Tom Daschle, Howard Dean and HHS

As I read the NY Times story about Tom Daschle’s tax problem, and a diary or two about maybe it should have been Howard Dean at HHS, a few thoughts occurred to me, whether I wanted them to or not.

First of all, this Tom Daschle tax problem is a big deal, and not just because everyone has to pay taxes. You have to wonder whether and how Daschle was vetted. This wasn’t an outside entity coming in with a probe (a la Bill Richardson). So, if this is a ‘late hit’, you have to wonder about what Tom Daschle was thinking. When did he tell them? After all, in this post-partisan, post-ethical world, it doesn’t look very good for a key Cabinet member to be doing this:

President Obama’s pick for health and human services secretary, Tom Daschle, failed to pay more than $128,000 in taxes, partly for free use of a car and driver that had been provided to him by a prominent businessman and Democratic fund-raiser, administration officials said Friday.

It also doesn’t look great to be making errors of this magnitude over lobbying ties consultant work:

The car and driver were not Mr. Daschle’s only problems. The Finance Committee said he failed to report consulting income of $83,333 on his 2007 tax return and overstated the deductions to which he was entitled for charitable contributions from 2005 to 2007. In his amended tax returns, he reduced the deductions by $14,963.

Under his consulting arrangement with InterMedia, the report said, Mr. Daschle received $1 million a year, or $83,333 a month. The payment to Mr. Daschle for May 2007 was omitted from the annual statement of income sent to him by InterMedia. Ms. Backus said the omission resulted from “a clerical error by InterMedia.”

This may not derail Daschle’s nomination, but I’d guess it’s too early to simply pronounce that.

At the same time, from an organizational point of view, it’d be a shame to lose Daschle. The same things that make Daschle so valuable are the things that make another name that surfaces, at least here on Daily Kos, so unlikely, and that’s Howard Dean. Even if Daschle shoots himself in some part of his anatomy, that doesn’t make Dean next on the list. Dean would not be an ideal HHS head. It’s a sprawling agency with huge administrative duties. Dean’s an ex-gov and that’s far more important than his MD, which is nearly irrelevant, but HHS, with CDC and NIH, is a lot more complex than running VT. Huge dollar outlays need to be directed to programs such as vaccine R&D to prepare for the next generation of biomedical advancement. This means close cooperation with industry while simultaneously being responsible for oversight. That’s a fine line to walk for anyone.

And before we hear too much about the VT health plan in regard to Dean, the architect of the 2006 Health Care Affordability Act wasn’t Dean, it was a guy named Ken Thorpe, now an academic at Emory. In addition right now, the health care agenda requires someone with excellent knowledge of congressional (esp. Senate) perks and workings. Daschle is to serve not only as HHS head, but as the point person for health reform, and the Senate is the place where health reform goes to die.

In addition to that, HHS needs someone who is really good at political infighting – as good as Robert Gates at Defense (and Janet Napolitano at DHS), because that’s who HHS has to fight for money and influence. Mike Chertoff seemed to outmaneuver Mike Leavitt way too often, and as a result HHS prepped for bioterror more than natural disaster, for example. Add that to the “not prepared for Katrina” list of things that cannot be allowed to repeat itself. I don’t know how long the list is of policy wonks who are also good political infighters, get along with Congress, and who have the same vision on health reform as Obama, but that list can’t be infinitely long.

And you just know something unexpected in addition, like the food safety/salmonella issue, will come up and require major amounts of HHS attention along with CDC’s.

For those reasons, Tom Daschle would be an ideal choice for HHS, at least as far as experience,but that’s only if he survives this and gets past committee (his errors, particularly regarding the lobbyist blurring, are going to raise tough questions.) And for those same reasons, another wonk with similar policy credentials to Daschle’s would need to be a second choice. I’m sure Obama doesn’t want to be thinking about second choices, but really, Tom Daschle should not have put the President in this position.

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Open Thread and Diary Rescue

This evening’s Rescue Rangers are a synthetic cubist, jlms qkw, HansScholl, Got a Grip, vcmvo2, and shayera, with watercarrier4diogenes at the Editor’s desk, wondering why his traditional media counterparts have so much trouble with the concept of ‘truth’.

