Would Paul Wellstone Have Cashed In Like Tom Daschle?

Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has withdrawn as nominee for the post of Secretary of Health & Human Services after it was revealed he did not pay all his taxes.

I hope the car and driver Mr. Daschle was provided with by a wealthy business person, and the taxes he did not pay on that service, were worth the chance to help deliver universal health care to the American people. This tax dodging is now what Mr. Daschle will be known for when his record is scored at the end of the day.

It’s possible Mr. Daschle is telling the truth when he says he simply made a mistake in failing to pay the $128,000.  Mistakes happen. But missing out on taxes for a service of such value that it merits a $128,000 payment to the IRS is not something most Americans can muster much sympathy about.

A man such as Mr. Daschle has the means to hire people to make sure he is paying all he owes. He has the ability and the obligation to make sure he is getting his tax filings correct.    

Mr. Daschle had earned a great deal of money since leaving the Senate advising  health insurers and other private concerns. Senator Daschle has that right. But that does not mean we have to like it or accept it. We surely don’t have to accept it when he does not pay his taxes on his fancy perks.

If the great liberal Paul Wellstone  (above) of Minnesota had lived and had lost his 2002 election to the disgusting Norm Coleman, (Mr. Wellstone was ahead in polls at the time of his death), do you think he would have cashed in? Do you think he would have looked for the big payday as his reward for public service? Senator Wellstone served only the people.

( Here is a link to Wellstone Action.)

I say good riddance to Mr. Daschle. These folks, including President Obama in the case, live in a fantasy land. If Mr. Daschle was indispensable to the cause of health care reform, then it did not have much chance to start with.

The example of the late Senator Wellstone was that serving the public was about more than personal gain. Senator Daschle may be a decent person in some respects, but he is not in touch with life as lived by most Americans or with the ethics in office that President Obama promised in his campaign.