BS: My god, it's Daschle too!

Subject: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Riginslinger
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 10:13 PM

Are all of these guys crooked?

WASHINGTON – Former Sen. Tom Daschle, picked by President Barack Obama to lead the administration's health reform efforts, recently filed amended tax returns to report $128,203 in unpaid taxes and $11,964 in interest, according to a Senate document obtained by The Associated Press.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 10:22 PM

no, not crooked... careless. Bush, Cheney... et al were "crooked".

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Sawzaw
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 10:40 PM

Now I have the perfect excuse for making careless mistakes on my tax return.

Two excuses.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 10:51 PM

I'd get a good accountant to do my taxes.

Oh, wait. I already have one. I wonder why these guys don't?

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 11:57 PM

And paid it, with interest. That is not criminal.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 12:13 AM

Can you say "double standard" at this thread? Hmmmmmmmmmm?

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Bill D
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 11:35 AM

even though I am confident Daschle is 'honest', I am appalled at the lack of communication between him and his accountants that leads to such careless omissions. It seems they don't look carefully UNTIL some appointment makes it crucial.

   The finances of people...of both parties.... who move in these circles are naturally complicated, but if you MAKE a lot of money from consulting and investments and such, you can afford to have your obligations updated and double-checked!

Tom Daschle ought to have been smarter than this ...to allow it to happen, even IF he was depending on some accounting firm to keep track, is unacceptable.

I want to see a FULL explanation of how these obligations were missed. I am a Democrat, and I have long admired Daschle, but this is no time to add an embarassing episode to a mostly good transition.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 12:10 PM

Checks and balances, not double standard:

Tax issues due to mistakes or inattention? Hefty penalty to pay. Back taxes PLUS penalty plus future audit attention.

Deliberate intent to defraud via lack of tax payment? Back taxes plus penalty plus criminal charges plus court costs plus future press attention plus future audit attention.

Get a rep for bad dealings? All of the above, plus lose elections or go Spitzer/Blago-boy's way.

Get a rep for "networking" bad dealings? All of the above plus lose the House, the Senate, and/or the White House.

===

This IS the system in the US. Just like they say about 12-step programs: It works if you work it. Unwieldy system? Sure, when you conglomerate 50 states covering the territory our Constitution covers.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 12:51 PM

It seems every year I do taxes I learn something new about them, and realize I could have done it differently in years past. Usually it is a case that I could refile and get more back. There have been a couple of times when I didn't get it right on some part of the form and they didn't send back as much of the withholding as I expected. They always send a letter to explain why.

If taxes for a low income relatively simple filing are difficult, I imagine an elaborate claim is just as vulnerable to mistakes. We're not hearing about Republican tax errors right now because they're not under the spotlight. Rest assured, they made the same kinds of errors.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: mg
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 01:19 PM

Shouldn't it be a rule somehow that every senator and congresswoman submit taxes through established CPA's (and who regulates them?)to nip some of this in the bud? mg

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 01:41 PM

"Who's going to investigate the man who investigates the man who investigates me?"

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 02:47 PM

The accountants aren't infallible either. That's why they have to sign on the form you file also, to take responsibility for the numbers. It's a crap shoot, with the way taxes are so complicated. Maybe someone will finally get smart and simplify the process.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: SINSULL
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 05:02 PM

Nothing new here. NYC's Mayor Dinkins did not pay taxes for years because he forgot. Neither did his son.
When Geraldine Ferraro ran for president and some "inaccuraies were found in her taxes, the escuse was that her husband (later indicted) did the taxes and she only signed them.
On two occasions when there were errors in my tax returns, I was notified within 8 weeks of filing. Guess there is a double standard. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 05:32 PM

In my checkered youth, I didn't file for the several years a mob-connected CPA my employer "chose" "offered" to "do" my taxes for me. It came with an offer to kill my mare, too, because they hadn't paid any withholding for most of the illegals they also employed. They'd collected it but not paid it over, see? Eventually another CPA told me enough time had passed that I could just pay the penalties, wipe out all the tax trouble, and let the statute of limitations cover the rest of the gap. BTW I'd have gotten refunds for those years-- IF they actually paid mine in, and I did not want to know.

The gummint made more off my non-filing than they'd have made if I filed.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Riginslinger
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 12:03 AM

Of course, he can't claim that he didn't know he owed the taxes, because he rushed right in and paid them the minute he found out he was going to be nominated for something.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: kendall
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 07:14 AM

Joe Louis also trusted someone else to do his taxes. Look where he ended up.

In my not so humble opinion, O'Bama has made three mistakes.
1. Leon Pinetta. Unqualified. Has no experience to head the CIA
2. His new sec. of the treasury, unqualified. He can't handle his OWN money, how can he handle ours?
3. Tom Daschal unqualified.Another tax doofus.

