Tom Daschle, Step Aside

When President Obama nominated former Senator Tom Daschle to become secretary of Health and Human Services, it seemed like a good match. Daschle has written a book on health care reform and made it his signature issue during his Senate tenure. He was also the former Senate majority leader, with first-hand knowledge of how to push a difficult bill through Congress.

Mr. Daschle is not the first politician to leave public service for cushy jobs in the private sector, or positions on the boards of major corporations. He is not the first to fail to disclose the extent of his taxes. But several troubling issues make the continuation of his Senate hearings and potential nomination a disaster.

First of all, Obama's administration has already confirmed one individual with tax issues, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Today, Obama's pick for chief performance officer of oversight (Nancy Killener) stepped down over $1,000 in back taxes she didn't pay on unemployed household help.

Daschle's tax issues go above and beyond the less serious violations of Geithner and Killener. It would send a terrible message to allow another tax evader to become an appointee. The tax system demands voluntary compliance by all American citizens, including top politicians. Daschle has admitted that he became concerned last June over $128,000 in back taxes and instructed his accountant to investigate, but the taxes were never paid. He failed to initially address this issue to Obama's transition team until his back taxes were flagged, and he admitted the problem. Bad choice.

Problem #2: Daschle's ties to major players in the health care industry could prove an even bigger problem to his nomination than the back taxes issue. He earned $5 million in recent years after his Senate tenure ended in 2004 from (you guessed it) law/lobbying firms, speeches made to to major health care interest groups, and a private equity firm. Although not a registered lobbyist, he provided advice to the UnitedHealth Group, a major insurance conglomerate, as well as serving as a trustee on the board of the Mayo Clinic. Ultimately, in many vital situations, Daschle would have to step aside from expressing his opinion or giving testimony because of a conflict of interest problem due to his industry ties.

Health care reform is possibly the most important domestic issue facing our country. The next Secretary of Health and Human Services needs to start with a clean slate, not with a potential cloud of back taxes and unsavory industry ties that will prevent him from achieving the radical changes that are needed in our health care system.

Obama: drop Daschle and find a replacement ASAP, before this becomes an ethics scandal that you can't control.