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How quickly they fall. Tom Daschle, who just yesterday had the full backing of President Barack Obama, has announced he is withdrawing his name from consideration as Health and Humans Services secretary. For both Daschle and Obama, it has been a rough ride, calling into question the latter’s judgment and skill as a chief executive. President Barack Obama rode into Washington on a veritable cloud of goodwill and sky-high expectations. The mainstream media had swooned over his transition with some justification. They had swooned over his inaugural speech with far less. But hopes, even among conservatives, were high for a...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite the tax problems faced by high-level nominees, and the exceptions made to the no-lobbyists pledge, President Barack Obama's spokesman is defending the administration's ethical standards. Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday, "The bar that we set is the highest that any administration in the country has ever set."

Does the Dems' party platform require their top dogs to have tax problems? Tom Daschle failed to pay more than $120,000 in taxes ....and raked in a staggering $5.2 million from the health-care industry which he'd regulate.........tax delinquencies of Treasury Secy Timothy Geithner and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rangel make you wonder whether these guys have any shame at all.

First Tim Geithner. Now Tom Daschle? Who’s Obama’s next cabinet pick - Wesley Snipes? Dianne Wilkerson? Not to upset the loyal O-Bots out there, but the last guy from Chicago to have this much income tax trouble was Al Capone. And at last report, he still had an outside shot at getting Commerce secretary. President Obama pledged to change Washington, and he has. Before Obama, tax cheats used to lose jobs. Conservative academic Victor Davis Hanson calls the choice of Daschle the “Rezkozation” of the Obama administration. Tony Rezko, you may recall, was the bagman who bankrolled part of Obama’s...

First Tim Geithner. Now Tom Daschle? Who’s Obama’s next cabinet pick - Wesley Snipes? Dianne Wilkerson? Not to upset the loyal O-Bots out there, but the last guy from Chicago to have this much income tax trouble was Al Capone. And at last report, he still had an outside shot at getting Commerce secretary. President Obama pledged to change Washington, and he has. Before Obama, tax cheats used to lose jobs. Conservative academic Victor Davis Hanson calls the choice of Daschle the “Rezkozation” of the Obama administration. Tony Rezko, you may recall, was the bagman who bankrolled part of Obama’s...

Federal regulators have green-lighted the first trial of an embryonic stem-cell treatment in humans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave the go-ahead for Geron Corporation to start a phase I safety trial of its therapy GRNOPC1 for spinal cord injuries, the Menlo Park, Calif.–based company announced today. It first sought permission for the trial four years ago and spent much of the last year trying to satisfy the FDA’s concerns about it. "This marks the beginning of what is potentially a new chapter in medical therapeutics—one that reaches beyond pills to a new level of healing: the restoration...

It looks like Tom Daschle will become the next Health and Human Services Secretary even though he failed to pay a massive chunk of his taxes. Many Americans might have been in danger of ending up in jail if they made similar "unintentional" errors to the tune of $128,000 but the White House clearly considers the appointment a done deal. Before the tax issue reared its head, we'd learned that Daschle would get a plush ground-floor West Wing office and he'd posed, grinning, for Vanity Fair as part of "the Cabinet" of President Barack Obama. The small matter of a...

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama promised a "clean break from business as usual" in Washington. It hasn't quite worked out that way. From the start, he made exceptions to his no-lobbyist rule. And now, embarrassing details about Cabinet-nominee Tom Daschle's tax problems and big paychecks from special interest groups are raising new questions about the reach and sweep of the new president's promised reforms. Maybe he shouldn't have promised so much, some open-government advocates say. They're willing to cut him some slack — for now

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is dropping his objection to the appointment of a former Raytheon lobbyist to the No. 2 job at the Pentagon. A McCain spokeswoman confirmed Monday by e-mail that the senator will allow the nomination to proceed after having received additional information from William Lynn, who is President Barack Obama's choice for deputy defense secretary.

Daschle earned $220,000 from health care industryTom Daschle collected nearly a quarter of a million dollars in fees in the last two years speaking to leaders of the industry President Barack Obama wants him to reform as the administration's health secretary. That was just a portion of the more than $5.2 million the former South Dakota senator earned as he advised insurers and hospitals and worked in other industries — real estate, energy and telecommunications among them, according to a financial statement filed with the Office of Government Ethics. Daschle's finances are drawing additional scrutiny because he failed to pay...

