Tom Daschle, President Obama’s nominee to lead the Department of Health & Human Services, “failed to pay more than $128,000 in taxes, partly for free use of a car and driver that had been provided to him by a prominent businessman and Democratic fund-raiser,” the New York Times reports.
Mr. Daschle, concluding that he owed the taxes, filed amended returns and paid more than $140,000 in back taxes and interest on Jan. 2, the officials said.
The car and driver were provided by Leo Hindery Jr., a media and telecommunications executive who had been chairman of YES, the New York Yankees regional sports network. In 2005, Mr. Hindery founded a private equity firm known as InterMedia Advisors. Mr. Daschle was chairman of InterMedia’s advisory board.
In a financial disclosure statement filed this month with the Office of Government Ethics, Mr. Daschle reported that he had received large amounts of income from InterMedia, including more than $2 million in consulting fees and $182,520 in the form of “company-provided transportation.”
The belated tax payments help explain delays in the confirmation of Mr. Daschle, a former Senate Democratic leader who had been expected to win swift approval. Despite the embarrassing admission, the second for one of Mr. Obama’s cabinet choices, the White House and Democratic senators issued statements on Friday supporting Mr. Daschle.
According to the Washington Post, Mr. Daschle “paid the back taxes six days before his first Senate confirmation hearing with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.” The Senate Finance Committee also has jurisdiction over the nomination. A separate Post article notes that the Finance Committee “plans to meet privately with Daschle on Monday evening to review his financial records.”
Thus far, Senate aides and other officials are keeping fairly quiet as to how serious this issue really is and if it could potentially derail the nomination. At this point, it appears likely that Daschle will eventually be confirmed.
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