan program that funded the now-failed solar company Solyndra.
Issa said the writer of the email—he didn’t identify her by name—had asked several committee members not to question Silver. “From the committee’s standpoint,” Issa said, “the question is whether to refer this to the bar association, whether it’s an interference with Congress, which I find it to be.”
Silver responded that “I’m not at all familiar with that.” The law firm confirmed in a statement that Silver had no knowledge of the communication. “We’re looking into the circumstances surrounding the email,” spokeswoman Michelle Rodgers told the publications.
