Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold In Opposition to the Nomination of Timothy Geithner

[slipslidingaway]

to be the Next Secretary of the Treasury

http://firedoglake.com/2009/01/26/geithner-becomes-treasury-secretary/

January 26, 2009

"I voted against the nomination of Timothy Geithner to be the next Secretary of the Treasury with some reluctance. President Obama, like any other President, is entitled to have the Cabinet he wants, barring serious disqualifying issue, and Mr. Geithner is a very able nominee in many ways. And while I am troubled by Mr. Geithner's track record on some of the issues that have contributed to the credit market crisis, I do not base my vote on what is, to a certain extent, a matter of policy disagreement.

"Mr. Geithner's tax liability is a different matter, however. I am deeply troubled by his failure to pay the payroll taxes he owed, despite repeated alerts from his employer at the time, the International Monetary Fund, that he was responsible for paying those taxes. Moreover, his earlier interactions with the Internal Revenue service over his failure to pay sufficient payroll taxes for his household employees make Mr. Geithner's explanations of his failure to pay his own payroll taxes even less satisfactory. The failure to comply with our nation's tax laws would be problematic for any Cabinet nominee, but it is especially disturbing when it involves the individual who will be charged with overseeing the enforcement of our tax laws.

"With the condition the economy is in, and the state of our country's financial institutions, the stakes could not be greater for the next Treasury Secretary. While I could not support his nomination, I respect Mr. Geithner's abilities and I look forward to working with him to address the serious problems facing our country."

[rosesaylavee]

1. Unfortunately, I agree.

I don't understand how he could not have paid his taxes. And for a prospective Treasury Secretary, that doesn't exactly bode well.

[slipslidingaway]

4. Agree and if the economy were not in such a mess this may have

been viewed differently.

[Rex_Goodheart]

2. Feingold has it exactly right

If this were a Republican nomination this board would be outraged... and rightly so.

We don't need cheats of either party in office.

[slipslidingaway]

6. Definitely, there are different rules now :( n/t

[Johonny]

38. How's he a cheat?

If was an actual tax cheater maybe I'd understand. The guy paid the taxes late. Many, many Americans mess up their tax forms every years. Most of these people do not do so on purpose. I would hate to think we would turn away a qualified person because of such a common mistake. One that he apparently corrected. To me a tax cheat is a person that purposely doesn't follow the law and then tries to avoid getting caught. An action he apparently did not do. I see no relation between how this person will run a department of the federal government and how he fills out his personal tax form. He will ultimately fail or succeed do to abilities in economics and leadership not accounting.

[JackRiddler]

3. Good vote, if for the wrong reason.

The fact that he worked for the IMF and the New York Federal Reserve should be what disqualifies him. Those institutions bear a heavy responsibility for burning down the world financial system.

[slipslidingaway]

9. I was hoping to hear more about those issues and have always

felt that focusing on the tax issue was a distraction to some degree.

Harkin gave a good statement that went beyond the tax issue, Dorgan did as well, but then voted yes saying he will be watching like a hawk.

[cynatnite]

5. He used turbotax to do his taxes...

from there it just kind of went downhill. So, I feel the same as Russ.

[rosesaylavee]

8. And why would someone with his kind of salary, do Turbotax?

We have hardly two nickels to rub together and we give it to our accountant. Sounds fishy to me. It doesn't make sense.

I hope Obama has this guy on a short leash.

[Blue Dog Dominion]

17. Does anyone know what kind of money he was making at IMF?

I know several people who have 7 or 8 figures worth of assets and they use TT all the time. Investments is usually what makes doing taxes a pain, but even then TT can handle most situations.

[slipslidingaway]

10. He should have the knowledge to do own taxes :)) ....

I heard the statement about Turbo Tax.

He did not go back and amend the other years until he was going to be nominated, otherwise I guess he just would have not paid the taxes for those years.

[earcandle]

7. I don't like that Geithner is part of Paulsen's work force.

[slipslidingaway]

11. Well Paulson likes the choice n/t

[mascarax]

13. That cements it for me

If King Henry likes it...

I'm pleased Feingold and my fave Senator, Bernie Sanders, voted no. Not paying taxes - a Treasury Secretary?! Come on.

[madrchsod]

12. russ is one of the few who stands on principals

wisconsin has one of thee best senators of this generation

[slipslidingaway]

24. Yes they do n/t

[elocs]

14. I agree with Feingold 100%. Except to stroke Wall St., Geithner is a lousy choice.

I am disappointed that Obama would choose someone like him.

[slipslidingaway]

25. We'll see if the Geithner bottom from November holds :) n/t

[EFerrari]

15. Russ is right, again. n/t

[slipslidingaway]

27. He sure has been right about many things n/t

[MikeNearMcChord]

16. I wished he was in a cabinet job.

Before the Democratic primaries really started I was hoping would run. He is one of the true heroes of the republic.

[Muttocracy]

21. yeah, but we also need Feingold acting as oversight. nt

[slipslidingaway]

28. Yes I was hoping that he would run as well n/t

[customerserviceguy]

18. Here's what I'm troubled by

President Obama has surely heard that the guy got a "gross up" to enable him to pay the taxes without taking squat out of his pocket. Why hasn't he asked Geithner to withdraw his nomination? I can understand the need to have someone who was an architect of the bailout to be Obama's eyes and ears in the Treasury, but isn't there some undersecretary position he could have?

Forget the Presidency, Timothy Geithner is going to be the most powerful man in the world. Being President has power from using the "football" against your country's enemies, the Treasury Secretary as defined in the bailout law has the power to make or break practically any corporation in the world. Just imagine what benefits and sweetheart deals that asshole Paulsen has made for his old Wall Street buddies in just the last few months.

