Tax Cheat Daschle Crumbles, Withdraws Nomination

Now he can get back to raking in six-figures for putting audiences to sleep and skipping out on his tax obligations.

He'll really suffer.

Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination to be Health and Human Services secretary.
That's according to a joint White House statement from President Barack Obama and his former nominee.

Obama said Tuesday he accepted the withdrawal "with sadness and regret."

Daschle has been battling for his nomination since it was disclosed he failed to pay more than $120,000 in taxes.

He doesn't want to be a distraction, like all of Obama's other tax cheats.

Hey, Kwame Kilpatrick is looking for work and Obama can claim he's paid his debt to society. Kwame at HHS!

Update: Allahpundit has a good roundup.

As we've been noting for days now, Daschle would be considered a criminal by the standards the rest of us live under. Maybe now he should be prosecuted. OK, I'll stop dreaming.

DeMint told FOX News that Daschle's failure to pay $134,000 in federal taxes reflects a "problem with integrity" that the government cannot afford to tolerate. DeMint spoke out against Daschle as a number of prominent newspapers, including The New York Times, called for the South Dakota Democrat to drop his bid.

DeMint said he came to that conclusion after it became "obvious" that Daschle knew about the tax problems long before his nomination and did nothing to make it right.

"The average American would likely face criminal charges with tax evasion of this size, yet he did not address the issue until he was nominated," he said.

Daschle has since paid $146,000 in back payments and interest, and apologized on Monday for what he called income tax errors.

I notice many media accounts keep saying "over $120,000" and never give the actual amount. Nothing like utilizing those abundant layers of editors and fact checkers.

If Obama has half a brain, and I'm really beginning to wonder about that, he and his people actually start vetting his appointments properly and any of them that have these little "mistakes" and "oversights" get jettisoned pronto.

Just imagine if we had a real investigative media rather than a sycophantic army of Obama worshippers. He could have been save all these headaches. Now the media looks just as bad as Obama.

Surprise! Another Obama Tax Cheat

We may as well just ask: Are there any Obama appointees who've paid all their taxes?

Now we have another tax cheat, and she withdraw quickly over a relatively small amount of money.

Hey, isn't this sexist?

The informal battle between members of the Obama Administration and the Taxman resulted in a casualty Tuesday, with news that President Obama's nominee to be chief performance officer, Nancy Killefer, will withdraw her nomination following the revelation that she had a $946.69 lien on her property in 2005 for failure to pay taxes.

Killefer, who was announced to much fanfare by President Obama on Jan. 7 to serve in the new position to make the U.S. government "more effective, more efficient, and more transparent," is the third high-level Obama Administration official whose failure to pay taxes in recent years was disclosed in the past month.

A former officer with McKinsey & Company and the past assistant secretary for management, chief financial officer and chief operating officer at Treasury during the Clinton administration, Killefer joins the ranks of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who failed to pay more than $40,000 in payroll taxes when he worked for the International Monetary Fund, and Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle, who -- as ABC News was first to report last Friday -- on Jan. 2 filed more than $140,000 in back taxes and interest, having failed to disclose more than $300,000 in past income, including the use of a car and driver for three years.

The Associated Press broke the story of Killefer's tax lien placed against Killefer's home in Washington, D.C., for failing to pay unemployment compensation taxes on household help. The issue was resolved five months after the D.C. government took action.

'This Is a Big Problem for Obama, Especially Because It Was Such a Major, Major Promise'

Don't worry that this big problem will cause much trouble. His media enablers just have too much invested. Although I must admit a mild surprise that the New York Times dares to mention all these broken promises just two weeks into the glorious era of Hopenchange. Trust me, this guy could break every campaign promise made and they'll still be endorsing him in 2012. That is, if they're still around.

During almost two years on the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyists from his administration and usher in what he would later call in his Inaugural Address a “new era of responsibility.” What he did not talk much about were the asterisks.

The exceptions that went unmentioned now include a pair of cabinet nominees who did not pay all of their taxes. Then there is the lobbyist for a military contractor who is now slated to become the No. 2 official in the Pentagon. And there are the others brought into government from the influence industry even if not formally registered as lobbyists.

President Obama said Monday that he was “absolutely” standing behind former Senator Tom Daschle, his nominee for health and human services secretary, and Mr. Daschle, who met late in the day with leading senators in an effort to keep his confirmation on track, said he had “no excuse” and wanted to “deeply apologize” for his failure to pay $128,000 in federal taxes.

But the episode has already shown how, when faced with the perennial clash between campaign rhetoric and Washington reality, Mr. Obama has proved willing to compromise.