• Professor Smartass explains that Prosecuting Bush administration not politics, but matter of national security. (a synthetic cubist)
• While the answer is sadly “Yes,” BigAlinWashSt asks the crucial question regarding torture in Do we really have to tell them it doesn’t work? (jlms qkw)
• A republican’s corrupt shenanigans are exposed and the crowd turns on him in a very Blago-esque tale when davidkc explains why the FL GOP House Speaker Steps Down; FL House in “Chaos”. (Got a Grip)
• bonddad gives a technical but compelling summary of the data that shows Why the Stimulus is Needed, and why tax cuts won’t help much as the economy spirals downward. (HansScholl)
• In Food Democracy Now: 10 Ideas for a Sustainable Future, Hardhat Democrat discusses how to reform the way we grow and eat food. (a synthetic cubist)
• In I Want To Talk A Little About Health care, webranding shares one shocking story of the health care insurance industry. (a synthetic cubist)
• Crashing Vor viciously attacks (snark) Tom Ridge’s coloring book in Suggested Change: Ditch the All-Temp Terror Label. (jlms qkw)
• Badabing commends one of our progressive senators in Senator McCaskill, ‘They’ Are On the Planet of Getting Away With It… (a synthetic cubist)
• bored reports on the competition for Rahm Emanuel’s former House seat in IL-05 Primary Roundup Week 1. (jlms qkw)
• In The Things My Father Feared, Killer of Sacred Cows pays a touching tribute to a man with integrity. (vcmvo2)
• leftyparent shares the experience of raising a child whose path to learning requires unconventional thinking in Unschooling Instead of High Schooling. (Got a Grip)

jotter has today’s High Impact Diaries: January 30, 2009, while carolita has Top Comments 1-31-09 – Fire and Ice Edition.

Enjoy and please promote your own favorite diaries in this open thread (even if you’re the author! Here’s where that’s actually appreciated). And, of course, since it’s an open thread, PLAY NICE, OK? 8^)

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Dana Milbank Applies for Internship With Sen. James Inhofe

Well, not really.

The Washington Post columnist isn’t quite ready to replace GOP Sen. James Inhofe’s communications director Marc Morano, but comes close in his January 29, 2009 column, editorializing Gore’s speech before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the day before.

Let’s start with the title:

With Al Due Respect, We’re Doomed

The lawmakers gazed in awe at the figure before them. The Goracle had seen the future, and he had come to tell them about it.

What the Goracle saw in the future was not good: temperature changes that “would bring a screeching halt to human civilization and threaten the fabric of life everywhere on the Earth — and this is within this century, if we don’t change.”

[snip]

Once Al Gore was a mere vice president, but now he is a Nobel laureate and climate-change prophet.

Forget the science. It’s a religion! It’s magic. We are all under the power of “The Goracle”:

The Goracle’s powers seem to come from his ability to scare the bejesus out of people. “We must face up to this urgent and unprecedented threat to the existence of our civilization,” he said. And: “This is the most serious challenge the world has ever faced.” And: It “could completely end human civilization, and it is rushing at us with such speed and force.”

The Morano/Inhofe “press blog” is full of the same blather. There is a running theme: “Al Gore Is Trying To Scare Us!”

Look out, Mr. Morano. Mr. Milbank is carefully polishing his skills as a Gore basher; if he adds a bit of climate change denial, he’s ready to go.

Of course, if there isn’t an opening in the Inhofe office, there’s always Glenn Beck’s show.

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NH-Sen: Gregg Replacement Speculation

As rumors heat up that New Hampshire Republican Senator Judd Gregg will be appointed Secretary of Commerce, speculation about his replacement is going into overdrive.

In a comment here, Elwood Dowd lays out the possible categories:

1. A leading Dem who will run as incumbent in 2010. Meaning, Rep Hodes or Shea Porter.

1. A surprise Dem who will run as an incumbent in 2010. Marchand, Katrina Swett, Jay Buckey (all ran for Senate last time until Shaheen entered the race). Or, a yet darker horse: State Sen. Molly Kelly, for example.

