As chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is a leading advocate for business and deregulation. He also is a vocal critic of President Barack Obama, and has vowed to investigate everything from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the war in Afghanistan.

What Issa will not likely be investigating is his own business dealings and how they benefit from his congressional agenda. While most affluent elected officials put their commercial interests on hold while in office, Issa continues to expand his empire. Since being elected in 2000, he has amassed one of the largest fortunes in Congress, with assets valued at $725 million.

The intersection between Issa’s public and private careers, as reported recently in The New York Times, leaves disturbing evidence:

ÖIn 2008, months before the stock market dive, Issa’s family foundation earned $357,000 on an initial investment of less than $19,000 in a security called the AIM International Small Company Fund. He sold at least $1 million in fund holdings that year.

ÖAt least two dozen of Issa’s real estate projects are within five miles of infrastructure projects funded with federal “earmark” dollars he secured. In one case, Issa directed $815,000 to a highway that contributed to a 60 percent increase in the value of a medical complex he owned. Issa tried to get millions of dollars more for the project. But after earmarks came under fire as pork-barrel waste, Issa complained about “the culture of government overspending.”

ÖWhen plans to merge satellite radio giants Sirius and XM came under congressional scrutiny as potentially anticompetitive in 2008, Issa praised the deal — without mentioning the electronics firm he founded had a profitable partnership with Sirius.

ÖIn 2009, Issa accused the Treasury Department of bullying Bank of America into buying the troubled Merrill Lynch investment firm — without mentioning that his transactions through Merrill over the prior decade totaled more than $1 billion, including at least $206 million immediately after the firm was sold.

A low-key investigation of Issa’s affairs by the House Ethics Committee concluded in 2009 that there was not enough evidence to warrant a wider probe — noting that the mere “appearance” of conflicts of interest is not illegal.

As Issa reaps mega-profits and pursues self-serving policies while the nation is buffeted by continued economic adversity, his hard-pressed constituents might at least wonder where he gets the time to pay attention to their concerns.