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The real reason Tom Daschle didn’t run for president. The national press corps didn’t bother to tell you why Tom Daschle, the Democrats’ Senate leader, decided at the 11th hour not to run for president: In the end, he calculated that he couldn’t survive scrutiny of his persistent service to the clients of his wife. Linda Daschle has been one of the airline industry’s top lobbyists for two decades — when she wasn’t busy running the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which explains why, just 11 days after the 9/11 attacks, her husband rushed through the Democratic Senate, which he controlled,...

The companies that build futuristic airport scanners take a more old-fashioned approach when it comes to pushing their business interests in Washington: hiring dozens of former lawmakers, congressional aides and federal employees as their lobbyists. About eight of every 10 registered lobbyists who work for scanner-technology companies previously held positions in the government or Congress, most commonly in the homeland security, aviation or intelligence fields, a Washington Post review of lobbying-disclosure forms and other data shows. Industries routinely employ well-connected lobbyists to seek favorable legislation and regulations in the nation's capital. But the extent of the connections to the federal...

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,...

Democrats for Boeing The truth about the tanker deal. by Christian Lowe 03/24/2008, Volume 013, Issue 27 It was one of those insider deals that give the defense industry a bad name, conjuring up images of smoke-filled negotiations between the brass and corporate fat cats in plush leather chairs. By the time it was over, two fat cats were in jail, a top Pentagon official had been forced to resign, a corporate CEO had lost his job, and the reputation of an iconic company that had served American troops for decades had suffered irreparable damage. Then it turned out it...

1. Khamenei: Iran Will Have Bomb in April April 8, 2006 could turn out to be an ominous date in history - that's the day Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says that Iran will have a nuclear weapon. Late last year Khamenei gathered his top advisers for a strategy meeting and told them "it has been promised that by April 8, we will be in a position to show the entire world that we are members of the club." This presumably refers to nuclear weapons, according to National Review Online Contributing Editor Michael Ledeen, who offered an inside look at...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Tom Daschle says he might consider writing, lecturing or teaching now that his Nov. 2 election loss has cost him his Senate seat and the job of Senate minority leader. "I do want to affiliate in some way professionally with public policy," Daschle said Saturday in a telephone interview from his Washington home, where he was helping baby-sit his two grandchildren. "I'm also looking at the investment world." The three-term senator, who led the Democratic caucus for 10 years, lost the nation's highest-profile Senate race last month by 4,500 votes to former Rep. John Thune...

Linda Daschle will start lobbying the Senate for corporate clients in January, when husband Sen. Tom Daschle’s term expires. A lobbyist with Baker Donelson Bearman & Caldwell, she recused herself from lobbying at the chamber, where her husband has served for 18 years. Senate insiders say Linda Daschle will remain a major lobbying force, owing to her long career dealing with aviation issues and her familiarity with most senators. “She’s always been a powerhouse,” said Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.). Tension remains between Senate Republicans and Sen. Daschle since his defeat by former Rep. John Thune (R-S.D.). Republicans consider Daschle the...

The Daschle campaign, desperate at finding itself behind in the polls, has resorted to an especially low form of "push polling." Our correspondent reports: am here in Brookings, South Dakota [and] just thought I'd pass on the following information if you haven't seen or heard it. The Daschle campaign is having people claiming to be pastors and ministers calling local South Dakotans asking them whether the fact the "John Thune is attacking Linda Daschle" bothers them or makes them uncomfortable. When one constituent peppered the "pastor" with questions about his hometown, where he lived - it was apparent this "pastor"...

January 17, 2003 The real reason Tom Daschle didn’t run for president. The national press corps didn’t bother to tell you why Tom Daschle, the Democrats’ Senate leader, decided at the 11th hour not to run for president: In the end, he calculated that he couldn’t survive scrutiny of his persistent service to the clients of his wife. Linda Daschle has been one of the airline industry’s top lobbyists for two decades — when she wasn’t busy running the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which explains why, just 11 days after the 9/11 attacks, her husband rushed through the Democratic Senate,...

South Dakota's two major candidates for the U.S. Senate both owe the bulk of their wealth to lobbying. The $157,626 salary paid to Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., is about one-fifth of the $749,558 his wife, Linda, is paid to lobby for Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. Daschle's opponent, former Republican congressman John Thune, earned $452,675 from a spate of lobbying work. His wife, Kimberley, does not work outside the home. Both Senate candidates and South Dakota's two U.S. House candidates agreed to release their 2003 federal income tax returns to the Rapid City Journal. All of the candidates declined...

Mrs. Daschle's Tawdry Boeing Deal Goes Bust December 2, 2003 "Linda Daschle, Linda Daschle, Lin-da Da-schle..." That's the name of the high powered lobbyist that's been conspicuously absent from every single news story written on the scandal over the Pentagon renting Boeing aircraft to be used as refueling tankers when it would save taxpayers billions to simply buy them outright. Boeing CEO Phil Condit has resigned over this deal. Linda Daschle, wife of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, is a highly paid (just how highly we don't know since she and her husband refuse to release their income tax records)...

Reuters: Boeing Tanker Lease Remains 'Complicated' Friday May 9, 2:03 pm ET By Jim Wolf WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co.'s (NYSE:BA - News) multi-billion proposal to lease 100 jets to the U.S. Air Force as refueling tankers remains a 'complicated issue,' the Defense Department said Friday. ADVERTISEMENT The department, which must endorse any deal before it goes to the White House budget office and ultimately to Congress, cannot rush its work because of the issue's complexities, said Cheryl Irwin, a Pentagon spokeswoman. 'This is a complicated issue and one that deserves the closest attention to make certain that we make...

Senator Tom Daschle and his wife, big money airline lobbyist Linda Daschle, have just purchased a seven-room house valued at $2,250,000 in DC. (Tom says he paid a humble $1.9m.) Not bad for a public servant who earns around $170,000 a year. It makes you realize why the pair doesn't release their income tax reports. Tom & Lin have a huge pool of money in the bank even as they're pushing taxes on that which would help you accumulate wealth: income. I guess Linda is doing pretty well lobbying the government to give out money to the airlines even as...

The national press corps didn’t bother to tell you why Tom Daschle, the Democrats’ Senate leader, decided at the 11th hour not to run for president: In the end, he calculated that he couldn’t survive scrutiny of his persistent service to the clients of his wife. Linda Daschle has been one of the airline industry’s top lobbyists for two decades — when she wasn’t busy running the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which explains why, just 11 days after the 9/11 attacks, her husband rushed through the Democratic Senate, which he controlled, the $15 billion bailout for the airline industry, a...

THE UNRECONCILED The White House in the coming weeks plans to heavily lobby Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and Georgia Sen. Zell Miller in hopes of luring them over to fully supporting the Bush economic stimulus package. Hopeful of using a legislative technique that would require only 51 votes to pass the tax cut plan, the White House knows that it is at least four votes short. That's because Republicans John McCain, Lincoln Chafee, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have already announced at least initial opposition to the Bush plan. The White House has already begun lobbying Louisiana Sen. John Breaux,...

Capitol Q&A Should Leader's Wife Lobby for Federal Contractors?Ethics Chairman Says Any Interest Group Can File a Complaint Linda Hall Daschle, wife of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.), is a lobbyist who has represented major government contractors that rely on her husband’s official acts for revenue. (See Human Events cover story, May 20.) Human Events Assistant Editor David Freddoso asked Senators last week if this was a conflict of interest. Is it a conflict of interest for the wife of the Senate majority leader to lobby for major government contractors, like Boeing and Loral, that depend on his official...