Obama’s Cabinet Nominees Fail to Pay Taxes – Hope & Change?

Has someone else noticed a pattern here with Obama’s nominees to cabinet level, or the equivalent, positions?

1. Ron Kirk (Democrat) – Mayor of Dallas, TX – Nominated to be the US Trade Representative – Fails to pay income taxes for three years.
2. Tom Daschle (Democrat) – Former Senator of South Dakota – Nominated to be the Sec. of Health and Human Services – Fails to pay $128,000 in income taxes over two years.
3. Nancy Killefer (Democrat) – Former Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget – Nominated to be the first chief performance officer – Fails to pay employment taxes on household maids for a year and a half.
4. Timothy Geithner (Democrat) – Former Treasury official – Nominated to be the Treasury Secretary – Fails to pay income taxes for three years and fails to pay employment taxes on household maids for half a year.

Honorable Mention and Runner-Ups

1. Bill Richardson (Democrat) – Governor of New Mexico – Nominated to be Commerce Secretary – Charged by a grand jury for accepting money in exchange for political favors back home.
2. Charles Rengal (Democrat) – Representative from New York – Chair of the House Ways & Means Committee (responsible for writing the tax code) – Fails to pay $75,000 in rental income.
3. Chriss Dodd (Democrat) – Senator from Connecticut – Chair of the Senate Banking Committee (Responsible for overseeing banks and mortgage insurance companies) – Fails to explain how he received a free cottage in Ireland after helping a felon-on-the-run get a presidential pardon from Clinton AND how he managed to get a low-interest loan from CountryWide Mortgage (a company he is suppose to be regulating and overseeing) when others could not.
4. Jack Murtha (Democrat) – Representative from Pennslyvania – Chair of the House Defense Appropriations Committee (determines how much money is spent on national defense) – Has been accused of accepting lobbyist contributions to his campaigns in exchange for funneling defense contracts to his contributors.
5. Rahm Emanuel (Democrat) – Representative from Chicago – Current Chief of Staff or Obama – Has been paying zero rent since moving to DC.
6. Louis Susman (Democrat) – Banker from Chicago – Fundraised for Obama and “gave” $300,000 for the inaugural ball – Tapped to be the Amabassador to England which is a break from his promise to have nothing to do with “pay-to-play” politics.

It sounds like there just might be a corruption problem when it comes to Washington! And for those of you who want to say “but the Republican’s do it too!”, remember that

• (a) Democrats are in charge of both the House, Senate, and the Presidency, and
• (b) It’s a bit hypocratic to say that it is patriotic to pay taxes for programs that American may not want when it’s own political leaders aren’t even paying taxes, and
• (c) Show me who within the GOP currently has the same amount of personal problems as the Democrats, and, on top of that,
• (d) Congress (which is runned by Democrats) killed a bill that would have required the Ethics Committee to investigate lawmaker-lobbyist ties.