Remember how then-Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), running for Vice President, said that it would be “patriotic” for wealthier Americans to pay higher taxes? And when he was challenged on that remark, he indicated it wasn’t some flub or throwaway line by defending it.
Well, the Democrats controlling the United States Senate just confirmed the nomination of one tax cheat unpatriotic American to be Secretary of the Treasury. Sadly, they had the help of ten Republicans, and they didn’t even need them: with fifty Democrats voting to confirm Timothy Geithner, and only 94 senators present, the confirmation was assured.
And now, we have another one: via Instapundit we learn that former Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD), President Obama’s nominee to become Secretary of Welfare Health and Human Services has been less than thorough in paying his taxes. John Hinderaker of Powerline has the story. It seems that Mr Daschle filed amended income tax returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007, indicating $128,203 in unpaid taxes and $11,964 in interest, according to a Senate document obtained by the Associated Press.
I was especially amused by this paragraph:
“Senator Daschle told staff that in June 2008, something made him think that the car service might be taxable and disclosed the arrangement to his accountant,” said the committee statement. “Senator Daschle estimated that he used the car and driver 80 percent for personal use and 20 percent for business use. On January 2, 2009, Senator Daschle filed amended returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007 reporting the value of the car service as income.”
Something made him think of this? Couldn’t have been the fact he was a high-profile supporter of the Democratic presidential nominee, and that he might possibly be considered for a major job in the Obama Administration, should the voters choose to elect Mr Obama? Well, while I don’t have a company vehicle now, I have had in the past, and a working class guy like me still had to fill out forms every year concerning personal mileage — and mileage from home to work and vice versa counted as personal — and the results of those disclosures appeared on my W-2 forms; the company reported it to the Infernal Revenue Service.
Of course, I was just a concrete plant manager or quality control technician — I’ve held several positions with ready mix companies — and not “a limited partner and chairman” of InterMedia Advisors’ executive advisory board, nor “an independent consultant to InterMedia Advisors LLP,” nor married to a millionaire lobbyist. (You might like this look at InterMedia’s people.)
There are some real questions to be asked here. According to the story:
Beginning in 2005, Daschle was provided the use of a car and driver by Leo Hindery, InterMedia’s managing partner. The two have been personal friends for many years, the Finance Committee report said. Charges for the car and driver services were billed to InterMedia.
If InterMedia received bills for the car and driver, then InterMedia had records of its use. From Business Week comes an overview of the company:
InterMedia Advisors, LLP is a principal investment firm specializing in buyouts and industry consolidation. The firm seeks to make medium to large size investments in the media sector. It will not invest in technology, telecom, cable, and satellite sector. The firm prefers to invest in the companies based in the United States and Canada. It seeks to invest between $50 million and $100 million in its portfolio companies. InterMedia Advisors, LLP was founded in March 2005 and is based in New York City.
Chrysler Building
New York, NY
Anyone here think that a company like that had no tax accountants?
For former Senator Daschle to have been able to file amended returns, he would have needed records of the mileage put on the car. That means that someone had to file reports to InterMedia concerning odometer readings and the wages for the driver. While an 80/20 split of personal/business use is just an estimate, the mileage is not; that’s a hard number, and any corporation which provides company cars has to obtain and maintain those records.
I will tell you, flat out: a crime has been committed here! It might not be Senator Daschle who has committed it; if InterMedia did not maintain proper records or did not inform Mr Daschle that he needed to provide mileage and personal use estimates, then the crime would have been on the part of InterMedia. If InterMedia did not inform Mr Daschle that he was receiving a taxable benefit, InterMedia is at fault. But if the fault lays with the company, then you have to ask another question: why would the company’s accountants fail to do their work like that? Would the fact that Mr Daschle was provided the use of a car and driver by Mr Hindery, a personal friend for many years, have anything to do with it?
One would think that Leo Hindery would be particularly meticulous with his accounting people. After all, Mr Hindery was the Chief Executive Officer of Global Crossing, which failed in one of the biggest bankruptcies ever. And one would think — incorrectly, it seems — that Mr Daschle would have concerns about working for someone like Mr Hindery, at least enough concerns to make sure that the accounting was on the up-and-up.
