Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich says Daschle cratered because of growing discontent with business as usual in DC.
I’m sorry Tom Daschle won’t be in the Obama administration. He would have served the public well and with distinction. But the public wants change, real change, big change. There’s no tolerance any longer for the way things used to be done
Rumsfeld is an incompetent asshole who commits war crimes and remains free. Daschle is a skilled public servant who owes $150,000 and his entire career tanks.
Yeah, woop-de-f#%kin-doo for change.
Do you pay your taxes, why the hell should somebody who is a big earner get away with doing the public, if he cheats on money then he is not honest therefore not a good public servant. That doesn’t excuse Rumsfeld, but don’t expect to see any war crime indictments, he’s in the big club.
Daschle failed to report non-cash value received from a client of about $150,000– specifically the value of a car and driver the company provided. (1) That’s an easy oversight to make, since most people wouldn’t think of having to report the value of services received from a client. (2) That’s about $50,000 in tax, assuming he had no related expenses to offset it.
IRS says the amount of underpaid tax in the U.S. runs about $300 million. THAT’S a “big club.”
I echo UJ: “woop-de-f#%kin-doo”…
You think Daschle does his own taxes and this was somehow an oversight? “Oh drat my foolish incompetence.”
Reich also said that another big problem with Daschle was that he was a semi-lobbyist for the same industry he would have been regulating and that would be a massive conflict of interest. And those are the folks that gave him the car.
Plus, Congress was deluged with protest
“Hill staffers tell me that many offices have been inundated with telephone calls, emails, letters and faxes expressing concern (to put it mildly) about Daschle”
PS There were several tax problems, the car was just one of them. He paid $140,000 in back taxes
Pardon me for sounding conspiratorial, but I think this has more to do with Universal Health Care than being a transparent government official. Without a powerhouse like Daschle out of the game and Hillary at State, who’s left to champion this agenda? Elizabeth Edwards?
“Hill staffers tell me that many offices have been inundated with telephone calls, emails, letters and faxes expressing concern (to put it mildly) about Daschleâ€
Were these calls, emails, letters and faxes coming from DEMOCRATS? What KIND of concern were they expressing? Who the f#%k sends a fax, anyway?! Oh right. Lobbyists.
Three cheers for Blue Cross…I mean transparency.