Nancy Killifer has withdrawn her nomination.

[Thrill]

Unreal. More tax issues.

These people are just ripping his Political Capital Apart

At this point he probably picked Gregg as a safe choice

[TwilightGardener]

1. Where the fuck is the vetting on these people?

[EffieBlack]

39. Vetting wouldn't necessarily pick this stuff up . . .

[WinkyDink]

41. I would get the message out that the next one will be RUINED politically.

Time for some LBJ talk.

[firedupdem]

2. What the fuck?

This is getting ridiculous.




Notice the women step down....the men keep plowing ahead.

[rurallib]

3. You calling Bill Richardson a woman?

Joking, joking

[firedupdem]

7. LOL!

I'm getting pissed. These fuckers are embarassing. What is really going on? First time I'm truly following politics. Is this normal?

[Jennicut]

14. Yes, completely normal. This happens in every administration.

But there does seem to be a double standard as Daschle is well known to his Senate colleagues. Also, I think Obama cannot allow anymore people to have the same problem in his administration.

[rurallib]

17. I think a part of it is the media

For one thing appointees were never checked all that closely until Atwater took over the R party. After that is was all war all the time. So when Clinton won and he appointed his people the Repugs went after every little item. And by that time the media had been drastically consolidated into few hands. Those few had an agenda which the repugs would fulfill so every time any little story surfaced (lie or not) the media went after it like a bulldog.
Until 2001 when the media went to sleep. Only to re-awaken on Nov.5th, 2008.
Prior to 1993, most of these problems would get a mention in the evening news. With negligible opposition the M$M buries real stories and turns farts into earthquakes. Now with cable news 7X24 things get blown up into catastrophes that are nothing. That is my view anyway.

[firedupdem]

21. This makes a lot of sense...thanks!

They are really fucking the President over with this shit.

[marylanddem]

4. refresh my memory - who was the other woman who stepped down?

[firedupdem]

8. Clinton Administration, not this one...maybe I should have made

that more clear. CNN last night showed some women that he nominated that had to step back for nanny issues or other problems, while most of the guys apologize and keep rolling.

[marylanddem]

9. Thanks - and you're right, the women DO step aside

more often, now that I think back to Clinton. Good point.

[sandnsea]

25. Zoe Baird hired an illegal worker

Completely different scenario that had much less to do with the taxes than the fact that she used loopholes to avoid hiring a US citizen who would have known her rights, and then avoided paying taxes on top of it. Classic definition of "limousine liberal". That was Zoe Baird's problem, not sexism.

[TwilightGardener]

5. Male arrogance. Most men are like that--their flaws are someone else's problem, not theirs.

Sorry, guys, it's true and you know it. :D

[Clio the Leo]

15. Is it because she's a female?

Or lower on the totem pole?

.... and the third bump in the road?

[Skidmore]

6. She won't make it through because she's not a part of the Senate club.

Daschle needs to go.

[CharmCity]

30. That's not correct.

She has been confirmed by the Senate for two appointments in the last ten years.

[marylanddem]

10. Can't find the source for this story - link?

[Hope And Change]

11. Here...

ANOTHER ONE: Deputy OMB Director-/Chief Performance Officer-designate Nancy Killefer has withdrawn her nomination due to tax problems, NBC and AP report. (10:02 a.m.)


http://www.politico.com/politico44/

[Thrill]

12. MSNBC just reported and here is the AP article

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gfS4MpLstbt1vSBTODBVsglt8gnQD9645SPG0

[marylanddem]

13. Thanks - this says she owed $900 but I'd bet the story is bigger

than that...We'll see...

[firedupdem]

16. Well at least we know what the GOP's 2010 theme will be.....

"Dem's don't pay their taxes".

They should put the state of Michigan on these assholes. I owed them 312 bucks and they had no problem snatching it from my checking account.

Maybe we need a "penetrating expose" on every person in politics to see if they pay their taxes?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

19. "household help"

The story will be in the details. Stupid that she let it get to the point that they put a lien on her house. It would take a number of communications back and forth to get to that stage especially for a fairly small amount of dollars.

[customerserviceguy]

28. They don't just put a lien on your "house"

they file general liens that attach to any of your property. I actually had it happen to me once, back in the 1980's. I had moved, and was not getting notices from them that were not forwarded to my new address. When I finally became aware of it, I went in to fight them on the matter, they had triple-counted income on me, took awhile to get them to see it, but I ultimately prevailed.

We'll know the full circumstance soon, and we'll see how well President Obama stands behind women in his Administration when they have the same problems as his powerful endorsements during the campaign did.