Daschle Knew of Tax Issues Over Car Use Last June By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and ROBERT PEAR WASHINGTON — President Obama’s choice for health secretary, Tom Daschle, was aware as early as last June that he might have to pay back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a private equity firm, but did not inform the Obama transition team until weeks after Mr. Obama named him to the health secretary’s post, senior administration officials said Saturday. As Senate Democrats rushed to save the nomination of Mr. Daschle, their former leader, the White House spent the...

There is not much glory to being the political party out of power, but that does not mean it is without opportunities. In fact, there is a little more room to act riskily when you aren't running the joint. The challenge for Washington's remaining Republicans is to think of constructive, not obstructive, ways to help fashion a better plan on every issue facing the country. One way, St. Louis University professor Joel Goldstein says, is for GOP congressmen to think of ways to use the stimulus package to strengthen the role of state governments. "Or they might envision ways to...

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats rushed on Saturday to save the nomination of their former leader, Tom Daschle, as President Obama’s health and human services secretary, while the White House sought to explain how Mr. Daschle survived its vaunted vetting process despite his failure to pay $128,000 in taxes. Senior administration officials said that although Mr. Daschle was aware as early as June 2008 that he might have to pay back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a private equity firm, he did not inform the president’s transition team until mid-December, several days after Mr. Obama...

Obama appointed more than 17 lobbyists after talking big on anti-lobbyist, clean Governance Adrian Nathan Jan. 31, 2009 It is easy to project yourself as a clean politician after making your debut in South Side Chicago with buddies like Rahm Emanuel. US president Obama has appointed more than 17 lobbyists after talking big on anti-lobbyist Governance and rooting corruption out of the American Government. Dreams are dreams. Facts are facts. President Obama is surrounded by corrupt lobbyists ready to sell America cheap. One good silver lining – if Obama Adminsitration’s corruption index is 10, Bush Administration’s was 95. Take the...

WASHINGTON — Want a top job in the Obama administration? Only pack rats need apply, preferably those not packing controversy. A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect Barack Obama to those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts may be the most extensive — some say invasive — application ever. The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps. Only the smallest details are...

Let's see Obama's checklist for cabinet positions. "Liberal as a loon." Check. "Supports radical socialist agenda." Check. "Believes New Deal didn't go nearly far enough." Check. "Wants to surrender to terrorists." Check. "Cheated on taxes." Check. There is little question that Timothy Geithner - our newly confirmed Treasury Secretary and IRS chief - knows more about evading taxes than enforcing tax law. It is amazing that we are putting a man in charge of our economy who apparently can't even figure out how to use Turbo Tax. Add Tom Daschle to Obama's tax cheating cabinet officers.WASHINGTON – Former Sen. Tom...

Daschle's Lobbyist Wife Might Complicate New Post The newly pegged secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, might be facing some questions about his wife's lobbying activities. President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat to fill the cabinet post, and that of "health czar." The 59-year-old Daschle, according to sources speaking to The Washington Post's Ceci Connolly and Chris Cillizza, is expected to take the jobs. Daschle's new position might be complicated by his wife, Linda Hall Daschle, who is a registered lobbyist with the Washington firm of Baker,...

Tom Daschle, the former South Dakota senator picked by President Obama to reside over the nation's healthcare system, received $220,000 in speaking fees from health care groups with an interest in the work he would do once confirmed as health chief, Politico.com reported Saturday. Daschle, who has come under fire in recent days for his failure to pay taxes, reportedly received thousands from health care groups -- such as the Health Industry Distributors Association -- that stand to gain or lose depending on the outcome of Obama's universal health care initiative. The Health Industry Associated paid Dashle a speaking fee...

The White House concedes Tom Daschle had some "tax issues," but a spokesman says that shouldn't derail his nomination as health secretary. White House officials confirmed the former Senate Democratic leader failed to pay taxes on a car-and-driver service provided to him for three years after he left government. He has since paid the taxes, with interest.

So far, the incoming Barack Obama administration has given us a tax cheat/incompetent to run the IRS (Tim Geithner) and at least three lobbyists to regulate their industries (William Lynn, Mark Patterson, Neal Wolin). Now we’re back to tax evasion, and once again it’s a major Cabinet appointment: ABC News has learned that the nomination of former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-SD, to be President Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services has hit a traffic snarl on its way through the Senate Finance Committee. The controversy deals with a car and driver lent to Mr. Daschle by a...