No wonder Diogenes gave up.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: GUEST,wetfeettoo
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 07:46 AM

I haven't heard anyone mention penalty for Mr. Daschle's unpaid taxes!

I think the entire Senate and Congress should be audited!!!

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 03:28 PM

Daschle withdrew his nomination today.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 03:49 PM

So far three appointees have had to decline their nominations for some sort of unsuitability--two high profile, Richardson and Daschle--and if Timmy Geithner had even a thimbleful of integrity, he would also.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Riginslinger
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 04:28 PM

He doesn't!

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Peter T.
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 04:29 PM

Like I said elsewhere, the previous insane era is over.

Daschle and the others -- the Wall Streeters, etc., are zombies -- they are the walking dead and don't even know it.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: pdq
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 05:08 PM

Are we getting a...

                               new cabinet post?

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: MaineDog
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 05:13 PM

I guess most of you have forgotten what it's like to have Democrats running the country, with significant majorities.
MD

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Bobert
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 05:38 PM

Bye, bye, T.D... Don't let the door hit ya' on the way out...

Hey, I like Obama but I don't like tax cheats...B~

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Skivee
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 07:29 PM

Yea, Bobert. It makes you wonder how the vetting process could miss this stuff. I always thatought that there was a final question asked in the interviews,"Do you know of anything in your past that will embarass the administration ?" I guess some folks don't think that they will be found out.
I have a feeling that the question will be asked with more force in future...and rightly so.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Skivee
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 07:30 PM

What I meant to say was that I don't just want to replace their crooks with our crooks. The country needs better.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Bobert
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 07:33 PM

How do ya' spell poligraph, Skivz???

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 07:35 PM

Well, it doesn't exactly daschele all my hopes for the administration, but I guess it IS another snag.

Art

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 09:17 PM

I would add Napiltano as Homeland Security. What are her credentials? I can see her in another cabinet post, but that one needs more experience in the area, I would think. And I think Rahm is going to be more trouble than not, but time will tell. mg

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Riginslinger
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 09:54 PM

Actually, Napalitano seems to be on the right side of history when it comes to illegal immigration, probably because she's from Arizona. That's a very important part of her agency. The real security issues will be in the hands of the CIA anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: pdq
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 10:02 PM

Another one bites the dust:


Obama's budget czar quits in new tax storm

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama's government ethics crusade took a fresh blow Tuesday when Nancy Killefer, his pick for White House budget czar withdrew, and become the latest nominee to fall foul of tax issues.

Killefer said in a letter to Obama released by the White House that she was "reluctantly" asking to step aside as his pick for the government's first "chief performance officer" because of a "personal tax issue" in Washington.

Obama said in January that the choice of Killefer was "among the most important I will make" and her withdrawal follows tax storms which swirled around two other cabinet nominees that have rocked Obama's young government.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and health secretary designate Tom Daschle have been forced to apologize during their confirmation process for past tax transgressions.

The controversies erupted even though the Obama transition team introduced what has been termed the most exhaustive vetting operation ever mounted for nominees for top government jobs in a bid to avoid confirmation missteps.

Killefer, a blue chip management consultant, was tapped to bring modern business practices to the White House, and to slash government waste with a long-term budget deficit of up to a trillion dollars looming.

As the economic crisis raged, she had been tasked by Obama to lead a thorough review of government spending and long-term commitments including Social Security retirement benefits and Medicare health insurance for seniors.

"I recognize that your agenda and the duties facing your Chief Performance Officer are urgent," Killefer said in her letter to the president.

"I have also come to realize in the current environment that my personal tax issue of DC Unemployment tax could be used to create exactly the kind of distraction and delay those duties must avoid.

"Because of this I must reluctantly ask you to withdraw my name from consideration."
Reports had circulated that Killefer had in the past failed to pay unemployment taxes due for employing a household helper.

Killefer was formerly a senior director at McKinsey & Company in Washington and was a former assistant secretary for management, chief financial officer, and chief operating officer at the Treasury Department.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 10:50 PM

Mistakes? I am really surprised at the majority opinion here. I "forgot" that I got free limos and chauffers to the tax tune of over $100,000? $5.3 million in four years and he uses a tax preparer from Tijuana or something? More than two million dollars from lobbying firms as he positions himself for a cabinet position, but declares he's not a lobbyist? Is it not as plain as the nose on your face that WE ARE FUCKED?? There's no getting off this treadmill absent anarchy. We're doomed.


(The nanny tax deserves a freebie, though, IMHO.)

