Wednesday, January 14, 2009

VETTING APPEARS TO BE UNIMPORTANT TO OBAMA TEAM



First it was Gov. Richardson that Obama had picked for his cabinet, as Commerce Secretary, that declined the offer because of a Federal investigation into how his political donors landed a lucrative transportation contract.
Today the news is finally covering a block buster item about Obama's selection for Treasury Secretary. Yahoo News is reporting that the Obama transition committee reported the following facts to Senate members on December 5, 2008. Now a month later the main ,aka lame Stream Media, is finally reporting the following.

"The disclosure Tuesday, that his (Obama) choice for Treasury Secretary, New York Federal Reserve chief Timothy Geithner, failed to pay $34,000 in taxes and employed a housekeeper without proper immigration papers was another jarring distraction just days before Obama's inauguration — and raises fresh questions about his team's judgment, vetting procedures and political sensitivities."

Then there was the issue of the replacement by Mr. Burris for the vacant Senate seat of Obama. President-elect Obama and Senate Democrats were outmaneuvered by disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Roland Burris, the man he chose to fill Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Obama at first endorsed the hard line taken by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other Senate Democrats that they never would accept an appointment from Blagojevich. But Burris, a black politician who had an unblemished reputation, made a goodwill overture to Senate Democrats. Illinois constitutional law seemed to be on his side. Both Reid and Obama reversed course and signaled to Senate leaders that they should seat Burris. Some Black leaders claimed Senator Reids objections were racially based.

It appears to me that the usual vetting process for presidential appointments is either ignored or done sloppily by the Obama transition team, and as Truman once said: the "buck stops" at Obama's feet!

After all, in 2001, Linda Chavez's nomination as Labor Secretary went down in flames over matters relating to an illegal immigrant whom Chavez had sheltered in her home a decade earlier. Also, in 1993, Zoe Baird withdrew as Bill Clinton's nominee for Attorney General over the employment of illegal-immigrant domestic help and her failure to pay the related employment taxes on a timely basis.


In Mr.Geithner, we have a man who is nominated for the high position of Secretary of the Treasury. A position that includes the administration of the Internal Revenue Department. Collecting taxes!!!

But the delinquent-tax part of the new disclosure, in particular, is a huge liability for Geithner, given that as treasury secretary he would oversee the Internal Revenue Service.His duties as outlined in U.S Treasury Home Page include:
Managing Federal finances;
Collecting taxes, duties and monies paid to and due to the U.S. and paying all bills of the U.S.;
Currency and coinage;
Managing Government accounts and the public debt;
Supervising national banks and thrift institutions;
Advising on domestic and international financial, monetary, economic, trade and tax policy;
Enforcing Federal finance and tax laws;
Investigating and prosecuting tax evaders, counterfeiters, and forgers.Source: United States Department of Treasury Home Page

I question the leadership ability of a man who does not pay his taxes on time when it is obvious he makes enough money to pay them.
His excuse that he did not know that his domestic servant was illegal for the three months that he employed her, is plausible, but I believe Obama could and should find a man who pays his taxes on time to head the agency responsible for collecting them!

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