Of course, now that that odd thought occurred to Mr Daschle, though somewhat late in coming, why he told his accountant about the possible problems, and they went back and redid his taxes — after he was picked for a job requiring Senate confirmation, of course. I’m certain that the timeline is just a coincidence.
As the Minority Leader in 2001, Senator Daschle fought against President Bush’s proposed tax cuts. He made a demagogic “Lexus” vs “mufflers” presentation with then House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, saying that the Bush tax cuts as proposed would be too big a benefit for the wealthy, and not enough of one for the poor. I guess that we can see why Mr Daschle, a wealthy man himself, doesn’t mind higher taxes for the wealthy. If you are going to cheat on your taxes anyway, who cares what the other guy pays?
Oh, I’m sorry, that’s right. Mr Daschle didn’t willfully cheat on his taxes. He simply worked for the guy who presided over Global Crossing’s failure, and it just never occurred to him that maybe, just maybe, he’d better make sure all of the compensation and numbers were legitimate.
John Hinderaker found about the only good thing in electing Barack Obama as President of the United States:
Still, there is always a silver lining. One good thing about electing a Democrat as President is that, as he nominates fellow Democrats to senior positions in the Executive Branch, millions of dollars in unpaid tax liabilities come to light and are belatedly paid to the IRS, with interest. It is, perhaps, the most tangible advantage of electing Democrats to office.
Great digging on this story. We should really hammer this one home because I think the people who pay attention are already weary of the missteps of this new administration. It is turning into the literal “den of thieves.” There is a reason the people of South Dakota fired Tom Daschle, they did not like his ethical compass and this is just the tip of the iceberg with him. He is embedded in so many pockets it is hard to keep count and his wife is deep in the lobbying pool in DC.
I like your website very much and I think the way you phrase and pose your findings is great writing. Thanks for doing the legwork. Cheers
Dana Pico, you’ve provided one of the best rundowns on this mess that I’ve read today. I agree with commenter annie murphy above, great digging. That the standards have been so easily and so quickly lowered by this administration is really troubling.
With Daschle, the timeline is indeed everything. To avoid this mess, it would have been crucial for him to fix the problem as soon as he knew it existed. That he waited until after he knew he would have to face a confirmation hearing, screams guilty… at least in the court of public opinion… which seems to mean less and less with each passing day. I believe this administration is seriously underestimating the gullibility of the American public.
When people see or hear atrocious things on a daily basis, those atrocious things become bad. When people see or hear bad things on a daily basis, those bad things become irrelevant. I believe many liberals have depended on that for a very long time.
Does corn fuel ethanol policy increase oil use and Big oil profit?
* * Some folks think so
* * An ethanol waiver would stop a $1 billion California oil refinery welfare program coming from the federal government @ $0.51 per gallon of ethanol used
* * About 60,000 barrels per day of the oil used by cars is allowed by the “renewable fuel” CAFE credit
* * California corn Ethanol uses lots of water
* * Should a grand jury consider the cause of death of Alexander Farrell, 46, expert on alternative fuels?
* * http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/18/BAOK1087DP.DTL
* Was Dr. Russell Long/REAP/Pavley 2002 CA CO2 tailpipe bill for corn fuel ethanol?
Wow. Dana, you are fantastic. I’m printing this and using it to create a firestorm with my friends at half-time. Thanks.
When this story first broke I read some quotes that said Daschle was accustomed to having a car and driver. Does anyone have links to these quotes? They may have been stated by one of his aides.
WSJ 1/31/2009
Mr. Daschle told committee staff that he had grown used to having a car and driver as Senate majority leader and didn’t think to report the perquisite on his taxes, according to staff members.
Feel free, John, though one wonders how much anyone is going to care during half-time of the Super Bowl.
Me, I’m still rooting for the Oakland Raiders to win!
Mr. Daschle told committee staff that he had grown used to having a car and driver as Senate majority leader and didn’t think to report the perquisite on his taxes, according to staff members.
Daschle spokeswoman Jenny Backus said that Daschle “naively” believed the car service was a “generous offer from a friend,” and he discovered only last summer that it is considered reportable income.