[CharmCity]

29. Just hold on. We don't know why she's pulling out.

[Thrill]

18. MSNBC really trying to push the Double Standard for a woman. Daschle should just step aside

[Clear Blue Sky]

38. There does seem to be a double standard.

Remember Kimba Wood and Zoe Baird?

[ErinBerin84]

20. what an embarrassment !

I don't know if I would agree that it is a double standard for women. But I do think that Daschle should follow her example and go. These people are pissing in the punch bowl. Christ, Woodward really was right last week.

[marylanddem]

22. "pissing in the punchbowl" - never heard that one, great expression

[book_worm]

23. I'm sorry what was she nominated for again?

[Dreamer Tatum]

24. These aren't tax oversights or mistakes

this is FRAUD, plain and simple. I thought this kind of crap is what we voted against. Now Obama is looking
stupider and stupider, because all he can do is continue to support them lest he look like a complete buffoon.

Note to anyone wanting a plum government position: PAY YOUR FUCKING TAXES.

[KittyWampus]

26. No, they are oversights. Stop your overwrought, hyperbolic accusation.

[Dreamer Tatum]

34. Oops, my mistake. They're Democrats.

Silly me. I forgot to flip the "Nothing is forgiven" switch to the off position last Tuesday.

All better.

[uponit7771]

31. They're oversights, unannouced compensations is common and DassHole paid when he was notified and

...didn't try to squirm out of it.

[bertman]

36. Oh come on, uponit7771. These people are millionaires who hire EXPENSIVE tax

accountants to keep them from paying taxes. And, look, it worked. Except that Tom Boy didn't anticipate that our President would win and he'd be exposed for the tax-evading, medical/insurance industry shill that he is. What's really galling about this is that Daschle didn't have the decency to tell Obama's vetters about this crap. Not to mention, that the vetters didn't find out BEFORE he was announced.

These guys (and gals) get to D.C. and become so overwhelmed by their own importance that they think they are above the law. And most of the time they are, until they get back in the public spotlight and every tax filing gets perused.

P.S. Of course Daschle didn't try to squirm out of it. If he had done that it would have killed ANY chance of him ever being in an administration.

[Beacool]

27. Well, who was vetting these people?

Didn't Obama have this mile long questionnaire they had to fill out?

:shrug:

[nc4bo]

32. Better to get it out now than during the hearing or worse, after she was sworn in.

Of course M$M will call it scandalous now but imagine what it would have been if caught later in or after the process was complete. Oy Vey, it'd be a helluva day.

CorpMedia already calling it a HUGH1!!1 ZOMG!11! embarrassment for the Obama Admin. (funny how they never called anything to do with the reign of King George as a HUGH1!!1 ZOMG!11! embarrassment).

[hamsterjill]

33. Do any of those people pay their taxes?

This is going to give the Repukes a lot of ammo. I was hoping for a smoother start with Obama's administration.

I hope this is the end of the press regarding any of his appointee's nonpayment of taxes!

[Thrill]

35. Here is her letter

February 3, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

I recognize that your agenda and the duties facing your Chief Performance Officer are urgent. I have also come to realize in the current environment that my personal tax issue of D.C. Unemployment tax could be used to create exactly the kind of distraction and delay those duties must avoid. Because of this I must reluctantly ask you to withdraw my name from consideration.

I am deeply honored to have been selected by you and you have my deep appreciation for your confidence in me. You have my heartfelt support and best wishes for success in all your endeavors.

Respectfully yours,

Nancy Killefer

[hileeopnyn8d]

37. $298

It was $298 for failure to pay unemployment compensation tax on a nanny.

The AP reported that on March 7, 2005, the D.C. Department of Employment Services slapped a tax lien on her home in the upscale Wesley Heights neighborhood. The local government alleged that beginning three years after she left the high-powered Treasury post she failed to pay unemployment compensation tax for a household employee. She failed to make the required quarterly payments for a year and half, the D.C. government said, whereupon a lien for $946.69 was placed on her home.

That sum included $298 in unpaid taxes, $48.69 in interest and $600 in penalties. Killefer didn't get the lien extinguished for almost five months, until July 29, 2005.

During that period, Killefer and her husband, an economics professor, had two nannies to help care for their teenage son and daughter, and she had a personal assistant to run things when she was on the road, she told Harvard business students back then.

[BklynChick]

40. and why does she withdraw her name and the others stay? her amount owed is significantly lower too.

I'm not going to say it's sexism, but it will certainly appear that way.

[LittleBlue]

42. Can we please get a non tax cheat? I mean seriously, who is vetting?

This is getting absurd.

[gauguin57]

43. Umm ... can these high-powered people not find their way to an H&R Block?

Ugh. I'm starting to feel as if Marie Antoinette has been running my government: Only the LITTLE PEOPLE pay taxes, dahling!

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

44. *head meets desk*