Every four or eight years a new president arrives in town, declares his determination to cleanse a dirty process and invariably winds up trying to reconcile the clear ideals of electioneering with the muddy business of governing. Mr. Obama on his first day in office imposed perhaps the toughest ethics rules of any president in modern times, and since then he and his advisers have been trying to explain why they do not cover this case or that case.

“This is a big problem for Obama, especially because it was such a major, major promise,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “He harped on it, time after time, and he created a sense of expectation around the country. This is exactly why people are skeptical of politicians, because change we can believe in is not the same thing as business as usual.”

And so in these opening days of the administration, the Obama team finds itself being criticized by bloggers on the left and the right, mocked by television comics and questioned by reporters about whether Mr. Obama is really changing the way Washington works or just changing which political party works it.

H/T: Dan.

In an even more remarkable turn of events, the Times today calls for Daschle's nomination to be withdrawn.

Mr. Daschle is another in a long line of politicians who move cozily between government and industry. We don’t know that his industry ties would influence his judgments on health issues, but they could potentially throw a cloud over health care reform. Mr. Daschle could clear the atmosphere by withdrawing his name.

Puff Daschle 'Deeply Embarrassed' For Being a Criminal

Poor little Puffy. He's really sorry for cheating on his taxes and now claims to be embarrassed.

OK, so if you're embarrassed, reject the cabinet nomination and go away. You and your fat-cat lobbyist wife don't have to worry about finances like the little people.

Thomas A. Daschle, picked by President Barack Obama to be Health and Human Services secretary, said he was “deeply embarrassed” about $128,000 in errors on his taxes, and promised in a letter to answer all questions about how it happened.

The letter was sent to the ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee prior to a meeting today between the panel and the former U.S. senator, according to a person who provided the correspondence to Bloomberg. Daschle amended his returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007, and paid $140,000 in taxes and interest.

Daschle’s nomination must be confirmed by the finance committee. Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona, a panel member, said on “Fox News Sunday” that it’s too early to tell whether the nomination is in trouble. Daschle refiled his returns Jan. 2 to add unreported consulting fees, unspecified charitable contributions and a car and driver provided by Leo Hindery Jr., a founder of the private-equity firm InterMedia Advisors, a committee draft report said.

Virtually any other American busted for avoiding taxes for three years would be facing jail time.

Why the double standard for these criminal Democrats?

Ten years ago The Puffster had this to say:

“Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter. ” Sen. Tom Daschle, Congressional Record, May 7, 1998, p. S4507.

Now though, schmucks like John Kerry call it an innocent mistake.

Finance Committee member Senator John Kerry on the same program called the tax problem an “innocent mistake that doesn’t affect one iota his ability to do the job.”

No, deliberately avoiding taxes is a criminal offense, not an innocent mistake.

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.

Surprise! Puff Daschle Another Obama Tax Cheat

Maybe Tom Daschle is who Bob Woodward was referring to.

ABC News has learned that the nomination of former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to be President Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services has hit a traffic snarl on its way through the Senate Finance Committee.

The controversy deals with a car and driver lent to Daschle by a wealthy Democratic friend, a chauffeur service the former senator used for years without declaring it on his taxes.

It remains an open question as to whether this is a "speed bump," as a Democratic Senate ally of Daschle put it, or something more damaging.

After being defeated in his 2004 re-election campaign to the Senate, Daschle in 2005 became a consultant and chairman of the Executive Advisory Board at InterMedia Advisors.

Based in New York City, InterMedia Advisors is a private equity firm founded in part by longtime Daschle friend and Democratic fundraiserLeo Hindery, the former president of the YES network (the Yankees' and Devils' broadcast network).

That same year he began his professional relationship with InterMedia 2005, Daschle began using the services of Hindery's car and driver.

The Cadillac and driver were never part of Daschle's official compensation package at InterMedia but Mr. Daschle -- who as Senate majority leader enjoyed the use of a car and driver at taxpayer expense -- didn't declare their services on his income taxes, as tax laws require.

Oops.

Change!

H/T Hot Air headlines.

But wait, there's more.

Tom Daschle, President Barack Obama's choice for secretary of Health and Human Services, paid about $140,000 in back taxes and interest after questions surfaced during the vetting of his nomination, according to documents being prepared by the Senate Finance Committee.

$140,000 in back taxes?

Of course, this present no problem for Obama.

The White House has acknowledged that former Sen. Tom Daschle, President Obama's nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, had "some tax issues," which, the administration says, have been resolved and shouldn't bar his confirmation as secretary.

That amount is at least twice the amount in back taxes Tim Geithner paid (via Instapundit).

