Kansans Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts were among the 34 Republican senators who voted Monday against confirming Timothy Geithner (in photo) as Treasury secretary. Brownback’s stated problem with Geithner, who formerly led the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, went beyond his “inexcusable” failure to pay income taxes. Brownback said: “Geithner was responsible for watching the big financial institutions precisely at the time when they acted most irresponsibly and made decisions that led to our current crisis.”
During the confirmation hearing, Roberts quipped that Geithner, as Treasury secretary, should give a tax holiday to every American who makes a “mistake.” In response, Geithner just smiled.
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25 Comments
Kansas had to right side of it. Typical friendly lawyers. Rules and laws for everybody except him/her. You would think all politicians are tainted in some way. Must be.
I wouldn’t have expected anything different from our Kansas Senators. I don’t expect them to cooperate in any way to make improvements, it would be too much of a blow if the Democratic majorities were successful!
We should be watchful!
Maybe if you shared the den you know which foxes to watch out for?
Looks like he hit the round running.
“Geithner announces new lobbying rules for bailout
WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in his first full day on the job, announced new rules Tuesday to limit special-interest influence on the government’s $700 billion financial rescue program.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/treasury_secretary
““Geithner announces new lobbying rules for bailout”
Does that include hiring a lobbyist for your second in command at the DOD?
“I don’t expect them to cooperate in any way to make improvements,..”
I’m sure you people would have said nothing if Bush hired a guy who “forgot” to pay his taxes.
So. . ., Linda,
What do you think about putting good ol’ Turbo Tax Tim in charge of the IRS?
I am willing to give him a chance. And, keep my eyes open and ears to the ground.
I have to wonder about the intelligence of someone with that complex a return not hiring a professional to do it.
I’m sure TurboTax is a fine program for fairly easy returns; however I wonder about it for really complex ones.
Looks like Nobama is surrounding himself with crooks and liars; sounds like the clinton administration
If we have a repeat of the Clinton administration I will be one happy person! President Clinton screwed Monica and Jones and…; bush screwed America.
After the last eight years, if we are forced to choose between someone with moral failings who is an excellent president, and someone who is a total failure as a president but manages to keep his zipper closed, I know which choice I’ll make!
Maybe this time we got both — a man of moral integrity who will be a good president.
“Geithner announces new lobbying rules for bailout
WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in his first full day on the job, announced new rules Tuesday to limit special-interest influence on the government’s $700 billion financial rescue program.”
Well that explains Roberts disenchantment with geithner, got to get sonny boy a cut of the action!
I speculated our Senators would be among those playing obstructionist, it’s the only game they know.
lindainks55
Posted January 27, 2009 at 2:05 pm | Permalink
I wouldn’t have expected anything different from our Kansas Senators. I don’t expect them to cooperate in any way to make improvements, it would be too much of a blow if the Democratic majorities were successful!
—————
Linda you really didn’t write this did you. Do you think the republicans will roll over and play dead so the left can pull all of the krap they want and with no one to oversee them.
This man didn’t pay his own taxes. He was one of the men in charge of overseeing the financial fiasco we are in.
Which part of the brain have you disconnected? The part that thinks logically. The part that feels all warm and fuzzy? The part that shows you can think beyond Obama’s election and know there will be decisions to make.
Thank you Brownback and Roberts for seeing this man for what he is. A criminal who should be fined and jailed right beside Wesley Snipes. Same crime, same time.
bth
Posted January 27, 2009 at 2:40 pm | Permalink
I’m sure TurboTax is a fine program for fairly easy returns; however I wonder about it for really complex ones.
———-
Ben we could blame Turbo Tax for this if Geitner had paid the taxes when the IRS sent him a letter and told him he owed them.
The man is crooked. Not the victim of a bad tax prep package.
For those who want to see Who Voted For The TAX CHEATER GEITHNER!
