For Tom Daschle, life out of the Senate has been lucrative. In addition to his work as an adviser to a Washington law firm and as chairman of the board for a private equity firm,
Daschle has been paid $195,000 to give speeches to health care industry groups -- the very sector President Obama has designated him to overhaul. While it is common for former lawmakers to engage in paid speaking and lobbying, the fees Daschle received and his work as a special policy adviser to health care clients with the lobbying and law firm Alston & Bird raise fresh questions about his nomination to be Health and Human Services secretary, a selection already thrown off track by revelations that he amended his tax returns on Jan. 2 to pay the IRS roughly $140,000 in back taxes and interest.
Daschle's speaking fees to health care groups over the past two years -- $195,000 -- exceed what he made in any one year as a senator. In 2004, Daschle's last full year in Congress, the salary for a senator was $158,100.
Other work has paid even better. According to financial disclosure documents Daschle filed Jan. 21 with the Office of Government Ethics, since leaving the Senate, Daschle has been paid more than $4 million for his work as an adviser with Alston & Bird, and as chairman of the board of InterMedia Advisors, a private equity fund.
On top of that, dozens of speaking engagements netted Daschle thousands of dollars for each appearance. While Daschle spoke before health care groups more than any other industry, he also addressed organizations representing grocers, real estate interests, retailers, gambling interests and more. On top of those appearances, he was paid tens of thousands of dollars to serve on various boards.
"Sen. Daschle is one of the nation's leading advocates for health reform," his spokeswoman, Jenny Backus, said. "He's welcomed every opportunity to travel the country and talk to any group, paid speeches
not paid speeches."
Obama chose Daschle to lead the administration's effort on a health care overhaul, appointing him head of the White House's Office of Health Reform as well as to his Cabinet.
Daschle's private sector activities have created deep financial ties to the very industry Obama wants him to overhaul. In the past two years, Daschle has been paid to speak to health care companies and industry associations by clients including the health insurance industry and pharmacy companies.
Daschle accepted speaking fees with health care companies as late as Nov.21, two days after it became known that Daschle would be Obama's pick to head Health and Human Services.
According to Daschle's financial disclosure, on that day he was paid $18,000 to speak to Ingalls Health System, a Chicago hospital system.
America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the lobby group that represents the health insurance industry, paid Daschle $20,000 each for two speeches presented Feb. 1, 2007, and Sept. 22, 2008.
The September event was AHIP's annual Medicare and Medicaid conference, said AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach.
Zirkelbach said Daschle "shared his views on health care reform and encouraged health plans to work with other stakeholders to develop solutions."
Daschle's speaking fees from the health care groups ranged from $12,000 to $25,000. During one three-week stretch in August, for example, Daschle spoke to Misys Healthcare Systems ($12,000), Prime Therapeutics ($25,000) and GE Healthcare ($12,000).
North Carolina's Moses Cone Health System paid Daschle $18,000 to attend and speak at an April 10 fundraiser for the health system's charity clinic.
According to Moses Cone spokesman Doug Allred, Daschle addressed an audience of local businessmen about health care overhaul topics, spoke with doctors, toured the clinic and signed copies of his book, "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis." The event raised about $50,000, Allred said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20090203/pl_cq_politics/politics3022831
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