This is serious, Obama needs to see this as the first stain on his Presidency. Right now, you don't want to give the Limpballs followers the idea that cheating on your taxes is no big deal.

[lonestarnot]

20. Meh.

[slipslidingaway]

29. Being the head of the NY Fed since 2003 he should have seen

this last bubble materializing before sometime in 2007. Good question about not asking him to withdraw from the nomination, maybe he can help with China, we need them to continue to buy our debt.

:shrug:

[customerserviceguy]

37. We're sticking our future in the hands of a man

who cannot even follow the directions the IMF gave him concerning all that extra money he got. Maybe he thought it was a bonus?

I cannot believe that Larry Summers and Tim Geithner are the best we can do in the Treasury. If so, then it will be twice as hard to climb out of this hole as the President thinks it is.

[slipslidingaway]

39. You are not alone in your thinking...

Senator Dorgan last night...

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=8922449

"...This is a very serious problem for our economy, which is perched on the edge of a cliff. The question is, Who is going to steer us out of this mess? My notion is that the same people who steered us into the ditch are not likely to show up with an ambulance to get us out. And my great concern is that there needs to be a culture change. I must say I am concerned as well that we have some people coming to Washington who were part of the culture that got us into this mess...

I have to say--and I have told the President this--that I worry some folks coming into this town now were part of the chorus supporting all of that deregulation in what was called modernization--the Financial Modernization Act and a couple of other pieces of legislation that occurred thereafter. So I am going to watch like a hawk the folks who show up around here who were part of the supporters back in 1999 who have taken apart the protections that had existed since the Great Depression. I am
going to watch this like a hawk..."


And Senator Harkin...

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=8922441

"...As Treasury Secretary, Mr. Geithner would oversee the Internal Revenue Service and would be responsible for ensuring that Americans pay their taxes as required by law. Yet it has come to light that while he was serving as a senior official at the International Monetary Fund, Mr. Geithner failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. He has stated this was an innocent mistake and that there was no intent to deliberately avoid paying the required taxes.

However, the IMF informs us that in order to avoid exactly this kind of situation, its U.S. citizen employees are fully informed of their obligation to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes and must sign a form acknowledging that they understand this obligation.

Moreover, the IMF gives its U.S. citizen employees quarterly wage statements that detail their U.S. tax liabilities. The IMF pays its U.S. citizen employees an amount equal to the employer's half of the payroll taxes with the expectation that the individual will use that money to pay the IRS.

So a serious question is raised as to how a person of Mr. Geithner's financial sophistication could run the gauntlet of these many warnings and quarterly reminders and still somehow innocently overlook his obligation to pay these payroll taxes...


....Unfortunately, on another point, Mr. Geithner has been equally unwilling to accept responsibility with regard to his role in the current financial meltdown. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Mr. Geithner was a key regulator of the large, mostly New York-based financial institutions that have been at the center of this meltdown. Their reckless practices--reckless practices--have brought America's financial system to its knees, pitching our economy into what could be the longest, deepest recession since the Great Depression..."

[book_worm]

19. Yet he voted for Ashcroft as Bush's AG in part because he said he believed the president had the

right to have the people he wanted in his cabinet.

[JackRiddler]

22. Well here's a chance to make up for that bad judgement.

And otherwise, it's messed up, but when don't senators confirm senators? Damned country clubs.

[Odin2005]

23. I rember reading in an Atlantic Monthly article that the Rubin Gang has moved to the left.

Geithner included. I think the article is called "The New Liberal Order" if somebody wants to look for the article.

[slipslidingaway]

30. Maybe I'll for it tomorrow...thanks n/t

[bertman]

26. President Obama is doing some great things already, but he has lost me on the "integrity

in government schtick".

Somebody please tell me what Geithner, this Raytheon fuckwad Lynn, Summers, and Rubin have done to make themselves so indispensable to our new President. These guys are all part of the problem--big parts of the problem. Surely there are others who could do what they have been hired to do, and do it just as well.

This is nothing more than the payback for the biggest bloc of donations in Obama's campaign.

So much for change we can believe in on the financial front and the Pentagon procurement front.

I hate it when I'm so naive that I think a politician is going to actually display fearless integrity in the face of massive coercion. Dennis Kucinich is the only one who has a decent track record in that arena.

[slipslidingaway]

31. While I applaud some of the statements and actions, we should

remember that undoing some of the Bush mess just gets us back to the beginning. And yes I have reservations about some of the people as well.

[slipslidingaway]

32. Here are the documents from the Senate Finance Committee

regarding the tax issue.


30 page pdf file, first foue pages are notes and the balance are copies of documents.

http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb011309d.pdf

[slipslidingaway]

33. Statements from Harkin and Dorgan...

These are videos, the text should be available from cspan tomorrow.


Senator Harkin
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=NULL&showVid=true&clipStart=12586.00&clipStop=13416.00

Senator Dorgan
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=NULL&showVid=true&clipStart=13467.00&clipStop=13884.00

[Krakowiak]

34. Way to go, Russ! (nt)

[depakid]

35. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes

[RFKHumphreyObama]

36. Look Russ is and always will be one of my role models and political heroes

He would have been my second choice for President next to Obama

That having been said, I have difficulty with his stance here. He votes against an Obama appointee but had no difficulty voting for John Ashcroft and Gale Norton in the Bush Cabinet despite the skeletons in their closet.

What gives Senator Feingold?

[slipslidingaway]

40. What gives, not sure exactly and I wonder if there is more to his

decision then was spelled out in this statement???