Two years ago, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa seemed to think it was no big deal that $12 billion for the Iraq reconstruction effort vanished. So why is he so opposed to spending $2.25 billion to make inroads on the National Park System's roughly $9 billion maintenance backlog?

The Republican from California made a media splash last week when he questioned the propriety of the House Appropriations chairman, Rep. David Obey, tacking that $2.25 billion for the parks onto the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. (The House later reduced the figure by about $200 million by withdrawing funding for restoration of the National Mall) Congressman Issa's concern was that Rep. Obey's son is Craig Obey, the senior vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association.

Now, Rep. Issa in his conversations with the Washington Times and Lou Dobbs of CNN never specified whether he had any problem with spending money to address the National Park System's staggering backlog, roughly half of which revolves around road work. He did not single out for criticism any of the projects highlighted by the NPCA in calling for the parks -- and the construction industry -- to benefit from efforts to spur the nation's economy.

Calls to Rep. Issa's spokesman for clarification on that point have not been returned.

Now, curiously, Rep. Issa had no problem two years ago when it was discovered that the Bush administration somehow had failed to keep track of $12 BILLION in funding for the Iraq reconstruction effort. Here's some background from a Denver Post story:

"The United States sent $12 billion in shrink-wrapped $100 bills from New York to Baghdad in 2004 and distributed the cash with no control over who received the money or how it was distributed," the Post reported. The money was supposed to be used to pay Iraqi government employees and private contractors.

When that story surfaced, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, of which Rep. Issa currently is the ranking member, held a hearing on the missing $12 billion. The Republican was outraged that the hearing was called, saying it was little more than a "show" and that the Democrats simply wanted to embarrass President Bush.

Now, if you have five minutes or so, watch the following video from The Daily Show's archives, which carries snippets from that committee hearing, including one in which Rep. Issa seems to imply that $12 billion is chump change.

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Perhaps Mr. Issa's opposition to tackling the National Park System's backlog stems from the fact that there are no national park units in his district, California's 49th. According to the Center for Corporate Responsibility, back in 2004 the congressman worked hard to see one of his constituents, Qualcomm, which makes cellular technology, make inroads in Iraq.

Iraq's cellular market is potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues for the company, and potentially much more should it establish a standard for the region. (Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Technology Security John) Shaw's efforts to override contracting officials delayed an emergency radio contract, depriving Iraqi police officers, firefighters, ambulance drivers and border guards of a joint communications system for months.

Shaw says he was urged to push Qualcomm's technology by Rep. Darrell E. Issa, a Republican whose San Diego County District includes Qualcomm's headquarters. Issa, who received $5,000 in campaign contributions from Qualcomm employees from 2003 to 2004, sits on the House Small Business Committee, and previously tried to help the company sponsoring a bill that would have required the military to use its CDMA technology.

"Hundreds of thousands of American jobs depend on the success of U.S.-developed wireless technologies like CDMA," Issa claimed in a letter to Donald Rumsfeld. But the Pentagon doesn't seem to be buying the argument. The DoD's inspector general has asked the FBI to investigate Shaw's activities.

Granted, $2 billion (the Senate has proposed $800 million for the parks, a middle ground is expected to surface this weekend) is a lot of money for the National Park Service to spend in the short time period that Congress wants the stimulus funds spent. In fact, the Park Service probably can't accomplish the deed when you take into consideration the environmental studies that some projects might require and the contracting delays.

But whichever, if any, dollar figure surfaces for the parks in the stimulus bill, shouldn't it be questioned on the merits of the projects involved, not surnames?