I must give Obama kudos for that clever Friday night news dump. He learned a lot from the Clintons.

Befuddled Media Can't Figure Out Where 533,000 Jobs Went

There are several aspects to the current recession that the mainstream media will not tell you about or connect together.

First, the economy was still growing when the Democrats took control of Congress two years ago. There were growing problems in the macro economy to be sure, but there was also time to deal with them. But all the Democrats were interested in, as well as the MSM (redundant, I know), was demonizing Bush so they could get a Democrat elected President.

Second, in the same month that Obama was elected President, 533.000 jobs were eliminated in. Here is one reason why.

Daschle maintains the efforts to bring about universal health coverage in the first two years of the Clinton presidency took too long. In a book published earlier this year, he urged the next president to act immediately to capitalize on the goodwill that greets any incoming administration. His speech and recent behind-the-scenes meetings with lawmakers and consumer groups address that point.

"We need to be on the offense," Daschle said.

He cited other lessons, too. This time around, lawmakers can't try to address every detail when it comes to legislation.

"Details kill," Daschle said. "If we get too far into the weeds, if we produce a 1,500- or 1,600-page bill, we're going to get hung up on all the details and we're never going to get to the principles."

Once Congress does take up a health plan, it also can't divert attention to other subjects, he said.

"Let's not put it down, let it lie there for months and months and figure out a time when we can get back to it later," Daschle said at a Colorado Health Care Summit organized by Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.

Nevertheless, any health care overhaul will have an enormous price tag. During the campaign, Obama said he planned to pay for expanding health coverage in part by increasing taxes on the wealthy and requiring larger businesses to provide health coverage or contribute a portion of their payroll to a new public insurance plan. The current recession provides a significant obstacle to both options.

So let's summarize the plan:

1. Take over 17% of the economy by nationalizing health care services.

2. Be offensive and act fast.

3. Don't provide any details, just get some sob stories out there in the media.

4. Raise taxes on "the wealthy" punish businesses, and deficit spend (thus also raising taxes via the back door). See, if you cut your payroll, you stand a good chance of limiting your exposure to Obama's higher taxes.

And then some folks wonder why 533,000 jobs got cut in November.

A large part of the reason is Obama's socialistic plans to punish business and make them pay into some fund per employee. Fewer employees, less health insurance tax you have to pay.

This will create more incentive for business to contract out work, automate, anything but increase employment.

I predict the biggest growth sectors in the next four years will be automated business systems, agencies that contract out labor, and the federal government.

Tom 'Puff' Daschle, Super Genius

Hmm, this guy is really perceptive. He detects a correlation between John McCain's ads goofing on Obama and The Messiah's decline in poll numbers.

Move to the head of the class, Puff.

I'd also suggest the public's Obama fatigue, the fact he has a tissue-thin resume, the absurd suggestion that proper tire inflation will save more oil than we can drill for ... and about a thousand other things.

But if you guys want to obsess over that Paris Hilton ad a week later, knock yourselves out.

A senior adviser to Barack Obama has blamed recent attack advertisements comparing the Democratic presidential hopeful to celebrities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton for a dip in Mr Obama’s polls with voters.

Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate majority leader, said in an interview with the Financial Times that the Mr Obama’s Republican rival John McCain was seeing a “short-term blip” as a result of the advertising, including one that used the image of Charlton Heston as Moses to mock the supposedly messianic Mr Obama as being “The One”.

And if Daschle and company are dumb enough not to realize more ads are coming, then they're dumber than I thought.

“To a certain extent the ads are having some effect,” Mr Daschle said. “But you can’t be thrown off your game plan by a momentary dip in polls.”

Until this week polls showed Mr Obama with a slight lead over Mr McCain. Some daily tracking polls this week showed the race tightening, however, leading some Democrats to wonder why Mr Obama has not commanded a bigger lead in an election year in which Republicans are disadvantaged by the unpopularity of President George W. Bush.

Mark McKinnon, a media strategist and former McCain adviser who worked for both of Mr Bush’s campaigns, said of the advertisements: “I think they’ve crystallised their message and I think they’re hitting a nerve.”
Political advertising is effective, he added, when it ties into an overall narrative. In this case, the message has been framed in a positive and negative way: that Mr McCain puts “country first”, while Mr Obama puts “Obama first”. The theme was repeated in a McCain advertisement rel­eased on Wednesday, showing flashing cameras and crowds chanting “Obama” as a voice asks, “Is the biggest celebrity in the world ready to help your family?”

The Obama campaign has sought to convey the message that the Democrat represents “change”.