Feb 5th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Secretary Solis? Not Yet.
By Brian Beutler
Her confirmation’s been delayed. Again.
A Senate committee today abruptly canceled a session to consider President Obama’s nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis to be labor secretary in the wake of a report saying that her husband yesterday paid about $6,400 to settle tax liens against his business — liens that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years.
I didn’t realize her husband was going to be labor secretary. And what of the wives of… well, any cabinet member?
Solis got the nod on December 18th. So it’s been, what, seven weeks? Elaine Chao got confirmed in about two. But, of course, her husband is Mitch McConnell, and he surely has no skeletons in his closet.
46 Responses to “Secretary Solis? Not Yet.”
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February 5th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
“I didn’t realize her husband was going to be labor secretary.”
Maybe they file their taxes jointly.
Geez, do any Democrats pay their freakin’ taxes? I thought it was patriotic to pay taxes.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Elaine Chao got confirmed in about two.
But Chao was nominated in January 2001, after Linda Chavez withdrew.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Stupid democrats. If you want a vote, you schedule a vote and make Republicans vote no. If someone puts a hold on it, you go out there and accuse a random Republican member of doing it–pick the politically most vulnerable one if you’re not into the random thing.
Any party that lets itself be victimized by Republicans is composed of moronic pond scum.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Geez, do any Democrats pay their freakin’ taxes? I thought it was patriotic to pay taxes.
They should just hire a tax guy to go around and vet the nominees. Problem solved.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Yuck, Having sex with Mitch McConnell is punishment enough
February 5th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
$6400 over 16 years? What’s next? Unpaid parking tickets holding up confirmations?
February 5th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Shhhh. Save the suggestive language about Mitch McConnell and Closets for the inevitable Don’t Ask Don’t Tell fight.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Hey, whatever works to block someone who’s (GASP!) pro-labor from becoming Labor Secretary. I mean, the bloody nerve.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I’m beginning to suspect our tax code may contain some potentially burdensome inefficiencies.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Steuersippenhaft
February 5th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
What the fuck? Did Obama think that somehow this would all slip through the cracks?
Let them sink Solis. Then nominate Andy Stern. Assuming he pays his taxes.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Isn’t it apparent by now (to everyone) that those of high income and high standing in Washington D.C. don’t pay their taxes per the tax code? I’d bet a tidy sum every single person Obama has nominated to his cabinet is a scofflaw. But so what, surely the same could be said of all the members of the House and Senate? Pick a rep at random, subject him to a very rigorous, insanely thorough I.R.S. audit for the last 7 years. You have a gun to your head. Pick he/she owes the government or doesn’t. Which would you choose?
February 5th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I think empire-builders should build their own empires, not simply borrow existing ones.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Calm down, everyone. Solis is fine. It’s $6400, and it’s her husband. They rescheduled the hearing to make sure there are no surprises, but she’ll go through.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Yuck, Having sex with Mitch McConnell is punishment enough.
How do you know they do?
February 5th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Are these really clear cut cases of tax evasion, rather than disputes about the appropriate degree of taxation?
I mean a friggin LIEN ON YOUR HOUSE is not something people normally just live with, especially for 16 years. That sounds more like a long-running dispute (ie: IRS thinks you owe $X, but you say you don’t), which was quickly resolved to keep Solis’ nomination alive.
Of course I have no way of knowing if that’s actually the case. But a dispute is not the same thing as evasion.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
It’s an awfully big closet. I mean, even with all those skeletons, Mitch still lives in there.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Re Mitch McConnell
Of course, there’s a rumor going around that Senator McConnell is a switch hitter.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Calm down, everyone. Solis is fine. It’s $6400, and it’s her husband.
I support Hilda Solis and think she will be a fine Secretary of Labor if she’s confirmed. That’s not the point. Nancy Killefer withdrew over less than $1000. On the heels of Geithner and Daschle, who both owed a substantial amount of money, the Killefer and Solis situations make it look like the President just doesn’t give a shit who pays his taxes. Whether or not the media scrutiny has been fair to some or all of them is irrelevant. It looks terrible, and it’s bad politically.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I have to imagine that Elaine Chao got confirmed quickly because nobody expected a Republican Labor Secretary to even show up for work, much less be relevant to labor issues. Hilda Solis seems to have some real enemies in the legislature though, and even if she didn’t, the Republican play seems to be “tarnish every nominee at every opportunity” either to weaken the administration’s approval ratings, or, I dunno, just for the hell of it.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Brian sounds pretty bitter. Maybe he thinks this is no big deal at all. But I wonder what he’d say if this were a Bush appointee. Hmmm… Meanwhile, 4, count ‘em 4, nominees have had tax issues. And if Solis and husband filed jointly, they are jointly and severally liable, so it’s her issue too. Maybe Obama really doesn’t care if his nominees pay taxes, as long as the little people keep forking over their paychecks.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Additionally, since it’s patriotic to pay taxes, shouldn’t all these Democrats be paying more than they owe to demonstrate how patriotic they are?
