I’m sounding off about an issue stuck in my craw: the fact that President-elect Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, failed to pay Federal taxes he owed from 2001-2004. He only paid the $42,702 in taxes and penalties he owed AFTER he was nominated for the Treasury Secretary’s job. The Treasury Secretary is ultimately in charge of the IRS.
What’s more, his employer, the International Monetary Fund, informed in those years that the taxes were due. They even reimbursed him for the amount he owed. Geithner responded by simply pocketing the cash.
As I mentioned, the Treasury Secretary’s responsibilities include the IRS. This strikes me a bit like hiring a police chief who was caught driving 100 MPH in a school zone.
Further, Geithner has offered no plausible explanation or defense for his actions. He was told he owed the taxes, given money to pay them, and just....didn’t.
The Treasury Secretary also has broad control over the over the government’s ever-growing financial bailout efforts, including the $700 Billion TARP fund. Do we really want to hand this much power to someone who at the very least has a severe lack of attention to detail, and at the most is a tax cheat or worse?
Geithner’s nomination will be before the Senate Finance committee this week. To this point, members of this committee have seemed to shrug off this issue. It has been claimed that Geithner is “uniquely qualified”. If you can be “uniquely qualified” after you don’t pay taxes, I have no idea what it would take to make someone unqualified.
Over the years, cabinet nominees from both parties, with less egregious tax problems and nominated for less financially-sensitive roles have been forced to withdraw.
How can you help?
1) Please contact Senator Amy Klobuchar (unfortunately, the only one we have at the moment), and tell her that Geithner is unacceptable. Her contact information is as follows:
Washington Office: 202-224-3244
Local Office: 612-727-5220
2) Alternatively/additionally, you could contact members of the Senate Finance Committee by dialing the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
The members are:
Republicans:
CHUCK GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME
JON KYL, AZ
GORDON SMITH, OR
JIM BUNNING, KY
MIKE CRAPO, ID
PAT ROBERTS, KS
JOHN ENSIGN, NV
JOHN E. SUNUNU, NH
Democrats:
MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
KENT CONRAD, ND
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
RON WYDEN, OR
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI
MARIA CANTWELL, WA
KEN SALAZAR, CO
I do honestly believe that Barack Obama should have broad latitude to nominate the people he thinks best for his administration- even those with whom I have deep philosophical and policy disagreements (and there are many). However, I see this nomination as being out-of-bounds on the face of it.
Byron York at the National Review has done excellent reporting on this topic here and here.
One bit of feedback we have gotten within the formal Republican party is that our Party organization is very good at asking for money, but doesn’t do a very good job at communicating to the broader Republican community (I hear Joe Soucheray’s foghorn now) on issues of concern, and how people can get involved.
It is something we’re continually trying to do better. While we won’t be flooding your inbox with tons of stuff, we do plan on being more communicative on issues of importance- especially if we can point out ways in which you can help out.
Thanks for reading.
Pat Staley
Chair
SD 37 Republicans
P.S. And, if you are interested in contributing to our local Republican Party, you can click here.
All money we raise locally will be spent locally. And, with the state’s PCR program $50 a year for individuals ($100 for married couples) can be refunded to you- so you can help us a zero net cost to yourself.
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