(Note the 4 NON-VOTES from gutless wonders)
Vote
[Sort] State
[Sort] Representative
[Sort by Name] [Sort by Party]
Nay TN Alexander, Lamar [R]
Nay WY Barrasso, John [R]
Nay UT Bennett, Robert [R]
Nay KS Brownback, Samuel [R]
Nay KY Bunning, Jim [R]
Nay NC Burr, Richard [R]
Nay WV Byrd, Robert [D]
Nay GA Chambliss, Saxby [R]
Nay OK Coburn, Thomas [R]
Nay MS Cochran, Thad [R]
Nay ME Collins, Susan [R]
Nay SC DeMint, Jim [R]
Nay WY Enzi, Michael [R]
Nay WI Feingold, Russell [D]
Nay IA Grassley, Charles [R]
Nay IA Harkin, Thomas [D]
Nay TX Hutchison, Kay [R]
Nay OK Inhofe, James [R]
Nay GA Isakson, John [R]
Nay NE Johanns, Mike [R]
Nay AZ Kyl, Jon [R]
Nay IN Lugar, Richard [R]
Nay FL Martinez, Mel [R]
Nay AZ McCain, John [R]
Nay KY McConnell, Mitch [R]
Nay AK Murkowski, Lisa [R]
Nay ID Risch, James [R]
Nay KS Roberts, Pat [R]
Nay VT Sanders, Bernard [I]
Nay AL Sessions, Jefferson [R]
Nay PA Specter, Arlen [R]
Nay SD Thune, John [R]
Nay LA Vitter, David [R]
Nay MS Wicker, Roger [R]
Yea HI Akaka, Daniel [D]
Yea MT Baucus, Max [D]
Yea IN Bayh, Evan [D]
Yea AK Begich, Mark [D]
Yea NM Bingaman, Jeff [D]
Yea CA Boxer, Barbara [D]
Yea WA Cantwell, Maria [D]
Yea MD Cardin, Benjamin [D]
Yea DE Carper, Thomas [D]
Yea PA Casey, Robert [D]
Yea ND Conrad, Kent [D]
Yea TN Corker, Bob [R]
Yea TX Cornyn, John [R]
Yea ID Crapo, Michael [R]
Yea CT Dodd, Christopher [D]
Yea ND Dorgan, Byron [D]
Yea IL Durbin, Richard [D]
Yea NV Ensign, John [R]
Yea CA Feinstein, Dianne [D]
Yea SC Graham, Lindsey [R]
Yea NH Gregg, Judd [R]
Yea NC Hagan, Kay [D]
Yea UT Hatch, Orrin [R]
Yea HI Inouye, Daniel [D]
Yea SD Johnson, Tim [D]
Yea MA Kerry, John [D]
Yea MN Klobuchar, Amy [D]
Yea WI Kohl, Herbert [D]
Yea LA Landrieu, Mary [D]
Yea NJ Lautenberg, Frank [D]
Yea VT Leahy, Patrick [D]
Yea MI Levin, Carl [D]
Yea CT Lieberman, Joseph [I]
Yea AR Lincoln, Blanche [D]
Yea MO McCaskill, Claire [D]
Yea NJ Menendez, Robert [D]
Yea OR Merkley, Jeff [D]
Yea MD Mikulski, Barbara [D]
Yea WA Murray, Patty [D]
Yea NE Nelson, Ben [D]
Yea FL Nelson, Bill [D]
Yea AR Pryor, Mark [D]
Yea RI Reed, John [D]
Yea NV Reid, Harry [D]
Yea WV Rockefeller, John [D]
Yea NY Schumer, Charles [D]
Yea NH Shaheen, Jeanne [D]
Yea AL Shelby, Richard [R]
Yea ME Snowe, Olympia [R]
Yea MI Stabenow, Debbie Ann [D]
Yea MT Tester, Jon [D]
Yea CO Udall, Mark [D]
Yea NM Udall, Tom [D]
Yea OH Voinovich, George [R]
Yea VA Warner, Mark [D]
Yea VA Webb, Jim [D]
Yea RI Whitehouse, Sheldon [D]
Not Voting MO Bond, Christopher [R]
Not Voting OH Brown, Sherrod [D]
Not Voting MA Kennedy, Edward [D]
Not Voting OR Wyden, Ron [D]
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s2009-15&sort=vote
I’m not disagreeing with you okob. And you are correct – he should have paid up – statute if limitations or not. I’m not blamint TT; I questioned his wisdom in playing do-it-yourself with a complex return.