February 5th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
This is healthy and good, at least to a degree. And I do think spouses, parents, siblings, and children matter: because they’re often backdoor ways to commit bribery, graft, and corrupt conduct.
Of that list, I think spouses matter the most.
If her husband had unethical or incompetent tax behavior that is in no way linked to Solis’ benefit, then she shouldn’t and wouldn’t have a problem being confirmed.
I don’t see Solis’ appointment as one that needs to be rushed through (unlike perhaps Treasury).
February 5th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
A lot of misplaced anger here.
This is for her husband’s business! A seperate filing!
This has nothing to do with her. Instead it is just the opening salvo in the republican war against the EFCA.
February 5th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
he surely has no skeletons in his closet.
Fnar fnar, I presume?
Isn’t it apparent by now (to everyone) that those of high income and high standing in Washington D.C. don’t pay their taxes per the tax code?
Chiselling taxes is the official pastime of the American upper-middle-classes between the Super Bowl and the start of baseball season.
February 5th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I fully support MattY’s guest’s plan to concentrate on Solis herself rather than her husband. In fact, you can read more about her – and her, per CAP, “progressive views on working Americans” – here.
On an ironic note, she and CAP have the same definition of “Americans”: anyone who lives in the Americas.
February 5th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
she and CAP have the same definition of “Americans”: anyone who lives in the Americas.
That’s my definition of “Americans,” as well. What else would “Americans” mean?
February 5th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Isn’t it apparent by now (to everyone) that those of high income and high standing in Washington D.C. don’t pay their taxes per the tax code?
I don’t think that’s apparent at all. How many executive appointments does a president make at the beginning of an administration? It’s in the low thousands, isn’t it? Three or four miscreants isn’t all that bad a ratio. What’s really going on is that most members of the high-powered professional class that staffs the executive branch lead significantly more complex financial and professional lives than John Q. Public. Combine that fact with an already absurdly complex tax code and there will occasionally be blood. Of course, if you think you might some day work for a White House (reading this, Yglesias?) you’d best be obsessively thorough and meticulous about tax matters. Clearly some of these people were less than thorough and meticulous, but none of them (thusfar) strike me as crooks.
February 5th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
You can read more about Chris ‘WackADoodleDickHead’ Kelly here.
In an ironic twist, he indiscriminately considers everyone to be in the pay of TehBrownMenace, but continues to live in Los Angeles, meaning that he can no longer go outside for fear of shitting out his colon in terror.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Chiselling taxes is the official pastime of the American upper-middle-classes between the Super Bowl and the start of baseball season.
Not just the upper middle classes…am I the only one irritated by the tv commercial airing these days in which “regular folks” gloat about how much they owed the IRS and how little they actually paid?
February 5th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
You probably didn’t know that most Admirals and Generals are promoted by a mechanism called a Flag Board. The majority of people who do not get promoted through these boards are struck down for either tax issues. And, military people, even very senior ones, much likely have far fewer income streams and potential tax liabilities than any people working in similarly high areas of business and government. There is a reason the tax code needs to be cut down dramatically. It was built by tax attorneys and accountants to provide jobs for tax attorneys and accountants.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
In the unlikely event that anyone here is remotely interested, I address this question, “Are Liberals Less Inclined to Pay Their Taxes”, at the link.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
According to the news reports. Solis’s husband has paid off the liens, but plans to appeal. Apparently, he doesn’t think he really owes the taxes.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
No. Wrong-headed, but surprisingly lucid for a wingnut.
February 6th, 2009 at 12:40 am
In all fairness, Solis has refused to be open and upfront with her beliefs regarding labour unions. Senators have been rather frustrated with her reluctance to disclose her policies and her evasion.
Let there be an up-or-down vote once she decides to be up-or-down about her own professional guiding principles. It is, after all, rather unhealthy if she turned out to be a closet Marxist.
February 6th, 2009 at 1:42 am
In all fairness, Stephen Myles Fandoogle McGillycuddy de Marches wanders around town dressed like he’s visiting from 1750, then wonders why people think he’s a fucking idiot.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:52 am
I wouldn’t be surprised. I just got a tax bill for $4600 from the state of Virginia for the year 1991 Evidently, they think I underpaid by $200 back then. They didn’t seem to think it was worth mentioning from 1992-2008.
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