“Sen. Daschle told staff that in June 2008, something made him think that the car service might be taxable and disclosed the arrangement to his accountant,” said the committee statement. “Sen. Daschle estimated that he used the car and driver 80 percent for personal use and 20 percent for business use. On Jan. 2, 2009, Sen. Daschle filed amended returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007 reporting the value of the car service as income.”
Daschle filed amended tax returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007 to reflect additional income for consulting work, the use of a car service and reduced deductions for charitable contributions. He filed the returns after Obama announced he intended to nominate Daschle to head the Health and Human Services Department.
Most of the additional taxes resulted from unreported income from the use of a car service provided him by a close friend and business associate, Leo Hindery Jr. The unreported income for that service totaled more than $250,000 over three years.
The car service and the consulting income were received in connection with Daschle’s business relationship with InterMedia Partners of Englewood, Colo. Daschle is a limited partner and chairman of its executive advisory board. He is also an independent consultant to InterMedia Advisors LLP of New York City.
Hindery founded InterMedia Partners, a private equity firm, in 1988. Daschle was paid $1 million annually for his services, the committee said. Daschle’s 2007 tax return did not include one of his monthly payments of $88,333.
The spokesperson said, by way of explaining how it was this happened: “In 2005, Sen. Daschle’s close friend Leo Hindery, who lives in New York, offered him the use of a car and driver in Washington when he was not using it. That same year, they began a formal business relationship where he was an independent consultant and chairman of the external advisory board to InterMedia Advisors. The car was not provided as part of his compensation. So it never occurred to him that it should be considered income. The senator simply and probably naively considered its use a generous offer by a longtime friend.”
Hindery did not have any comment. Daschle has personally refrained from commenting.
Last year, Daschle was paid more than $2 million in salary from Hindery’s firm, in addition to the $2 million he earned as a senior adviser at the law firm of Alston and Bird.
Mr. Robert Gibbs said, “In preparation for his nomination, Sen. Daschle and his accountant identified some tax issues and fixed them. They filed amended returns with the IRS and made payments with interest. Sen. Daschle brought these issues to the Finance Committee’s attention when he submitted his nomination forms.”
During the vetting process to become HHS secretary, Daschle corrected the tax violation, voluntarily paying the back taxes plus interest, working with his accountant to amend his tax returns for 2005 through 2007. He filed the amended tax returns on Jan. 2.
The changes reflected unreported income from the use of the car service valued at $255,256 for those three years, according to the Finance Committee report. He also amended his returns to cover $83,333 in unreported consulting income for 2007. And he reduced his charitable contributions by $14,963.
Daschle Tax payment issues on house in 2003
Same week:
President Barack Obama issued a withering critique Thursday of Wall Street corporate behavior, calling it “the height of irresponsibility” for employees to be paid more than $18 billion in bonuses last year while their crumbling financial sector received a bailout from taxpayers. “It is shameful,” Obama said from the Oval Office. “And part of what we’re going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility.”
On Saturday Night Obama joked about a certain problem he has with the Labradoodle picked out for his daughters — the dog owes back taxes.
The Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, defended Daschle but said skepticism, even cynicism, about Daschle not paying his taxes was understandable.
“But if you know Tom Daschle, you know better,” Durbin said on Fox. “He’s found himself having made a mistake and admitted to it. He took the steps necessary to start paying the taxes, make sure they’re paid. Now, that’s the right thing to do. I believe Tom Daschle’s one of the most honest people I’ve ever known or worked with in public life.”