1. A Dem who will immediately rule out running in 2010: that is, a “seat warmer.” There aren’t too many options here. I’ve suggested former Agriculture Commissioner Steve Taylor (who may not want it). Perhaps a retired college professor?

1. A moderate/liberal Republican who will immediately rule out running in 2010. I like former Gov. Walter Peterson for that, but he’s 86. Warren Rudman’s name comes up but he has ruled it out.

1. A Republican who would run in 2010.

Options five and two are extremely unlikely, option one only slightly less so. Three and four — the appointment of a placeholder from either party — are most likely, and speculation is centering around option four, a moderate/liberal Republican who will rule out running in 2010.

New Hampshire’s Concord Monitor lays out some possibilities. Aside from Hodes and Shea-Porter, who are typically mentioned first but judged unlikely:

New Hampshire’s bench of former Democrats in Congress who could come out of retirement consists of two: Former senator John Durkin and former representative Dick Swett, whose wife, Katrina, has also aspired to office. (She briefly ran for Senate in 2008 before dropping out when now-Sen. Jeanne Shaheen got in the race and has banked nearly $1 million).

Dick Swett (obligatory pause to contemplate one of the worst politician names ever) seems unlikely given that his wife has had more visible political ambitions in recent years. Durkin was a not-quite-one-term senator in the late 1970s and last ran for office in 1990.

The Republican placeholders most often mentioned are former senator Warren Rudman and former governor Walter Peterson. Rudman has taken his name out of the running, while Peterson, at 86, would be old even for the Senate.

Two more names are in circulation:

Franklin Pierce Law Center Dean John Hutson, a former Republican who endorsed Obama and spoke at the Democratic National Convention, declined to say if he would want the job. “I’m honored and surprised that my name is mentioned,” he said in an e-mail. “I have the utmost respect for Senator Gregg and will quote him by saying I have no comment.”

In recent years, Hutson has accumulated a strong record of objection to Bush administration policies on detainees and torture. Last summer, at the DNC, he said he had left the Republican party:

Because the Republican Party I once knew has become something different, something I no longer recognize. The “Grand Old Party” is no longer grand. It’s just old. The same old, failed policies. The same, old Washington culture. Instead of new ideas and innovation, they offer trillion-dollar tax breaks for the very rich at the expense of the middle class, a deficit out of control and a government unable to help its most vulnerable citizens after Hurricane Katrina.

Instead of inspiring the world with the power of American ideals, they offer war as a first resort, an overstretched military, justification for torture, and trampling of civil liberties. From the invasion of Iraq to the devastation of Katrina, I see arrogance abroad and incompetence at home. And I simply cannot tolerate, and America simply can’t afford, more of the same.

Another name mentioned by the Monitor is that of Liz Hager, a former longtime state representative who lost her Republican primary after a group of conservatives joined together to campaign against her. Hager is “proudly pro-choice, proudly pro-government,” but her votes on labor issues are mixed. She voted, for instance, against a bill prohibiting employers from requiring employees to attend religious or political meetings. On the other hand, she voted to kill “right to work” legislation.

Hager is paraphrased but not directly quoted implying she would not run in 2010; in any case, her ability to survive a Republican primary would be in question.

Politico mentions the names of Bonnie Newman, Gregg’s former Chief of Staff who worked in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, and former Rep. Charlie Bass.

All of this speculation is pointless, of course, if Gregg isn’t appointed to Commerce. But it’s important to understand that with Lynch making the appointment, an equal focus on Republican possibilities is very much in order. It just better not be anyone who would for one moment consider running in 2010.

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Weekend With The Republicans

No wonder Republicans have been slaughtered in the last two elections … this is how they spend their weekends:

Republican Mitt Romney, a potential candidate for the White House in 2012, accused President Barack Obama on Friday of answering to the “most extreme wing of the abortion lobby.” Even if the administration “will say nothing on behalf of the child waiting to be born, we must take the side of life,” the former Massachusetts governor told House Republicans at a weekend retreat, according to his prepared remarks.

Comedy. Is the GOP looking to someone who couldn’t even beat John McCain, for inspiration on how to get their mojo back, or are they really that stupid?