Even on my fairly simple returns I consult with my CPA.
“okobserver” gets the vapors –
“The man is crooked. “
No. He’s the victim of a tax code that’s so complicated no one probably ever gets it right. In some respects, it might be humbling for the Treasury Secretary to know first hand how convoluted the IRS works.
As it turns out, Geithner’s error is a common one for Americans working overseas for the IMF. It’s so common, that’s how the auditors caught it; they always look for it with IMF employees’ tax returns. This isn’t an “everybody does it” excuse; it’s a common mistake.”
So they billed him for the mistake and he paid the bill.
You CONs are in desperate hissy-fit mode and it’s amusing to watch. Some Democrats didn’t vote to confirm Geithner and some Republic Party Senators voted “Aye.”
Perhaps no one else on the planet — according to conservative, moderate, and liberal in and out of government — has as much first-hand experience with the macro-view of international and domestic economics.
For be sure, Geithner will be under scrutiny. Deservedly so. The last thing Treasury needs is another Shrub-induced fox guarding the hen house.
But this isn’t an issue to go all aflutter over.
A word about Timothy Geithner
I recognize that dealing with the world financial/economic crisis is the most important next thing the Obama Administration has to do. Without detailed knowledge, I am willing to accept that Geithner is a crucially well-prepared member of the team that will help in this effort — and that getting the right team is a first-order national priority. I don’t know him, but friends who do know him like and respect him. Fine.
I also think that it is sensible to move past the Zoe Baird / Kimba Woods era (look it up) when any tax irregularity of any sort could be taken as an absolute bar, in itself, to service in any position subject to confirmation. Some standard of reasonable judgment has to be applied here.
So by the standard of what the country needs right now, I would probably vote for Geithner’s confirmation as Treasury Secretary, if I were in a position to do so.
But I do not believe, and will never believe, that his failure to pay his own self-employment tax while at the IMF was an “oversight” or a “mistake.” I have many many friends who have worked for this and similar organizations. I have myself over the years juggled the complexities of what is self-employment income and what is W-2 income and how to handle income from non-US sources — and I have a lot less financial acumen than any Treasury Secretary aspirant should and must have. (Though I also use Turbo Tax!) Not a single person I have known from the IMF or similar bodies, not a one, believes that Geithner could have “overlooked” his need to pay US self-employment tax. When I have received similar income from international sources, the need was obvious even to me — and I wasn’t receiving and signing all the forms to the same effect Geithner would have gotten from the IMF. I could go on with details but I’ll just say: if this were a situation more average Americans had experienced personally, he would not dare make his “mistake” excuse because everyone would say, “Are you kidding me???”
So we’re back to a judgment call. I accept the argument that he is a necessary part of what has to be the best possible team America can assemble at this moment. But I don’t like the fact that he is obviously dissembling on this point, and that he obviously was not playing it straight over a long period of years.
http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/01/a_word_about_timothy_geithner.php
The mistake is common. The amount of time it took him to pay up wasn’t. When he was told of his error he should have written a check. Do you think he would have paid if he weren’t nominated?
How many years will he give tax cheats under his tenure? He has set a standard and trust me it will be used against him by crooks who also want to skip paying their taxes.
If I were Wesley Snipes lawyer I would be filing an appeal now.
Since the vote was 60 to 34 in the Senate last night, I guess the majority thought it was unusual times and his skills are needed. 30 of the 34 senators who opposed him were Republicans and 50 of the 60 who supported him were Democrats. Pretty much a partisan vote, huh!? It is the way of politics, and the thing the party out of the majority will use in the next election when they try to once again become the majority. Vicious circle.
The Republicans are complaining about someone being fiscally irresponsible? I wonder which party was responsible for driving up the national debt and deregulation of the banking industry?
“For be sure, Geithner will be under scrutiny. Deservedly so.”
Why would he be “under scrutiny”?
Roberts and Brownback care more about that, than this recent ongoing Pentagon spending history? Cheney had to know this and approved.
Brownback says (he)was responsible for watching the big financial institutions precisely at the time when they acted most irresponsibly and made decisions that led to our current crisis.
