Ethics

Good Riddance, Tom Daschle

By Ed Brayton

This post was originally written with the title "Dump Daschle. Now." After it was written, the news came out that Daschle had withdrawn his nomination. Good. Tom Daschle was perhaps the most blatant and appalling "exception" to Obama's rapidly disintegrating rule against lobbyists working in his administration on issues that they had lobbied on. Picking Daschle was a very bad idea from the very start. This is a man who absolutely reeks of the corrupt lobbying system that fuels our politics. Though he never registered as a lobbyist, he has spent all of his time since losing office in 2004 getting rich by consulting with corporate interests on how to cut through Washington red tape, including many of the major healthcare companies who will be affected by policies he advises on and helps construct. His wife, who is a registered lobbyist, makes gobs of money lobbying on behalf of defense contractors. Glenn Greenwald quotes this passage from Matt Taibbi when Daschle was picked:

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).