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CNN Reporting Tom Daschle Withdrawing HHS Nomination

updated 5 minutes ago

Daschle withdraws as HHS nominee

Former Sen. Tom Daschle has asked President Obama to withdraw his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services, according to a written statement from the White House. President Obama has accepted the request. "Tom Daschle asked me to withdraw his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services. I accept his decision with sadness and regret," the president said in a statement. developing story
 
The news comes on the same day that Mr. Obama's choice for chief performance officer withdrew from consideration for the job, also citing tax problems.

"Tom made a mistake, which he has openly acknowledged. He has not excused it, nor do I," President Obama said in a written statement. "I accept his decision with sadness and regret."

In a statement, Daschle explained his decision, saying that "30 years of exposure to the challenges inherent in our system has taught me...that this work will require a leader who can operate with the full faith of Congress and the American people, and without distraction."

"Right now, I am not that leader," he wrote, vowing not to be a distraction to the president's agenda.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/02/03/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4772563.shtml
 
Something doesn't smell right here. (And that is not meant to be a syphillis reference) The problem is that I have read $128,000, for taxes on the use of a car and driver, over the course of three years.

The way I see it, a really good Chauffeur would be paid, what, $50,000 per year? Then, figure 50 cents per mile driving costs, and figure that Tom was in the 33% tax bracket. (Is there still one of those?) If that's the case, then he would have to drive 466,000 miles to get to that value. That's based on the availability of a full time chauffeur. That's the maximum taxable benefit he could have derived from the use of a car and driver.

Here's what I think was actually happening. Whoever was providing the car and driver was writing off that car and driver as a business expense. He was probably doing so based on limo rental rates or some such, except he didn't really pay $384,000 in expenses. He probably did that with more than just Daschel, too. In other words, the person providing the car was cheating big time on his taxes, and Daschel's nomination drew attention to that, and Tom is hoping that by ducking back under the covers, his friend won't end up in the slammer.

At least, that's the way I see it. I do know that there's no way Tom owed 128,000 dollars in taxes for the use of a car and driver. There's something else going on.


ETA: Read another article after posting the above, and it refernced failing to report "other income from consulting work". That makes more sense. Of course, "overlooking" hundreds of thousands of dollars in income? Yeah, right.
 
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Spineless congresscritters already let serial tax cheat Geithner into the club. I wonder if they would have given Daschle a job too? They were both just, er, absent minded?
 
I really think that Geithner's issue fell more into the honest mistake category than deliberate cheating. You are welcome to disagree but that's how I see it having heard the various explanations. Apparantly lots of IMF employees made the same mistake as Geithner. And most normal people aren't going to pay back taxes if the IRS doesn't tell them they have to. Basically, when the statute of limitations is up, you are off the hook.

The Daschle thing however seems to really stink. For example, there was all this Hoo-Hah about "no lobbyists in the Administration" and while Daschle was "Not Technically a LobbyistTM," it's hard for me to see that this is an important distinction. What is the real purpose of the "no lobbyists" policy?

ETA: I think I'll start a thread on the "no lobbyists" policy.
 
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Meadmaker said:
Something doesn't smell right here. (And that is not meant to be a syphillis reference) The problem is that I have read $128,000, for taxes on the use of a car and driver, over the course of three years.

The way I see it, a really good Chauffeur would be paid, what, $50,000 per year? Then, figure 50 cents per mile driving costs, and figure that Tom was in the 33% tax bracket. (Is there still one of those?) If that's the case, then he would have to drive 466,000 miles to get to that value. That's based on the availability of a full time chauffeur. That's the maximum taxable benefit he could have derived from the use of a car and driver.

Here's what I think was actually happening. Whoever was providing the car and driver was writing off that car and driver as a business expense. He was probably doing so based on limo rental rates or some such, except he didn't really pay $384,000 in expenses. He probably did that with more than just Daschel, too. In other words, the person providing the car was cheating big time on his taxes, and Daschel's nomination drew attention to that, and Tom is hoping that by ducking back under the covers, his friend won't end up in the slammer.

At least, that's the way I see it. I do know that there's no way Tom owed 128,000 dollars in taxes for the use of a car and driver. There's something else going on.


ETA: Read another article after posting the above, and it refernced failing to report "other income from consulting work". That makes more sense. Of course, "overlooking" hundreds of thousands of dollars in income? Yeah, right.
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What about the price of the limo itself? Or a 3-year lease on a limo? Some cars are quite expensive, no? And this was a limo, not a family car.
 
From WSJ:

Beyond the tax issue, Mr. Daschle was increasingly being portrayed as a Washington insider who made a fortune by trading on his Beltway connections -- an example of the kind of culture Mr. Obama had pledged to change. A Democratic Senate aide confirmed Tuesday that Mr. Daschle had advocated a senior administration post for Mr. Hindery after the election. The Senate aide said Mr. Daschle's support for Mr. Hindery was a complicating factor in a situation that threatened to escalate.
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(Mr. Hindery is Daschle's rich friend who loaned him the car. Apparantly Daschle thought Hindery should also get a high-ranking position in the new administration.)
 
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Region Rat said:
I'm a little more concerned that it took him less than a month to make an embarrassing mistake, but I get your point.
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At least he recognized it as a mistake and acted on it immediately, rather than pretend that it made no difference.

George W. made some mistakes in appointing his cabinet too. For one thing, he appointed Ashcroft, a guy who lost an election to a dead man, to Attorney General, which turned out to be one of the greatest embarassments of his first term. Unless you want to count Harriet Miers.

The difference is, George acted like he'd done nothing wrong. Obama apparently can live with being embarrassed from time to time. Somehow, I find that refreshing.
 
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I voted for him. I didn't expect him to be perfect. No matter what Mallard Filmore has to say.
 
Tricky said:
The difference is, George acted like he'd done nothing wrong. Obama apparently can live with being embarrassed from time to time. Somehow, I find that refreshing.
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You idiot!!1

Don't you know that admitting to mistakes is a sign of weak leadership? If we don't bury our heads in the sand, Al Qaeda wins! You're not being patriotic by endorsing a self-effacing "leader"

:boggled:
 
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