The tally of democrats who cheat on their taxes is climbing....

========================================

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090203/D964CV881.html


Tax problems torpedo two big Obama nominations
 
Feb 3, 6:09 PM (ET)

By JENNIFER LOVEN

WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama on Tuesday gave up his nomination fight 
for Tom Daschle and a second high-profile appointee who failed to pay 
all their taxes, fearing ugly confirmation battles that would undercut 
his claims to ethical high ground and cripple his presidency in just its 
second week. "I screwed up," he declared.

"It's important for this administration to send a message that there 
aren't two sets of rules - you know, one for prominent people and one 
for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes," Obama said in one of a 
series of interviews with TV anchors.

"I'm frustrated with myself, with our team. ... I'm here on television 
saying I screwed up," Obama said in an interview on NBC's "Nightly News 
with Brian Williams." He repeated virtually the same words in several 
other interviews.

The White House announced that Daschle had asked to be removed from 
consideration as health and human services secretary and that that Nancy 
Killefer had made the same request concerning what was to be her 
groundbreaking appointment as a chief performance officer to make the 
entire government run better.

They both recognized that you can't set an example of responsibility but 
accept a different standard of who serves," said spokesman Gibbs.

Daschle said in a brief letter to Obama that he refused to "be a 
distraction" from the new president's drive for health care reform. 
Obama said neither he nor Daschle excused the former senator's tax 
errors but that he accepted his friend's decision "with sadness and 
regret."

Questions about Daschle's failure to fully pay his taxes from 2005 
through 2007 had been increasing since they came to light last Friday. 
Daschle overlooked taxes on income for consulting work and personal use 
of a car and driver, and also deducted more in charitable contributions 
than he should have. To resolve it, he paid $128,203 in back taxes and 
$11,964 in interest last month.

Daschle, chosen to lead the administration's push for sweeping health 
care reform, also was facing questions about potential conflicts of 
interests related to speaking fees he accepted from health care 
interests and about the advice he provided to health insurers and 
hospitals through his work at a law firm.

Killefer, an executive with consulting giant McKinsey & Co., had been 
chosen by Obama to serve in two roles: as the first chief performance 
officer in a White House and as a deputy director at the Office of 
Management and Budget.

When Obama announced Killefer to much fanfare in early January, The 
Associated Press reported that the District of Columbia government had 
filed a $946.69 tax lien on her home in 2005 for failure to pay 
unemployment compensation tax on household help. She resolved the tax 
error five months after the lien was filed. Since then, administration 
officials had refused to say whether her tax problems extended beyond 
that one issue.

The withdrawals by Daschle and Killefer are just two on a list of 
nomination troubles. Gibbs defended the administration's vetting 
process, but said "the president takes responsibility" for the problems.

Bill Richardson had been Obama's first choice for commerce secretary, 
but the New Mexico governor bowed out amid a grand jury investigation 
into a state contract awarded to his political donors. And last week, 
the Senate confirmed Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary, but only 
after days of controversy over the fact that he had only belatedly paid 
$34,000 in income taxes.

Asked whether tax questions were going to arise with any other nominees, 
Gibbs said only that "the president has confidence in the people he has 
chosen to serve in government."

Gibbs said the choice to step aside was Daschle's alone and that he "did 
not get a signal" from the White House to do so. Daschle and Obama spoke 
Tuesday, and the president was surprised at the news, said White House 
senior adviser David Axelrod.

Democratic lawmakers were surprised, too - and disappointed. Axelrod 
rushed to Capitol Hill to soothe frayed nerves.

"I was a little stunned. I thought he was going to get confirmed," said 
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the 
panel that would have voted on Daschle's nomination. "It's regrettable."

Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Daschle's former Democratic 
colleagues had leapt to the former Democratic leader's defense. And it 
seemed that the clubby way that senators treat one of their own was 
likely to help Daschle survive the controversy.

But particularly after the divisive Geithner debate and vote, it 
apparently became too bitter a pill. Tax issues are easy for the public 
to understand, and also particularly easy to resent in wealthy officials 
at a time of widespread economic crisis.

They also created an opening for a drumbeat of criticism from 
Republicans and on newspaper editorial pages that Obama was engaging in 
a double standard: proclaiming his administration to be more ethical, 
responsible and special interest-free than his predecessors' and yet 
carving out exceptions almost daily.

GOP Sen. John Ensign of Nevada said Daschle was going to be faced with 
tough questions from committee members, among them how the wealth he 
amassed from a lobbying firm - while not technically registered as a 
lobbyist - "passes the smell test."

"I think he saved the president from being embarrassed next week in a 
public hearing," Ensign said.

But even while Obama aimed to stave off potentially crippling problems 
in one corner with the withdrawals, he created some new ones.

Obama has promised that moving toward universal health care coverage is 
one of the pillars of first 100 days agenda - a heavy lift that many 
believed Daschle, with his long experience in Washington, was uniquely 
qualified for. Daschle was going to wear two hats for Obama, as White 
House health czar on top of the post leading the Health and Human 
Services Department.

"We're going to do health care reform," Senate Majority Leader Harry 
Reid, D-Nev., said flatly after the nomination withdrawal. But others 
reacted differently.

"It really sets us back a step," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
"Because 
he was such a talent. I mean he understood Congress, serving in the 
House and Senate he certainly had the confidence of the president."

Among those considered for the post before it went to Daschle was Howard 
Dean, the physician-turned-politician who ran for president in 2004 and 
recently left as head of the Democratic National Committee. Other 
possible replacements include Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, 
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.

---

Associated Press writers Michael J. Sniffen, Ron Fournier, Liz Sidoti, 
Charles Babington and David Espo contributed to this story. 

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Stop the Democrat party oil embargo ....