Daschle "Deeply Embarrassed and Disappointed"

[Hope And Change]

Daschle Explanation Letter

February 1, 2009

The Honorable Max Baucus - Chairman
The Honorable Charles Grassley - Ranking Member
Committee on Finance
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

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


http://thepage.time.com/daschle-explanation-letter/">Link

[DrDan]

1. as are millions of Democrats - deeply embarrassed and disappointed

[marshall]

4. It will be interesting to see if this works

His best hope is that he can draw it out long enough for people to get used to the idea that not paying taxes is a normal thing.

[leftynyc]

8. Tough time of year to try that

As people are doing their taxes and writing out their checks. Me, I'd dump in now and give it to Dean.

[Skidmore]

2. Daschle and Gephardt are on the bottom of my list of Dems

to be tapped for major positions in this administration. I was very disappointed to see Daschle handed this nomination.

[acmavm]

3. Go away Tom. Just go away.

[dascientist]

5. D.E.A.D. ?????? (Deeply Embarrassed And Disappointed)

.......

[Thrill]

6. He's a weasel. Write your Senators and tell them to vote NO

I was ok with Geitner but not this one

[mod mom]

9. done!

[marshall]

10. If things don't start looking up he will withdraw

Richardson did it, and saved Obama the embarassment of a "no" vote in a Democratically controlled Senate. Daschle will do the same in the end, but I think he's hoping it will work out.

[Thrill]

11. My guess is his ego won't let him withdraw.

[Life Long Dem]

7. Smells real funny.

[firedupdem]

12. Geitner didn't bother me but this guy does.....

How is it that when I owed the state of Michigan 312 bucks they nabbed it out of my checking account? They sent me a letter saying don't worry about mailing it, we got it, you took too long. These fuckers are above the law! Pay your damn taxes like the rest of us!

[Enrique]

13. I care more about his lobbying than his taxes n/t