I consider arms dealing internationally is a bigger problem!
By Lindsay Beyerstein
Efraim Diveroli, is a fresh-faced 22-year-old arms dealer whose firm, AEY, somehow attracted $300 million in government contracts between 2004 and 2007.
How did Diveroli manage to do business with the federal government on such a massive scale?
Maybe it’s a family affair.
Records from the Florida Secretary of State show that Efraim’s father, Michael Diveroli, is the manager and registered agent of Worldwide Tactical, LLC, located at 925 41 St. (Ste. 106), Miami Beach, Florida. Diveroli was also the registered agent and president of the now-defunct Advantage Police Supply, LLC, principal office 925 41st St. (Ste. 306).
Efraim Diveroli’s company, AEY, gave the same address to the Miami Dade County procurement office.
AEY also provided that address, down to the 306 suite number, when it was awarded a multi-million dollar contract with the Army in 2007.
Michael Diveroli’s Worldwide Tactical, LLC has been awarded over a million dollars in federal contracts since 2000, records show. Worldwide Tactical also got an emergency two-year contract in 2006 to supply cots to the State of Louisiana. Worldwide Tactical recently renewed a contract to provide cold weather search and rescue gear for Lincoln/Lancaster County, Nebraska.
Another Michael Diveroli company with headquarters at 925 41st St. (Ste. 106) is Business Products Depot Corp. Federal procurement records show that AEY is doing business as Business Products Depot Corp.
Let’s hope Congress has some questions for Michael Diveroli, too.
Update: The New York Times reports that Efraim Diveroli worked briefly for his uncle, Bar-Kochba Botach, proprietor of the LA-Based Botach Tactical. Botach is an established firm that has won many federal contracts to supply military and police gear. According to the NYT, Efraim left his uncle’s company to strike out on his own as an defense contractor.
Update 2: Michael Diveroli business is even more diversified than I thought. Here’s an online ad from Business Products Depot offering a diaper plant for sale: “One of a kind, modern automated diaper-making machine, available for sale. The machinery is in excellent working condition. Includes over 500k in spare parts !!!”
Update 3: Steve Sailer has unearthed some remarkable details about Botach Tactical, which operates out of an unmarked building in South Central Los Angeles.
(clipped)
Since 2006, when the insurgency in Afghanistan sharply intensified, the Afghan government has been dependent on American logistics and military support in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
But to arm the Afghan forces that it hopes will lead this fight, the American military has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a 22-year-old man whose vice president was a licensed masseur.
With the award last January of a federal contract worth as much as nearly $300 million, the company, AEY Inc., which operates out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, became the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan’s army and police forces.
Since then, the company has provided ammunition that is more than 40 years old and in decomposing packaging, according to an examination of the munitions by The New York Times and interviews with American and Afghan officials. Much of the ammunition comes from the aging stockpiles of the old Communist bloc, including stockpiles that the State Department and NATO have determined to be unreliable and obsolete, and have spent millions of dollars to have destroyed.
In purchasing munitions, the contractor has also worked with middlemen and a shell company on a federal list of entities suspected of illegal arms trafficking.
Moreover, tens of millions of the rifle and machine-gun cartridges were manufactured in China, making their procurement a possible violation of American law. The company’s president, Efraim E. Diveroli, was also secretly recorded in a conversation that suggested corruption in his company’s purchase of more than 100 million aging rounds in Albania, according to audio files of the conversation.
Prosecutors recently agreed to unfreeze $4.2 million — as well as return Diveroli’s 2007 Mercedes-Benz S550 — after realizing the funds indeed came from some of the company’s $300 million in weapons sales to the U.S. military, but none involving the Chinese munitions.
Sounds like Chicago politics as usual.
Just another crook to fill the Obama crooked Cabinet. Just as Hitler filled his leadership ranks with criminals and thugs
Heil Obama!
Heil Obama!
Good-by United States of America
Hello United Socialist States of America
Not very smart, both senators say they want the admin to award the tanker and air force one to boeing/ks., yet they’re doing everything possible to alienate ks. out of the running.
Maybe it’s intentional.
Our senators most likely listen to rush and are vested in the failure of obama (and America). Why do repubs hate America?