Daschle's Ethics Problems

[medeak]

Daschle's Ethics Problems
The weekend papers are all over former Health and Human Service Secreatary-designee Tom Daschle's tax and lobbying problems. In my view, the latter is much more troubling than the former.

While there's probably some justifiable populist outrage when relatively well-to-do people like Daschle and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner fail to pay their taxes on time, both cases appear to have been oversights that were quickly rectified once brought to light.

But how does one deal with structural conflicts of interest like those that appear to mark former Sen. Daschle's recent lobbying career? It had been previously reported that as part of his work for the Washington law & lobbying shop Alston & Bird, he helped several health care-related firms. But today'sWashington Post lists the clients from which he received anywhere from $12,000 to $30,000 in speaking fees in the past year. They included:

more at: http://www.gooznews.com/archives/001315.html

[BlooInBloo]

1. Kick him to the curb.

[HughMoran]

6. curby!

[Skittles]

2. he is a fucking coporate hack

:thumbsdown:

[JeffR]

3. The nation was better off with Daschle no longer involved in government.

It should stay that way.

[AlwaysaLiberal]

12. huh?

Are you telling me Reid has done a better job? What is up with all the Daschle hating? Have people lost their sanity?

[JeffR]

14. Did I invoke Reid anywhere in my comment?

The country would be equally better off with Reid following suit and getting the hell out.

These men don't deserve public office. They're feebs, walking definitions of the antithesis of leadership, beholden to private interests and no longer clearsighted enough to understand what the public interest is.

We have some vibrant, committed people in office. Maybe it's time we looked at them carefully to find out what real leadership is. Some of these people are even way more centrist than I'd be prefer, but still.

And BTW, I don't hate Daschle, or Reid for that matter. I simply think they're not up to the jobs they've been promoted to. I saw this over and over as a manager for a multinational corporation. Government is not a business, as the reich-wing would have it, but utter incompetence is universal. It smells the same whether it's in the private or the public sector. Given his Ass-in-Wonderland private sector escapades recently, Daschle has simply confirmed that he doesn't belong within 3,721 miles of power in government.

[JayMusgrove]

4. Obama needs to re-assert CHANGE.......Daschle....you fool

You should have known better. You can retire now and live well on your retirement.

Our nation needs someone else to lead us to national health care and to run a huge agency.

There are dozens of people out of work who can do the job.

[medeak]

5. was hoping it wasn't true

Is anyone clean? Where do we go now?

[bertman]

Medeak, it seems that very few of them are clean. But there has to be someone with

the experience and an ethical background who can do this job.

it's very disappointing that thte Obama team did not vet Daschle well enough to know these things.

I hope like hell they don't try to slide this one by like the Geithner and Lyons crap. They're starting to look a little tarnished to me.

[bertman]

10. Medeak, it seems that very few of them are clean. But there has to be someone with

the experience and an ethical background who can do this job.

it's very disappointing that thte Obama team did not vet Daschle well enough to know these things.

I hope like hell they don't try to slide this one by like the Geithner and Lyons crap. They're starting to look a little tarnished to me.

[liberalmuse]

7. Geitner's was one thing. I could see where he'd screw that up, but Daschle?

Nope. Goodbye!

[Sultana]

8. Pick Dr. Dean, Mr President

Plllllllllllllzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[AlwaysaLiberal]

13. If he had wanted Dean he would have picked

Dean. And no, there's no Rahm controversy. Obama just plain didn't want Dean for the job.

[PaDUer]

9. Start contacting Pres Obama

about Daschle..I never trusted that whimp...out with him...I wonder who else might turn up like him? Isn't his wife a lobbyist also?

[Clear Blue Sky]

11. Both aspects are troubling and should be disqualifying.

If this was a Bush appointment of a Repuke Senator, we would be howling mad.