LA Time Article- Tom Daschle to face close scrutiny
Tom Daschle Political Donations:
DASCHLE, THOMAS
WASHINGTON,DC 20016 ALSTON & BIRD/SPECIAL POLICY ADVISO 9/30/08 $1,000 Feinstein, Dianne (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALLSTON AND BIRD/ADVISOR 6/28/08 $1,000 Murphy, Patrick J (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD LLP/SPECIAL POLICY AD 12/27/07 $1,000 Feder, Judith (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD LLP/SPECIAL POLICY AD 5/6/08 $1,000 Feder, Judith (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD, L.L.P./SPECIAL POLIC 3/29/08 $1,000 Slattery, Jim (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20004 ALSTON & BIRD, LLP/SPECIAL POLICY A 11/15/07 $28,500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD LLP/SPECIAL POLICY AD 11/28/07 $10,000 DNC Services Corp (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON BIRD/SENIOR ADVISOR 8/8/08 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/LEGAL CONSULTANT 2/26/07 $1,000 Emanuel, Rahm (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD LLP/SPECIAL POLICY AD 6/30/08 $1,000 Allen, Tom (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/SPECIAL POLICY ADVISO 9/12/07 $1,000 Johnson, Tim (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD LLP/SENIOR POLICY ADV 1/31/07 $1,000 KidsPAC
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD, LLP/SENIOR POLICY AD 6/2/08 $1,000 KidsPAC
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD, LLP/SENIOR POLICY AD 7/30/07 $1,000 Landrieu, Mary L (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/SPECIAL POLICY ADVISO 5/3/07 $1,000 Reid, Harry (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/SPECIAL POLICY ADVISO 9/30/07 $1,000 Reid, Harry (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 AUSTIN & BIRD/ATTORNEY 3/24/08 $1,000 Sarvi, Steve (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/CONSULTANT 12/17/07 $1,000 Udall, Mark (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/CONSULTANT 5/21/07 $1,000 Udall, Mark (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD, LLP/SPECIAL POLICY A 6/19/08 $1,000 Warner, Mark (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD, LLP/ATTORNEY 1/22/08 $1,000 Warner, Mark (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD, LLP/ATTORNEY 10/16/07 $1,000 Warner, Mark (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/SPECIAL POLICY ADVISO 3/14/08 $500 Salazar, John (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/SPECIAL POLICY ADVISO 5/13/08 $500 Matsui, Doris O (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/SPECIAL POLICY ADVISO 3/4/08 $500 Skelly, Michael Peter (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20016 ALSTON & BIRD/SPECIAL POLICY ADVISO 8/11/08 $500 Titla, Mary Kim (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD LLP/SPECIAL POLICY AD 3/17/08 $500 Competitive Edge PAC (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/SPECIAL POLICY ADVISO 9/12/07 $419 Johnson, Tim (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS A HON
WASHINGTON,DC 20004 ALSTON & BIRD LLP/SPECIAL POLICY AD 4/30/07 $5,000 Alston & Bird
DASCHLE, THOMAS A MR
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD LLP/SENIOR ADVISOR 3/5/07 $2,300 Obama, Barack (D)
DASCHLE, THOMAS HON
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 NEW LEADERSHIP FOR AMERICA/DIR 6/13/07 $1,000 Hoyer, Steny H (D)
DASCHLE, TOM
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON AND BIRD; LLP/CONSULTANT 9/16/07 $2,300 Polis, Jared (D)
DASCHLE, TOM
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD, LLP/CONSULTANT 10/5/08 $2,000 Obama, Barack (D)
DASCHLE, TOM
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD/SR POLICY ADVISOR 6/26/07 $1,000 Murray, Patty (D)
DASCHLE, TOM
WASHINGTON,DC 20004 ALSTON &BIRD LLP/LOBBYIST 11/26/07 $1,000 Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (D)
DASCHLE, TOM
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD, LLP/CONSULTANT 5/23/08 $1,000 Edwards, Chet (D)
DASCHLE, TOM
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON & BIRD, LLP/CONSULTANT 4/18/08 $1,000 Democratic Party of South Dakota (D)
DASCHLE, TOM
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 BEST EFFORT/BEST EFFORT 6/17/08 $1,000 Democratic Party of South Dakota (D)
DASCHLE, TOM A
WASHINGTON,DC 20007 ALSTON AND BIRD, LLP/CONSULTANT 10/5/08 $1,000 Shaheen, Jeanne (D)
Dole rides to rescue of embattled Cabinet nominee; calls Daschle tax issue “innocent”
Said Dole in a statement to reporters: “I’ve known Tom Daschle for nearly 30 years. I worked with him in the Senate until I left in 1996 and since then on such issues as farm legislation, energy, health care and many others. For the past four years we have worked together at the Alston & Bird law firm in Washington, DC. “The one thing I feel certain about is Senator Daschle’s honesty and integrity.
And then, there’s this CLASSIC commercial from Tom Daschle proving what a tightwad he is…
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=272283&widget=1