For Tom 'The Criminal' Daschle, Avoiding Taxes Now a 'Glitch'

Perhaps come April 15, we should all invoke the Rangel Rule. Of course, the tax-cheating Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will unleash the dogs of war against us and we'd all be facing jail time and hefty penalties.

Maybe we could all just claim we had a minor glitch and the subservient media would help make excuses for us.

Thomas A. Daschle waited nearly a month after being nominated to be secretary of health and human services before informing Barack Obama that he had not paid years of back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a wealthy New York investor.

Daschle, one of Obama's earliest and most ardent campaign supporters, paid $140,000 to the U.S. Treasury on Jan. 2 and about two days later informed the White House and the Senate Finance Committee, according to an account provided by his spokeswoman and confirmed by the Obama administration.

Although Daschle had known since June 2008 that he needed to correct his tax returns, he never expected the amount to be such a "jaw-dropping" sum and "thought it was being taken care of" by his accountant, spokeswoman Jenny Backus said.

We cannot emphasize this more: He knew he broke the law and just shrugged it off, hoping someone would take care of it.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said last night that Obama stands behind his friend and confidant. "The president believes nobody's perfect but that nobody's hiding anything," Gibbs said.

Nobody's hiding anything? Then why did Daschle hide this from Obama for two months? Do these people really believe we're this stupid?

Apparently.

The disclosure of Daschle's tax problems coincided with the release of the financial statement he submitted to the Office of Government Ethics, which details for the first time exactly how, without becoming a registered lobbyist, he made millions of dollars giving public speeches and private counsel to insurers, hospitals, realtors, farmers, energy firms and telecommunications companies with complex regulatory and legislative interests in Washington.

Daschle's expertise and insights, gleaned over 26 years in Congress, earned him more than $5 million over the past two years, including $220,000 from the health-care industry, and perks such as a chauffeured Cadillac, according to the documents.

Oh, but Obama's pristine administration will be free of lobbyists.

Sure.

Daschle greedily raked in millions and knowingly avoided paying taxes.

There's a word for people like him: Criminal.

We're less than two weeks in and we already have the most corrupt administration ever.