Tom Daschle
Tom Daschle has been nominated as the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama Administration. Confirmation is under review because he had avoided $128,000 in federal taxes over a period of years, and paid the taxes and penalties only after he had been named to the cabinet. The back taxes involved unreported consulting fees, questionable charitable contributions, and a car and driver provided by a private equity firm run by a longtime Democratic Party donor who had paid Daschle $2 million a year for his political advice.[1]
A leading Democrat and a liberal, he served as Senator from South Dakota from 1987 to 2005, and as Senate Majority Leader from 2001 to 2003. In 2004, he was defeated for re-election by Republican John Thune.
Daschle served in the US Air Force from 1969 to 1972.
In October 2001, Daschle's office was the recipient of a letter containing anthrax. This was a part of an anthrax scare involving several politicians and media personalities.
External Links
Further reading
- Daschle, Tom. Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever (2003) excerpt and text search