Former Senator Tom Daschle, President Obama’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, can be added to the list of those government officials who have made”honest mistakes” on their income taxes. Mr. Daschle did not pay taxes on a car and driver provided to him by Leo Hindry Jr., a media and telecom executive who also founded a private equity firm, Intermedia Advisors. On January 2, 2009, with senate confirmation hearings looming, Mr. Daschle paid more than $100,000 in back taxes and interest on the value of the car/driver services. Intermedia Advisors had paid Mr. Daschle more than $2 million in consulting fees, and Mr. Hindery contributed $52,000 to Mr. Daschle’s senate campaigns between 1997 and 2004. An administration official called the failure by Mr. Daschle to pay taxes on the car service “a stupid mistake.” The Barometer is tempted, but will refrain from the obvious cheap shot.Â
The choice for any additional officials who are anteing up even as The Barometer keeps score: “I made a honest mistake,” or “I made a stupid mistake.” The Barometer wonders what criteria are used to distinguish between the options. The Barometer wonders whether these options are indeed mutually exclusive: Honest, but stupid? Stupid, but honest? Not honest, but stupid? Honest, but not stupid? The Barometer wonders why there are not better accountants and CPAs for government officials. The trip-ups do not involve mistakes in amortization tables, albeit honest tables. These are fairly plain vanilla, “Yup, that’s income!” The Barometer wonders why so many of these folks do their own taxes. The Barometer wonders what message we send to young people. The Barometer wishes that the message was, “Look what happens when you aren’t honest and don’t pay your taxes!” The problem is no one chronicled here has had a setback. The confirmations are sallying forth, and the back taxes paid without further sanctions or consequences. The message to young people observing these officials is, “Be sure and pay taxes you owe before your confirmation hearing and you can sail through.” How terrific it would be to have an example of someone who sailed through the confirmation process, having paid taxes on time and in the right amounts. Â
Imagine, a nominee who had paid his or her nanny taxes! Imagine a government official who paid taxes on rental income. Imagine a government official who recognized that a car and driver are taxable benefits.  Imagine a country in which government officials obeyed just the letter of the law (we can work our way into the spirit of the law after we conquer the basics). Imagine a government in which all officials had clean bills of health on their tax payments. The Barometer will stop before John Lennon’s tune has new phrases. Imagine! Â
Bottom Line – Ethics and ethical conduct matters. It is not a matter of any of the major political parties being intrisically ethical or better behaved than the other — they both have proven that some members and leaders are un-ethical.
During the election, Al Franken ran ads in Minnesota which blamed George Bush and the Republican Party for all of the nation’s woes. I found that very disengenuous of him. When a national crisis exists and people from all political persuasions allowed self interest to dictate how they govern, we all suffer.
Bottom Line – Ethics and ethical conduct matters, privately or publicly.