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 12:31 AM

How do you figure? They have all stepped down as in they do NOT have the jobs. Changes are being made. It is only his second week in office. And, unlike the shrub (remember the premature "mission accomplished?") he owns up to his mistakes, pronto:

"I'm frustrated with myself, with our team. ... I'm here on television saying I screwed up," Obama said on NBC. He repeated virtually the same words in interviews with other TV anchors.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 01:20 AM

Well okay let's hope. But it sure looks as if the glue that holds Washington together can't realistically be unstuck.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Skivee
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 01:30 AM

Well, ex-mister presidential candidate Bobert, considering who I am peformance persona-wise, I'd have to spell it "Polliwannergraph"

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: GUEST,Susu's Hubby
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 07:23 AM

Change?

I'm still waiting for it.

Haven't seen it yet.

Maybe he was talking about the White House drapes.


That's gotta be it!


Hubby

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: DougR
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 06:27 PM

Or the mattresses on the beds in the White House.

For an administration that vowed to be the straightest shooting one in U.S. history, I'd say Obama's is getting off to a pretty shaky start. When I heard about Tom Daschel not paying his taxes, it gave me the first of many chuckles during the day as the mainstream media wrestled with the problem of reporting without being too critical. The New York Times pulled a shocker when they urged Dashel to pull out of the appointment. I never thought a Democrat could do ANYTHING that would cause the NYT to print a editorial disapproving of something a Democrat would do. I guess even the NYT couldn't overlook three tax cheats in one administration though and hope to hold on to whatever credibility it still has.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Barry Finn
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 07:58 PM

As usual, the republicans & their supporters here & elsewhere will kill the horse before it's even out of the gate just so they can fix the next race that isn't even on the horizon yet.
Had this been the last administration those canidates would've been ramroded through without any transparency & no mistake would've ever been admitted to.
Thanks Christ Obama can admit to a mistake, unlike anyone during the rule of the past 8 yrs.
Obama is fighting for the life of Mr & Mrs EveryOne. The poor, the working & the rich. If we the people go under you can bet your fucking life we're taking the rich down with us, so you better all get on board. Rush will be the 1st to be lynched & his coward followers can follow. If the ship sinks the captain, his crew & all us passangers are gonna be sucking saltwater for supper, the republicans maybe smiling but they'll still be sucking seawater with the rest.
I can't believe that the republicans are gonna cut off their noses to spite their faces. They are to blame for the shit house we all now live in. They had 8 yrs to put us in a better position than the one Clinton left us in & he left us in pretty good shape. But now we need to dig ourselves out of 2 wars, another war on terror that is nothing but a sham, a ression that's leaning towards a depression, a health care system that is as confusing as the tax system & as in poor shape as the educational system which is no better than our SS system. So you republians keep on being the ones throwing up the roadblocks every time we try to turn a corner. You were remembered in this past election & you paid dearly, keep at it & their may still be a republican party but there won't be any republicans in any office. We won't need a 60 count vote to put our aggenda across, we won't need you at all at the rate you're going. We will fix this with or without you, you decied if you're gonna help or if you'll just get left out of this all together. As it is you've caused so much damage to our way of life that if we ever dig our way out you will not be missed at you own funeral, we will party hardy after you're 6' under.

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: GUEST,Mark-s(on the road)
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 12:07 AM

Just hope that Obama admitting mistakes does not become a mantra for the next 4 years.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Barry Finn
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 12:20 AM

Well so far he's done more good in a few weeks than Bush did in a few terms

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: akenaton
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 03:21 AM

Barry.... Mr Obama had the chance to do some real good by stopping the process of "rendition".
The fact that he did not, and appears to have given the CIA authority to continue "renditions",proves that he is no architect of change.

This issue of the use of torture, was the first thing that Mr Obama should have moved against if he was to be taken seriously, the closing of Guantanamo is of much lesser importance than the banning of torture.
The system is in safe hands, and without systemic change there can be no meaningful change for America or the UK.

Guantanamo had to close as it had become a huge focus of worldwide dissent, that had nothing to do with Mr Obama or his programme of "change". The continued acceptance of torture as a weapon shows that Mr Obamas agenda of "change" stops at the rhetoric!!

The America "liberals" should get over the euphoria of winning a small victory over the racist right and start submitting Mr Obama's programme to some real scrutiny. Despite what Amos says, I have read very little concrete evidence that Mr Obama has any progressive credentials, His actions so far, and the composition of his administration would suggest that you have a President who has inherited a social and financial nightmare and is completely unaware of what caused that nightmare.
Perhaps I am being too charitible there, maybe he does know what needs to be done but has not the will or guts to carry it through.
Perhaps gaining the Presidency was an end in itself for Mr Obama,and will give the Democratic string pullers a few years of power.


