Photo by morejazz3

Just call Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) official party referee. As he gears up to begin investigating the General Services Administration’s $823,000 Las Vegas blowout, Issa, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Monday morning that’s not the only party culture he’s scrutinizing.

In an interview with CBS This Morning, Issa said he’s also got his eye on the U.S. Secret Service as it investigates the behavior of 11 agents suspended last week after it was alleged they solicited prostitutes in Colombia while advancing President Obama’s trip there last weekend for the Summit of the Americas. In the interview, Issa said that if Secret Service agents did in fact bring prostitutes back to their hotel—an area they were supposed to secure ahead of the president’s arrival—it could expose them or the agency to potential blackmail and extortion.

Prostitution is legal in Colombia within designated zones, but presidential bodyguards are expected to remain strictly professional.

Secret Service teams, Issa said, often have “wheels-up parties” at the end of a successful presidential trip. Instead, he continued, these agents appeared to throw themselves a “pre-wheels-down” bash.

“What we’re concerned about is that failure today can lead to blackmail five, 10, 20 years from now,” Issa told CBS News. He also said that while his House panel is not planning its own investigation into the agents, he intends to “look over the shoulder” of the Secret Service as it conducts its own internal inquiry.

Meanwhile, in Colombia yesterday, Obama made his first public remarks on the scandal, telling reporters in Cartagena that if the allegations against the agents are proven factual, “then of course, I’ll be angry.”