And another one bites the dust:
Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination to be Health and Human Services secretary. That’s according to a joint White House statement from President Barack Obama and his former nominee.
Obama said Tuesday he accepted the withdrawal “with sadness and regret.” Daschle has been battling for his nomination since it was disclosed he failed to pay more than $120,000 in taxes.
He said he’s withdrawing because he’s not a leader who has the full faith of Congress and will be a distraction.
Wow. I gotta say: I didn’t see this coming.
The irony here is that he’s now out $120,000 in money he paid to the IRS that, rather clearly, the IRS wasn’t interested in collecting. His contribution to the stimulus, I guess.
And, frankly, if you’re making so much money in the private sector (even its rent-seeking subsector) that you can get away with not paying six figures in taxes, why would you even consider giving it up to run a second-tier Cabinet department?