Obama and rendition

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: Peter T.
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 06:25 AM

"I screwed up."
-- Barack Obama, February 3, 2009

"I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it... I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hadn't yet... You know I... I hope I... I don't want to sound like I have made no mistakes. I'm confident I have. I just haven't... You just put me under the spot here, and maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one."
-- George W. Bush, August 13, 2004, when asked if he'd made any mistakes since September 11, 2001

yours,
Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 11:40 AM

He didn't, however, say "I screwed up by giving an extraordinarily important cabinet post to one of my earliest and most important supporters in the Presidential election, even though he is riding on the gravy train of greed, funded by K Street." He left it open to "I screwed up by not knowing about that chauffer, darn the luck."

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 11:53 AM

It is his second fucking week in office; give him a chance will you? Or not, it makes no difference, really, As Barry says there may not be a GOP in another couple of years if they keep at the divisiveness. Americans are not buying that crap any more. With Palin, Duke, and Limbaugh "in charge", the GOP is in sorry shape.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 12:22 PM

I'm not GOP. He's known Daschle intimately for a long time - not two weeks. I will give him a chance.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: akenaton
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 12:59 PM

Torturers don't give chances!

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 01:10 PM

Oh feck off with that red herring, ake! He IS closing GITMO. He HAS done more toward that end than the "what me worry idjit" who just spent eight years allowing it.

heric, I didn't mean you personally. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: pdq
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:08 PM

Daschle, lobbyist wife vow to keep careers separate

By Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Tom Daschle's rise to the helm of the Senate spotlights an awkward fact of life for Washington's power couples: When professional lives intertwine, ethical conflicts can follow.

The South Dakota Democrat's wife, Linda, is a lobbyist who mostly represents airlines, aircraft makers and other aviation-related interests — all of which have a steady stream of issues before the Senate. As majority leader, Tom Daschle has the power to set the Senate's agenda.

Linda Daschle says she will deal with that potential pitfall the way she has since she resumed her lobbying career in 1997: by never lobbying her husband or any member or committee of the Senate. "With dual careers in public policy, you need to be careful and take steps to avoid any appearance problem," she says. "I feel very comfortable with my activities."

Ethics groups say Daschle's new job makes it even more important that he and his wife keep their business separate. "They have to make sure she's not given any special favor because of who she's married to, and that he not get involved in anything she is directly lobbying," says Larry Noble, director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which researches links between political money and public policy. "This is a problem for a lot of couples now in Washington."

For example, when Dick Cheney became vice president, it called attention to the many business connections of his wife, Lynne, who serves on two corporate boards. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the new chairman of the agriculture committee, is married to lobbyist Ruth Harkin.

For such two-career couples, the most common issue raised by ethics watchdogs is the appearance that relatives of powerful policymakers are snagging lucrative clients because of who they know, rather than what they know. In some cases, the arrangement can look like an indirect payoff to the public official.

In Linda Daschle's case, that possibility seems remote because most of her lobbying is in a field where she has long-standing expertise and contacts. For five years — from 1993 to 1997 — she was deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. She served for the last few months as the agency's acting administrator. She was a top manager at the Civil Aeronautics Board from 1980 to 1984 and worked for aviation trade groups during a 20-year Washington career.

Her client list includes airlines American and Northwest, aircraft maker Boeing, and aviation technology companies L-3 Communications, *Loral and United Technologies. She also represents airport executives, airports in Cleveland and Englewood, Colo., and a trade association for concrete paving contractors. Those clients paid Daschle's law and lobbying firm, Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell, about $1.1 million in the year ending last June, the most recent records available.

One client that attracted attention because it was outside Daschle's normal area of expertise was Schering-Plough, the pharmaceutical giant that sought unsuccessfully last year to extend the patent life of its allergy drug, Claritin. Several ethics groups said the lucrative lobbying arrangement smacked of buying special access..

But Marc Miller, a Washington attorney who has studied the potential conflicts that arise for congressional spouses, says it appears that Tom and Linda Daschle's arrangements more than meet normal ethics guidelines.

Miller says disclosure of lobbying relationships is a key to avoiding conflicts. "If in the next reporting period, she starts to show a whole bunch of brand-new clients in areas other than aviation, that would be a red flag," he says.

Linda Daschle, 46, was born in Oklahoma and educated at Kansas State University. She became a weather observer for the FAA while in college. She won the Miss Kansas competition in 1976 before going to Washington to launch her career. She and the senator were married in 1984, the year after he and his first wife, Laurie, were divorced.


{*note: remember Loral, the company that sold the US multi-warhead guidence system to China}

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:18 PM

That's an old edition you've quoted, pdq. Daschle hasn't been in office since 2005 and hasn't been Senate Majority Leader since 2003. That's a really pathetic attempt to sling mud.

Subject: RE: BS: My god, it's Daschle too!
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 02:57 PM

In fact here is the date of that article" 06/05/2001 - Updated 06:59 PM ET