Opinion: Senate OKs careless taxpayer Geithner to run Obama’s Treasury

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Great news for tax scofflaws: They’ve now got a fellow traveler running the Treasury Department, which runs the Internal Revenue Service, which once went after its new boss for not paying many thousands of dollars in his taxes. Something like $34K. No, actually with penalties and interest, it was more like $42,702.

The U.S. Senate this afternoon confirmed Timothy Geithner as President Obama’s new Treasury secretary by a bipartisan vote of 60-34, more than enough to put Geithner in Alexander Hamilton’s old job but not exactly a resounding endorsement. Even Iowa’s Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin voted No. ‘How can Mr. Geithner speak with any credibility or authority?’ that silly Harkin person asked.

As The Ticket reported in detail last week, the 47-year-old Geithner, another used Clintonite, neglected to pay taxes for several years until, it happens, he found out about his possible new Cabinet job. He professed surprise over his oversights, just like this bear.

The embarrassing mess was all described by Democratic supporters as unintentional and an oversight even though, once he was caught, he did not pay for previous years until the transition team ‘suggested’ in a Chicago kind of way going back and doing that too, which he did just before his nomination announcement.

Instead of blaming Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Geithner took full responsibility, saying he was careless and negligent. Just the kind of Treasury secretary the country needs to fix years of lax enforcement and obliviousness toward developing financial problems.

But so pressing are our economic troubles and so urgent is the need for Geithner (and maybe worry that some senators might publicly change their minds), that TG was sworn in this evening with the new president in attendance to ensure that oath didn’t get muffed too.

The argument is that the demanding economic times, which the president tells us daily are just so awful, require someone in that job right away and it’d take so long to find a new Geithner that we’d better just take the smart guy in hand who’s so experienced and brilliant he violated the laws he’ll now enforce. And, also, Geithner counts as one of the 3 million jobs Obama has promised to create or save.

So things are changing in Washington after all. Remember this effective ‘unintentional’ defense and the need for speed in tough economic times next time the IRS calls you. Or a state trooper waves you over. Let us know how it affects your personal treasury.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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