Obama Press Secretary Bombarded with Questions about Cabinet Tax Cheats and Lobbyists
Obama press secretary, Robert Gibbs, was put on the defensive when bombarded with questions about Obama’s cabinet picks that had either violated his ethos directive, or violated the Internal Revenue Service’s tax guidelines by refusing to pay taxes on their income.
Obama spokesman defends ethics standards
Feb 3 02:18 PM US/Eastern
WASHINGTON (AP) – Despite the tax problems faced by high-level nominees, and the exceptions made to the no-lobbyists pledge, President Barack Obama’s spokesman is defending the administration’s ethical standards.
Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday, “The bar that we set is the highest that any administration in the country has ever set, with the exception of Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State; Eric Holder, Attorney General; former senator and current lobbyist, Tom Daschle, secretary of Health and Human Services; Bill Richardson, ex-secretary of Commerce pick; lobbyist William Lynn, Deputy Secretary of Defense; Nancy Killefer, chief performance officer; Timothy Geitner, Treasury secretary; and lobbyist Mark Patterson, chief of staff Treasury department. If you make exceptions for these picks, the ethical standards are pretty high so far this week, up to today, Tuesday, after Daschle and Killefer withdrew. And Obama is confident that we should be able to carry this ethical momentum into the weekend, perhaps.”
Gibbs also noted that Obama stated on Fox news, “I consider this a mistake on my part, one that I intend to fix and correct and make sure that we’re not screwing up again. It was the process that derailed my Health and Human Services nomination. There are just too many personal and prying questions asked for these jobs. I feel confident that if we eliminate most of the questions in the vetting process, we can get these nominations through more smoothly.”
During a briefing filled with questions about Tom Daschle’s decision to withdraw from consideration to be Health and Human Services secretary, Gibbs pointed to experts who describe the administration’s ethics rules as the strongest in history if Obama would only follow them.
He also said those experts recognized that Obama would need to make exceptions to his pledge on almost every cabinet pick if he continues on his current path of choosing lobbyists and tax delinquents, and it seems unlikely that he will have an administration free of former lobbyists and tax delinquents. The experts also expressed concern that Obama is only three picks away from having the first administration that would be in violation of the RICO act.
Obama’s choice to become the No. 2 official at the Defense Department recently lobbied for military contractor Raytheon. And his choice as deputy secretary at Health and Human Services, lobbied through most of last year as an anti-tobacco advocate.
Comments (5)
Aren’t rules made to be broken?
Don’t you just love the fact that, if I had the same tax problems these people did, I’d be typing this in prison right now, because I am not a politician; therefore, I must actually be penalized for my wrongdoings.
And these are the same folks who brought us that wonderful stimulus bill. Is it a wonder we can’t trust them.
It’s the same old story with the same old “good old boys” club in action. Incomprehensible that Geitner is where he is today … I know of a couple of lowly Federal workers who were let go simply because they “carried too much credit”, even though they have always paid their taxes. Obama speaks with forked tongue. Amazing what they are getting away with.
This is arrogance and a simple description would be “do as I say, not do as I.” I don’t have to follow the rules, but you do.