More Problems: Tax Evasion And Staffing

The road just hasn't gotten any smoother in terms of Obama's staff.  Now his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, is under the gun for neglecting taxes, too:

Gawker first reported that Emanuel rents a basement apartment last week, mostly to make fun of the chief of staff for sleeping on a futon under a blacklight poster of Bob Marley. Which is an important part of the story, but it turns out the residence in question isn't zoned for rentals.

That sent Emanuel's colleague and alleged landlord out to deny the charges. Rep. Rose DeLauro (D-Conn.) told her hometown paper, "Hey, it's cool. He doesn't rent from me. He lives there for free!"

"I wanted to make clear: we have no separate apartment in our DC house, no rental apartment; all our bedrooms and living areas are part of the house and accessible. They are often used by close family and friends. In mid-November, I got a call from the DC zoning office indicating that somebody had lodged a complaint and asked to inspect the property, which we welcomed. My husband was there for the inspection, which was uneventful and we did not hear again from the zoning office."

Wow, so one of the most powerful men in Washington is either the 7th-year undergrad rocking out to Dave Matthews in his efficiency pad in between shifts at the Gyro Wrap or the masterful mooch who passed out on your couch after a tailgate freshman year and never, ever left. One wonders if he even pays his part of utilities. That hot shower water is not free, Rahmbo.

Hospitality between colleagues is not prohibited by House ethics rules, but a gift of this size would have required a written waiver from the Standards Committee, which neither party has yet produced.

But, let's not stop there with the questionable ethics. DeLauro is married to one Stan Greenberg, a Democratic pollster who has made quite a pile of money off work supplied to him by none other than his semi-permanent house guest. Living for free in the home of a Democratic pollster whom you employed as both a Congressman and as chair of the DCCC might run up against the ethics rules of the "most open and transparent" administration in history. That revolving door Obama keeps talking about is actually the private entrance to Emanuel's digs.

Once again, this seems to prove the reason why Democrats never have a problem with raising taxes - they never pay them!

One of the few genuine instances of Obama embracing his oft-touted bipartisanship was the appointment of Republican Sen. Judd Gregg to be Commerce Secretary.  By all accounts, Gregg would have done a fine job, and was someone who was likely to sail through the nomination process with no problems from either side of the aisle.  Yesterday, Gregg bowed out of the position with this statement:

"I want to thank the President for nominating me to serve in his Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. This was a great honor, and I had felt that I could bring some views and ideas that would assist him in governing during this difficult time. I especially admire his willingness to reach across the aisle.

"However, it has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.

What it boils down to is that Gregg refused to get on board with two of the major initiatives Obama is working on right now.  The first was the horrendous 'stimulus' package we've documented very well on this blog, so I won't get into it any more here.  The other problem was the census.  In a nutshell, here's what happened.

Traditionally, the Commerce Secretary oversees the census, which is conducted every ten years.  It's a critical function because the census results determine how Congressional representatives are allocated, as well as spending on myriad tasks from roads to schools.  As soon as Gregg was nominated, Obama then took moves to shift the control of the census to his own staff inside the White House, thus ensuring that a Republican couldn't mess things up.  Translation: he couldn't stack the deck in favor of Dems if a Rep was in charge of it.

There are some questions on the constitutionality of the move, and some Republicans have already called for investigations into the matter, but the fact remains that this is yet another example of Obama vastly overreaching his authority.

Good for Gregg for backing out.

There's my two cents.



Related Reading:
http://minx.cc/?post=282579
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/10/why-obama-wants-control-of-the-census/
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/02/rahms_census.asp
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Nzc4YjU3MGNmYzUxYTIwMjA0NmRhZmE1MWM4ZDBhOTE
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/12/whos-ready-to-sue-over-census-power-grab/
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2YyMjkxOGMxOTU2MzVhMmRlZDE0OTE3ZTRmNjJiOGE
http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/?p=880
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/02/022829.php