Posted on 07/15/2002 2:38:56 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., appeared on national television last week throwing stones at Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt.
What most of the media failed to notice is that Daschle was throwing the stones from a big glass house – within which his own wife serves as a lobbyist for major government contractors.
Appearing July 7 on CBS's "Face the Nation," Daschle said that Bush-appointed SEC Chairman Pitt – a lawyer who once represented Arthur Andersen and other accounting firms – had been "too cozy" with the accounting industry to do his job effectively.
"I think [Pitt] has been a huge disappointment," said Daschle, who had supported Pitt's nomination. "He's had too-cozy relationships. He met with the accountants on many occasions before issuing regulation. He has been the one who has said we want a kinder and gentler SEC, just the opposite of what we should have had."
Daschle stopped just short of demanding Pitt's resignation, but strongly implied that he should be replaced. "I have to say at this point," said Daschle, "that we could do a lot better than Harvey Pitt in that position today."
Daschle also alleged that Bush administration officials in general had a "cozy, permissive relationship" with industry.
"We've even seen that in relationships that some of the members of the administration have had with their own corporate roles and the responsibilities they had in the corporate sector," Daschle said. "That permissive[ness] and lack of real sensitivity to this concern for integrity is something that I think we've got to be concerned about."
In a written response to questions posed by Human Events, however, Daschle did not answer a question about his own ties to major aviation interests and government contractors for whom his wife – Linda Hall Daschle – lobbies, and from whom he thereby benefits financially.
In previous interviews, Daschle has defended this arrangement. In May, he told Human Events he saw no conflict of interest in scheduling and taking Senate votes that bring revenue to his wife's clients.
"My wife doesn't lobby in the Senate at all," he said. "She has limited her activities to the House, and I think that's appropriate."
Daschle also defended his involvement in one particular Senate vote last month – to reauthorize the federal Export-Import Bank – from which Mrs. Daschle's client Boeing stood to gain millions of dollars in federal loans and loan guarantees for its overseas business.
In the July 11 New York Post, columnist Deborah Orrin pointed out the apparent incongruity of Daschle's remarks. "It smells of hypocrisy," Orrin wrote, "because Daschle is pretty cozy with big business himself, since it's a major source of his family income." The same morning, Rep. J. D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., raised the issue on Don Imus's radio show.
Daschle's criticism of Pitt is also unusual because Mrs. Daschle had a similar career trajectory to Pitt's, going from industry representative to industry regulator. After years of lobbying for aviation interests, Mrs. Daschle became deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in 1993. Later, she served as acting administrator of the agency.
After leaving office, Mrs. Daschle went back to lobbying for airlines she had regulated. She was also hired to lobby for the Loral Corp., which had been awarded a $955 million FAA contract while she served as deputy administrator. Recently, she lobbied on behalf of numerous aviation interests during congressional consideration of the anti-terrorism bills enacted in the wake of Sept. 11.
In his written reply to the questions posed last week by Human Events, Daschle attempted to differentiate between Pitt's career and his wife's. Noting that he had supported Pitt's nomination, Daschle said that "recent scandals in the accounting industry call into question whether someone who called for the SEC to be a 'kinder and gentler place for accountants' is the most appropriate person to oversee that very industry." Daschle's statement seemed to subtly backtrack from his remarks on "Face the Nation," citing Pitt's laissez-faire attitude rather than his close ties to the industry as the reason for his supposed ineptitude.
A spokeswoman for Mrs. Daschle declined to comment on Pitt.
Although generous with his criticism of Pitt, Daschle refused to comment on "Face the Nation" when asked about another senator's possible conflict of interest. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, – whose wife, Wendy, sat on the board of directors of Enron as the company collapsed and its executives gave themselves millions in cash bonuses – is nonetheless actively involved in the debate over preventing and punishing corporate fraud. In fact, Democrats accuse him of blocking what they say are needed reforms in corporate oversight.
When asked about Gramm's situation on "Face the Nation," Daschle simply replied, "That's up to Sen. Gramm to analyze and come to some conclusion about."
Human Events asked Daschle whether his wife's lobbying activities for government contractors compromise him so that he cannot criticize possible conflict of interest among his Senate colleagues. Daschle did not answer the question, instead stating simply that he would not comment on Gramm's situation.
SEC Chairman Pitt has come under fire after recent revelations of alleged corruption in the accounting industry, which his agency regulates. His detractors, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., complain that Pitt, an attorney who used to represent major accounting firms, has not been sufficiently tough on industry violators.
President Bush defended his nominee, however, pointing out that much of the alleged corruption now being revealed occurred during the Clinton administration – well before Pitt's appointment.
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Him and his wife are not able to tell the truth.
All that matters to them is themselves, the hel* with this great country and it's people.
And another thing, HE'S SHORT.
This guy is such a piece of work
Does this diminutive dork know any other words?
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