Tom Daschle Withdraws as Obama's Health Secretary Nominee

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By Albert N. Milliron, Editor, Politisite.com, Iron Mill Interactive Media, inc

On the condition of Anonymity a top Aide to President Obama stated, early this morning, that Tom Daschle will withdraw his name from nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Health and Human Services secretary nominee Daschles tax issues continues to expose themselves like an onion. Following President Obama’s nomination it was shortly reviled that Former Senator Daschle had some tax issues that caused him to quickly correct a tax violations, voluntarily paying $101,943 in back taxes plus interest. He quickly also amended his Tax forms for the years 2005 and 2007.

These tax issues were based on a gift of transportation that could have been overlooked by the nominee. Upon learning of the tax liability he quickly corrected the mistake. Admittedly this tax liability issue could have been an honest mistake by the nominee. The talking points on the issue seemed to emphasis the honest mistake on the nominees part and was quickly put to rest. The main stream media dominated this component of the tax liability and most Americans, knowing the complexity of some of the tax law, appeared to give Senator Daschle a quick pass on the subject.

Late yesterday, a few other tax issues arose including $83,333 in consulting income that Daschle failed to report in 2007. While the main stream media was focusing on the obscure components of the tax code, they failed to bring up that Mr. Daschle received funds for speaking engagements that other activities that he failed to add as income to his tax forms. Most Americans are aware that Income is income which shortly made Nominee Daschles plight for forgiveness and his desire to be confirmed as the Health and Human Services Secretary a little shaky. To add insult to injury, most of this income came from Health organizations. The very sector of the Government he will be asked to maintain oversight and implement legislation.

The next issue that pealed away from the onion revealed that Senator Daschle had identified certain charitable donations that did not qualify by the internal Revenue Service as meeting the criteria as such. So $14,963 he had deducted as charity where not so based on IRS criteria.

While one can give Nominee Daschle a passon the automobile use that he questioned if it was considered income, there is little doubt that he was attempting to short the United States Government the tax liability associated with the Income he received from consulting and his attempting to take a charitablr deductions by entities that do not qualify by the IRS as charitable contributions.

Based upon the newly reveled information. The Obama Administration has withdrawn it’s full support from Nominee Daschle and Close Aides are saying that Daschle will be no longer be the HHS nominee with in the next 24-48 hours.

NY Times calls for Daschle’s withdrawal

What happens when your own cheerleading team starts booing one of your players? Barack Obama just found out. The New York Times has called for Tom Daschle to withdraw, and for Obama to find another, “less-blemished” Secretary of HHS, and not just regarding taxes (via The Corner):

Update 13:01 Hrs CNN confirms White House: Tom Daschle asks President Obama to withdraw his nomination for health and human services secretary. This comes 5 hours after we broke the story

Tom Daschle’s Letter to Committee on Tax Issues

February 1, 2009

Dear Chairman Baucus and Senator Grassley: Thank you for the work you and the Committee are doing to move forward on my nomination by President Obama to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. I know that despite the heavy workload from both the Economic Recovery Act and SCHIP, as well as all the nominees the Committee is handling, your staff has worked diligently on my nomination. I also appreciate the strong commitment to fairness you both have expressed.

As you can well imagine, I am deeply embarrassed and disappointed by the errors that required me to amend my tax returns. I apologize for the errors and profoundly regret that you have had to devote time to them. I will be happy to answer any Committee members’ questions about these issues. In the meantime, as a follow-up to our conversations, I would like to briefly review three issues discussed at my meeting with your staff and mentioned in our meeting on Thursday. Last fall, when I was being considered for this position, the Presidential Transition Team’s vetters reviewed my records. During the course of those reviews, the vetting team flagged charitable contributions they felt were deducted in error. When my accountant realized I would need to file amended returns, he suggested addressing another matter I had raised with him earlier in the year: whether the use of a car service offered to me by a close friend might be a tax issue. In December, my accountant advised me that it should be reported as imputed income in the amended returns. At about the same time, the friend’s company, a consulting client, informed my accountant of a clerical error it had made on the Form 1099 it provided to me and reported to the IRS for 2007. In an effort to ensure full compliance and the most complete disclosure possible of my personal finances, we remedied these issues by filing amended tax returns with full payments, including interest. We provided all this information to the Committee in addition to the completed Committee questionnaire and my responses to your staff’s questions.

I disclosed this information to the Committee voluntarily, and paid the taxes and any interest owed promptly. My mistakes were unintentional. I am available to answer any further questions you might have and look forward to coming before the Committee in the very near future to discuss the critical health and human services issues facing our country. Should I be approved by your Committee and confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to working in partnership with you both to pass meaningful legislation that will help Americans get the health reform they need and deserve and to ensure that all HHS programs and activities reflect a commitment to responding to the needs of our citizens in a manner that is compassionate, cost-effective, and transparent.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, Tom Daschle

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Tom Daschle Withdraws as Obama’s Health Secretary Nominee