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A Broken Intelligence Structure

The appointment of Leon Panetta to CIA is looking better and better all the time. But the problems at that agency, legion as they are, just scratch the surface of the issues of the ills the entire intelligence structure in this country is suffering.

Writing at Huffington Post, Eric Anderson (a national security consultant, former senior intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and formerly a senior intelligence analyst for the Multi National Forces-Iraq in Baghdad and at the U.S. Pacific Command) provides an overview that exposes the root of the problem.

Bloat and redundancy have turned the intelligence community into a full-time “make-work” program for approximately 70,000 federal employees and over 30,000 contractors. Why do we employ so many people to cull through so few secrets?

Consider the following. A recent RAND survey of intelligence analysts found many analysts were uncertain about their mission and how to deal with a National Intelligence Priorities Framework that identifies 150 key targets, countries or issues. How does one identify a top priority when confronted with a list of 150? Further, RAND discovered the analysts felt caught in a maelstrom of demand for current reporting (analysis of events in the last 24 hours), buffeted by continuing investigations and reforms, and perhaps most troubling, largely ignorant of their counterparts at other agencies.

The establishment of the Director of National Intelligence with a staff of over 1,700, has done little to remedy these problems. In fact, it is sorely tempting to conclude the DNI is little more than another layer of bureaucracy in a veritable sea of managers. The number of intelligence analysts–including contractors–with the highest level of security clearances can be estimated at approximately 30,000 and for each productive intelligence professional, there are at least three support or managerial staffers.

That’s a significant support ratio, particularly when you figure most intelligence analysts are college graduates or highly-evaluated military personnel. Do we really need all that supervision? What are we getting from all this overhead? Certainly not efficiency.

Just to put a topper on Andserson’s complaints, this week brought two highly embarrassing new scandals, and apparently nearly suffered a third. Panetta and Blair have a massive job ahead of them, and it goes beyond issues of morale and personnel.

Despite the highly touted “no attacks since 9/11″ spouted by Bush apologists (all conveniently ignoring that whole anthrax thing), the intelligence community can’t be making us safer. How could it be when analysts don’t know their mission? How could it possibly be working effiienctly when it is indiscriminately collecting data, including financial records of tens of thousands of Americans. How could they possibly winnow through all this mountain of data in any kind of efficient way?

Instead of smart, targeted intelligence, we get things like this:

For the first time Sunday, federal behavior-detection officers will team with local police to use a controversial technique on people heading to a major event [the Super Bowl], the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says. The officers usually work in airports.

A flagged person gets a casual interview from an officer who determines if he or she should be formally questioned or arrested.

No word on if they’ll make people take off their shoes before entering Raymond James Stadium.

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Late afternoon/early evening open thread

Coming up on Sunday Kos ….

• brownsox learned a lesson about “bipartisanship” on Stimulus Day, and he wants to share it with us. In a second essay, he will offer a parting salute to deposed Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
• DemFromCT will complete his interview with the reveres from ScienceBlog’s Effect Measure, and discusses a number of hot topic public health issues in Flu And You, Part IV.
• mcjoan will offer some advice on the stimulus bill to Democratic senators.
• georgia10 will look at the relationship between names and political power.

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Obama: Worse Before It Gets Better

Saying that the economic picture will “get worse before it gets better,” President Obama used his weekly address to urge the swift passage of his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, which will be taken up in the Senate this week.

Americans know that our economic recovery will take years — not months.  But they will have little patience if we allow politics to get in the way of action, and our economy continues to slide.  That’s why I am calling on the Senate to pass this plan, so that we can put people back to work and begin the long, hard work of lifting our economy out of this crisis.  No one bill, no matter how comprehensive, can cure what ails our economy.  So just as we jumpstart job creation, we must also ensure that markets are stable, credit is flowing, and families can stay in their homes.

While saying that the road to recovery will be long, Obama vows to continue working with both parties, because, “we simply cannot afford the same old gridlock and partisan posturing in Washington.”

Listen to the address here.

Complete transcript below the fold.

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We’re all guilty now

At Davos, the masters of the universe are gathering and assigning blame for the economic meltdown:

One Davos regular, Washington-based Carlyle Group’s managing director David Rubenstein, said he thinks a key issue at this year’s gathering is “who is at fault.” Yet Rubenstein, who was saying at Davos two years ago that the outlook for leveraged buyouts was “very robust,” says responsibility shouldn’t be tied only to him or his industry.

