Transportation Alternative

June 1, 2003

Can I get a “whoop whoop?!”

Congressman Darrell Issa is making a fortune off of your lost sleep.

Darrell Issa, a Republican Congressman from Orange County, California, has won April’s “Noisy Dozen” award from Noise Free America, a national lobbying group dedicated to opposing noise pollution. The group gave Issa the award for promoting dangerous boom cars, hot rods on public roads, useless and annoying car alarms and the violently loud “Boom and Vroom Car” lifestyle. Issa is the former chairman of the powerful Consumer Electronics Association. He is the founder of the Mobile Enhancement Association, Directed Electronics and VIPER car audio and alarms; the congressman has made $100 million as the owner of VIPER. Issa, a candidate for the United States Senate from California in 2004, is a member of the Congressional Automotive, Performance, and Motorsport Caucus, which advocates legalizing noisy racing equipment on city streets. As head of the Consumer Electronics Association, Issa has traveled around the country lobbying against municipal noise ordinances.