Maybe Secret Codes? ‘Best & Brightest’ HHS Nominee Sebelius’ Forgot Income Taxes, Campaign Donations
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 23, 2009
By Vicki McClure Davidson * Frugal Café Blog Zone
How a month flies.
Before Somali pirates hijacked a US-flagged ship and held Captain Phillips hostage, before the Tax Day Tea Party protests, before Janeane Garofalo’s hate-fest with Keith Olbermann, before Miss USA broke Hollywood PC protocol and gave her honest opinion about gay marriage issue, before it was revealed in a new Homeland Security report that conservatives are deemed more extreme and dangerous to America than terrorists, before our POTUS ignored authoritative advice and decided it was more important to him politically to reveal top-secret CIA memos to the world than to protect his nation… before all that, there was Kathleen Sebelius.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner may share "Lying Pinocchio" award with HHS nominee Kathleen Sebelius
Back in mid April, Kathleen Sebelius was outed as having difficulty remembering to pay her income taxes and remembering campaign donations given to her. But, she has been hailed as one of “the best and brightest” for the job of Secretary of the Health and Human Services (HHS) department. Just like Tom Daschle was when he was chosen for the HHS spot before he withdrew his name from consideration… because of tax problems. Remember him?
Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner has also been lauded as one of “the best and brightest.” He didn’t step down from his White House post… but he, too, has had tax amnesia.
I think I’m figuring this new administration out. I think the descriptive “best and brightest” label is actually a SECRET CODE term for “tax-payment amnesia.”
Or maybe a code term for “tax-evading and lying” or “detrimentally challenged to uphold the laws of the government.”
“Responsible financial oversight” might be yet another secret code, since it, too, is used frequently, but who in Washington has actually figured out what it means?
Kansas Gov. Sebelius, Obama’s choice for heading the HHS, is now competing for the coveted “Lying Pinocchio” award that has been Tim “Tax Cheat” Geithner’s pride and joy.
Oh, heck… we’ll let them both hold that title. Fair is fair.
From Associated Press, these grim details were revealed a few weeks ago:
Sebelius lowballed donations from abortion doctor
By Erica Werner, Associated Press Writer | April 13, 2009President Barack Obama’s health secretary nominee got nearly three times as much political money from a controversial abortion doctor as she told senators.
The Health and Human Services Department said Monday that the omission was an oversight that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius would correct.
In a response to questions from the Senate Finance Committee made public last week, Sebelius wrote that she received $12,450 between 1994-2001 from Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation’s few late-term abortion providers.
But in addition to those campaign donations, records reviewed by The Associated Press show that Tiller gave at least $23,000 more from 2000-2002 to a political action committee Sebelius established while insurance commissioner to raise money for fellow Democrats.
Sebelius did not tell senators about that additional money, although Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., asked specifically about any Tiller donations to her PAC.
“There was an oversight in the initial answer provided to the committee,” HHS spokesman Nick Papas said Monday. “Obviously donations to the PAC are a matter of public record. The governor is updating the answer to this question and will resubmit it to the committee.”
It was the second time in her confirmation process that Sebelius had to explain a financial oversight to the Finance Committee. Earlier, she corrected three years’ worth of tax returns and paid more than $7,000 in back taxes to fix improper deductions.
Anti-abortion groups have sought to make an issue of Sebelius’ pro-abortion stances and her ties to Tiller, who was acquitted last month of misdemeanor charges stemming from procedures he performed but is now under investigation by the state medical board.
Opponents have criticized Republicans on the Finance Committee for not asking Sebelius about Tiller or abortion when she appeared for her confirmation hearing April. Senators raised the issue only in written questions submitted to Sebelius after her hearing, which were released last Thursday along with her responses.
“Can you describe your relationship with Mr. Tiller?” Kyl asked. “Has he ever contributed to your campaign or has your PAC ever received money from Mr. Tiller or a PAC related to Mr. Tiller?”
Sebelius responded: “I have been familiar with Dr. Tiller for many years because he lives and works in Kansas. Dr. Tiller, like many Kansans, contributed to my campaign for insurance commissioner. I received $12,450 over an eight-year period (1994-2001), which represented 1 percent of my total contributions during that time. Since that time, I have received no donations from Dr. Tiller or any PAC related to him.”
What Sebelius left out: Campaign finance documents show that Tiller also contributed $10,000 to Sebelius’ Bluestem Fund PAC in September 2000, and his clinic, Women’s Health Care Services, contributed $8,000 to the PAC in December 2001 and another $5,000 in March 2002.
The Finance Committee was expected to vote this month on forwarding Sebelius’ nomination to the full Senate.
The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, which is opposing Sebelius’ nomination, circulated the campaign finance documents showing the discrepancy in what Sebelius told senators. The records were reviewed Monday by the AP and their accuracy was verified by the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.
The health committee won’t actually vote on sending Sebelius’ nomination to the full Senate. That job falls to the Senate Finance Committee, which will hold Sebelius’ confirmation hearing today. A likely shoo-in, unless Republicans hammer the tax issue. The full Senate will vote on her nomination later this month.
But she’s not off the hook with voters. From Political Ticker, posted April 22, 2009:
Calling her a politician with “serious lapses of conscience and integrity,” a group of conservative leaders sent a letter Wednesday to senators urging members to oppose the nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for secretary of health and human services.
“Given her propensity for abortion radicalism, her failure to pay her own taxes and her demonstrated lack of integrity, she will be a divisive force in this important office,” the group said in the letter.
Related reading:
Michelle Malkin: Culture of corruption: Daschle edition and Senate confirms low-balling HHS Secretary and Members of Congress look like their budgets and The bigger tax problems of Kathleen Sebelius and Obama’s HHS Secretary nominee can’t count and Meet new HHS nominee Kathleen Sebelius — or rather, Kathleen Taxelius
Hot Air: Obamateurism of the Day
The Weekly Standard: HHS Nominee Sebelius Took $23,000 from Infamous Partial-Birth Abortionist
CNN Politics: Conservatives urge Senate to oppose Sebelius
Dave Helling, Kansas City Star: As secretary of health and human services, Sebelius will face a huge workload
Kyle Smith, New York Post: Why Susan Boyle Is More Real Than Our Pretender in Chief
Obama Foodorama: Kathleen Sebelius Nominated As Secretary of Health And Human Services
Watcher of Weasels: 18 Minutes of Video The Left Doesn’t Want You To See
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