“There are six billion people on the face of the earth, and probably about five billion participated in what went on,” Rubenstein said in an interview. “Everybody participated in some way or shape or form.”

Ah, responsibility … accountability … how very, very quaint.

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Rep. Eric Cantor is Stunned to Learn That RJC Leader Matt Brooks Pays Himself $700,000

Matt Brooks – Because Life is Good…

Sources confirm that a group of Republican Jewish leaders brought the hammer down on Republican Jewish Coalition Director Matt Brooks in a meeting with Republican Congressional Whip, Rep. Eric Cantor. The senior Republican Representative Cantor, who earns $174,000 annually, was stunned to learn from the meeting participants that Matt Brooks pays himself $700,000 annually from contributions of unsuspecting Jewish Republicans. Matt Brooks, who loves to gamble in Vegas and participated in the World Series of Poker during this past election year, lead the RJC’s campaign as Senator Obama carried over 77% of the Jewish vote. Following the election, Brooks sent out an e-mail to RJC members touting the “accomplishment” and asking for more money. Matt Brooks has headed the RJC for decades and has become jokingly known as the Fidel Castro of Republican Jews. The dear leader for life. Acording to sources, the Jewish leaders who participated in the meeting demanded accountability and indicated that they will not support the RJC as long as Matt Brooks remains.

Update: I just got this e-mail from Matt Brooks:

Hi Joe….Just wanted to give you a heads-up that there was a typo in your post. It’s Congressional Whip…not Wipe. Since you’ve gotten your facts way off base, thought you’d at least like to get your spelling correct.

Best,
-Matt

Dear Matt,

I want to thank you for the response and for pointing out that typo. Those who know me, know that typos are a weakness of mine. We all have our weaknesses I guess. In any event, You state that my facts are “way off base”. I am very interested in getting my facts right, and will be happy to correct them.

My understanding is that you are paid about $500,000 from the RJC and its satellites such as the Jewish Policy Center. I’m not including Freedom’s Watch in that, should I? Combined with perks, benefits and reimbursements I come up with around $700,000. If this is “way off base”, can you please correct me with the accurate numbers? How does one get paid full time salaries while working part time for different organizations? Or is it that you are working full time for multiple organizations? How many vacation days do you take per year? What hotels do you stay at on “official business”? What are the nature of your reimbursements? Am I wrong about the world series of Poker and gambling? I know the entry fee back in 2006 was $10,000. I know that you are listed as an avid poker player (Unless that’s not you). Some would call that a hobby, others might call it something else. Were you in Vegas instead of a large RJC event at the Ronald Reagan Museum and Library? Is it true that you haven’t met with the Chairman of the RNC in years? Are all of the reports about your high-on-the-hog lifestyle of luxury hotels, first class travel and extravagant expenditures wrong? I understand that during this last campaign year you were spotted in Nantucket, Palm Beach, Aspen, Macau, and multiple times in Las Vegas and the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills… and frequently visiting your fancy-dancy 1,350 bottle wine collection at the Capital Grill in Washington… in a tireless effort to elect John McCain. There have been reports of.. ah.. how should I put this, abrasive behavior towards staff and RJC members, not true? How many large RJC donors have quite the RJC because of their concern about the attitudes reflected in this kind of extravagance? Are you in favor of transparency so that every RJC member (or every board member at the very least) can review the RJC’s itemized financials (a non-profit), especially expenses down to the last dime? How about just opening the books and letting members judge for themselves? What do you say Matt?

Finally, and most importantly because this goes towards the bottom line, am I wrong about Obama wining 77% of the Jewish vote? Please correct the record with facts and numbers, I promise to post your response. many thanks for your help.

Joe

Debbie Schlussel was one of the first (if not THE first) to recognize the problems with the RJC. Read a few of her postings on this matter here:
Beware of the RINO-JINOs: The Republican “Jewish” Coalition Panders to Islamists, Israel’s (& America’s) Enemies

Jewish Republicans Host Islamic Terror Supporter

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