JOHN TOWER HIM:

Daschle Faces Questions on Trips: On Top of Tax Issues, Senators Also Weigh Propriety of Travel with Charity (JONATHAN WEISMAN and MELANIE TROTTMAN, 2/01/09, WSJ)

Former Sen. Tom Daschle, already facing questions over his failure to pay some taxes in a timely fashion, will likely face another question when the Senate Finance Committee meets Monday to consider his nomination as health and human services secretary: whether he improperly took gifts of value from charities with which he was involved.

A Finance Committee memo given to members Friday night alluded to the issue as "outstanding," stating, "Committee staff still is reviewing whether travel and entertainment services provided to the Daschles by EduCap, Inc., Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation, Academy Achievement, and Loan to Learn should be reported as income."

The Senate is supposed to cut its own inordinate slack when they're up for confirmation, but John Tower was the first cabinet nominee ever rejected when GHW Bush put him up for SecDef and he was voted down by the committee he'd chaired. Time for the GOP to draw the line on Tom Daschle.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 1, 2009 10:21 PM