The man set to
turn around healthcare has pulled the pin - something about
failing to pay $140,000 in taxes and
conflict of interest issues.
In an editorial, The New York Times described Daschle's ability to move "cozily between government and industry" as a cloud over any role he might play in changing the nation's health care system...."It really sets us back a step," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "Because he was such a talent. I mean he understood Congress, serving in the House and Senate he certainly had the confidence of the president."
Hopefully the next nominee will know less about schmoozing Congress and more about healthcare? Given Obama's
idealistic criteria it is entirely possible that those who are most suitable for the position could be precluded by their proficiency;
The executive order on ethics I will sign shortly represents a clean break from business as usual. As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any other administration in history. If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years.
When asked if he still supported his mate in light of his tax problems
Obama had one word "Absolutely"
What is odd is that whilst proclaiming a squeaky clean government Obama had selected and then stood by "good friend" Daschle - someone with a
known history of "commercial" work;
Daschle, in fact, made millions of dollars after he left government doing stuff that looks, smells and tastes a lot like lobbying — work that led to the taxes flap that forced him to apologize to his former colleagues on Monday for what he called a "completely inadvertent" mistake. And while that failure to pay more than $128,000 in back taxes and interest has briefly marred his confirmation as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), it's the ethical gray area Daschle's advisory work represents that has called into question Obama's promise of changing the culture in Washington.
Daschle, for instance, was a high-paid "policy adviser" at Alston & Bird, a lobbying firm with dozens of brand-name pharmaceutical and health-services clients. "Senator Daschle focuses his services on advising the firm's clients on issues related to all aspects of public policy," boasts the firm's website. One of Alston's clients, EduCap, a nonprofit student-loan company that spent six figures lobbying to change federal loan laws, took Daschle on two cushy overseas trips, one to the Bahamas for a board meeting and another to the Middle East to meet with foreign leaders.
During his time at Alston, a wide range of for-profit enterprises with interests in influencing government health policy — including giants like UnitedHealth, GE Healthcare and the Health Industry Distributors Association — paid Daschle five-figure sums for speeches. UnitedHealth was also a "client" of Daschle's at Alston, as was the Great Plains Indian Gaming Association, a trade group representing tribes with casinos in the upper Midwest. And then there is Leo Hindery Jr., the former chairman of the cable-television industry's lobbying group, who hired Daschle as an adviser on a new investment firm and gifted him more than $100,000 in car services from Hindery's limousine driver, which the former South Dakota Senator failed to pay taxes on.
Its little wonder Social Democrats support higher taxes - they dont pay them!
