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Driving Tom Daschle

Big oops!

Like any washed up politician Tom Daschle cashed in after his term of service was over and joined gold plated money making machine InterMedia Advisors of Englewood, Colorado, which hired him to sooth their clients. Daschle is a limited partner and chairman of that firm's executive advisory board, and is also an independent consultant to InterMedia Advisors LLP of New York City.

The job also came with a car and a private chauffer; so Daschle thought.

But it turned out that Daschle was supposed to have been paying taxes on the service and didn’t, which put him in arrears to the US treasury for about three years.

When Treasury thugs came looking for him, shortly after the new Health and Human Services Secretary was plucked from obscurity by the Obama administration to socialize the nation’s health system, he and his accountant “fixed” the oversight.

Daschle failed to report income from the use of a car service in the amounts of $73,031 in 2005, $89,129 in 2006 and $93,096 in 2007. He failed to report consulting income of $83,333 in 2007. Add to the sum his failure to report adjusted reductions in charitable contributions, and Daschle adds a total of $353,552 in additional income and reduced donations, meaning an additional tax payment of $128,203, in addition to $11,964 in interest.

Politico is reporting that Daschle’s patron, Leo Hindery , the Democratic fundraiser who provided the free car and driver to Daschle and the founder of InterMedia Advisors, paid Daschle at a rate of $1 million a year as a consultant: “Hindery was an economic consultant to Obama during the campaign and was believed at one point to have been under consideration for the Commerce secretary post.”

John Hinderlake of Powerline finds a silver lining in all this subterfuge: “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.”

Daschle is the second tax scofflaw in the new Obama administration to be examined by the congress, which must pass on the acceptability nominees before they assume office.

Tim Geithner, Obama’s Treasury Secretary precedes him. Since Democrats this year are in command of the White House and congress, not too much ado was made about this “nothing.”

Republicans on the verge of being Democrats -- Mike Crapo, Orrin Hatch, John Cornyn, Olympia Snowe and John Ensign -- voted the goof ball into his position.

The usual Democrat culprits winked.

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