Was it a mistake or was it intentional? I think these were mistakes, careless ones but mistakes none the less. I think they were mistakes because nobody tried to rationalize why the taxes shouldn't be paid. The mistakes were identified by the tax payer or the vetting team and then corrected.

Transparency means owning up to one's mistakes and then making amends. People who don't make mistakes shun creativity and never take risks. It would be a shame to foreclose opportunities to public service for people who make mistakes. What a waste of talent.

Senator Dashcle's Achilles heel wasn't the taxes. It was his huge income from the health industry. Tom was a good guy on health before he worked in the industry, I sense that he's a good guy on health now. Why does his financial success mean that he's going to screw the American public?

I applaud President Obama's stand on transparency in government. I also think he's using an axe where a scalpel and a very big window is the tool of choice.

Daschle fell on his sword for the President. I hope the President will remember this when Dashle needs help rehabilitating his political persona.

You pay all of your taxes? Really?

Ever hire a kid to cut your grass, shovel your snow, or wash your car? You paid them in cash, or possibly wrote them a check, right? Did you make sure they were not illegal aliens? Did you withhold Federal, state, local, unemployment, and FICA taxes on them, then pay them to the appropriate agencies? I didn't think so. I didn't, either. They probably didn't want the money withheld, after all. Let's face it, there is a huge underground economy in which many self-employed people do not report income, or in the case of tipped employees, report a small fraction of it.

That's basically what Solis, Geisner, Daschle, etc., are accused of doing.

I'm guilty, both as the recipient and as the bursar. You probably are, too.

The main trouble with political appointies not paying there taxes on things like maids cars and working for the IMF is very simple.Most feel that they were exempt form paying in the first place.They paid only when it was clear they opps were going to maybe get a job with the President.So if this was indeed the case then they desever what ever the IRS and public opion dishes out.Now if they were truely opps you gotta pay on what? Then give them a break and confirm as long as said taxes are paid. Off topic as far as HHS I would prefer to see Gov. Howard Dean M.D. in that job.He knows what is to be a medical professonal and a elected offical and he knows how to get things done.

One test: assume they were (R) not (D). Would that make a difference to your opinion?

If Bush had had, what is it, 6 of his prospective appointees being tax evaders, would we say "oh well, they all do it, no biggie".

Corruption is a bipartisan problem. I blame the GOP for not holding the DNC's feet to the fire over this, because too many (R)s have their fingers in the cookie-jar, and they could get caught too. But I blame the DNC even more, as they were the ones who promised to end corruption. And as they can do end it too, easily, as by all accounts, they are responsible for most of it.

Now that "our guy" is safely in, maybe it's time MSM examined all - both sides - of politicians finances with 1/100 of the same scrutiny they gave to Palin, or even Joe the Plumber.

We could get real change. But I'm not holding my breath. Not while Nancy Pelosi's repeated claims about "500 MILLION JOBS LOST PER MONTH!!!" get a pass.

Can we forget the (R) and the (D), and just concentrate on ridding the US political system of the endemic "financial irregularities"? Can we remove the MAD doctrine of deterrance, where both sides won't go after the other because they're afraid they'll be found out too?

I don't know if Daschle's tax oversight was intentional or a mistake, but Daschle is responsible for making sure that his taxes are "reasonably" correct.

(I say "reasonably" because there are times when an accountant can honestly frame a situation one way, and the IRS insists on framing it another. It may not seem good process for the correctness of a tax bill to depend upon the subjectivity of the IRS, but sometimes it does, and that is why tax courts are necessary. But my point is that a politician, any citizen in fact, can do his/her taxes with utmost diligence, and it is still possible that questions and challenges may come up.)

What I am more disappointed about is this: I think the tax problem was Daschle's problem, not Obama's. And thus I think Obama was overly-conciliatory when he said, "I screwed up." Obama did not do Daschle's taxes for him, nor is it the duty of the President to do a beforehand audit of every nominee's taxes all the way back to the day that nominee earned their first dollar. This was just the hard knocks of governing, it was not Obama making a "mistake" he could have reasonably avoided. Obama should just move on and find a new appointee, not spend time apologizing.

I am kinda glad they found out about daschle. Appointing him was as clear a signal as any that Obama had no intention to reform health care.