POL ANOTHER CROOK....FIVE AND COUNTING

Garf

Garf

Inactive
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/02/05/solis_senate_session_canceled.html?hpid=topnews


Solis Senate Session Postponed in Wake of Husband's Tax Lien Revelations

By Michael A. Fletcher
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.

The report, by USA Today, came just before the Senate's Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee was slated to meet to consider Solis's nomination, which had been delayed by questions over her role on the board of the pro-labor organization American Rights at Work. A source said that committee members did not learn about the tax issue until today.

"Today's executive session was postponed to allow members additional time to review the documentation submitted in support of Representative Solis's nomination to serve in the important position of Labor Secretary," read a joint statement issued by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the panel's chairman, and Mike Enzi (Wyoming), the committee's ranking Republican. "There are no holds on her nomination and members on both sides of the aisle remain committed to giving her nomination the fair and thorough consideration that she deserves. We will continue to work together to move this nomination forward as soon as possible."

No new date has been set for the hearing. The disclosure about Solis's husband comes after tax problems caused trouble for three of Obama's top appointees, leading two of them -- HHS-nominee Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer, who was to be chief performance officer -- to withdraw.

Posted at 2:21 PM ET on Feb 5, 2009
 
N

NC Susan

Deceased
Nope, legal now taxes paid Can I do this? without Jail time? or Sherriff Sales

fair use for discussion:


http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-02-05-solis-husband-taxes_N.htm


Husband of Rep. Solis, Labor nominee, settles tax liens

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Enlarge By Evan Vucci, AP
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Sam Sayyad, the husband of Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., President Obama's nominee to head the Department of Labor, has reportedly settled outstanding tax liens against his business, the administration reported. Here, Solis is seen speaking at a luncheon in Washington on Jan. 18.
By Matt Kelley, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The husband of President Obama's Labor secretary nominee paid about $6,400 Wednesday to settle tax liens that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years against his business, the Obama administration told USA TODAY this afternoon.
The disclosure came shortly before a scheduled 2 p.m. meeting of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which will vote on Rep. Hilda Solis' nomination as labor secretary. The hearing was postponed; no reason was immediately revealed.
At a press conference, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said of Solis: "I read the story in USA TODAY and it quotes somebody who works here. Obviously we know about the story. We reviewed her tax returns and her tax returns are in order.Her husband had an issue."
"She's not a partner in that business," Gibbs said. "We're not going to penalize her for her husband's business mistakes."
Gibbs said he thought Solis' husband, Sam Sayyad, paid the liens back because he owed the taxes, not because of White House pressure. "The White House believes that if you owe taxes you should pay them," Gibbs added.
Los Angeles County records showed 15 outstanding state and county tax liens against Sayyad and his auto repair business, totaling $7,630. Two other liens worth $981 were released in 1999 after Sayyad repaid the taxes owed, according to county records.
Solis' financial disclosures list Sayyad's business, Sam's Foreign and Domestic Auto Center, as one of the couple's main assets, worth between $50,000 and $100,000. The disclosure form Solis filed after her nomination also lists bank accounts containing between $250,000 and $500,000.
Solis and Sayyad were unaware of the liens until USA TODAY asked about them Tuesday, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said. He said Sayyad paid about $6,400 to Los Angeles County on Wednesday to settle the liens, but he plans to appeal.
Vietor said Sayyad believes he had already paid all of his taxes in full. He said Solis had no reason to know of the liens because her husband's business is a sole proprietorship.
Personal tax problems have tripped up three of President Obama's nominees for top administration jobs. Two nominees withdrew on Tuesday over tax issues, including Tom Daschle, Obama's choice head the Health and Human Services Department. The other withdrawal was chief performance officer nominee Nancy Killefer, who had a $947 tax lien filed against her in Washington four years ago for not paying unemployment compensation taxes for a household employee. She paid the debt less than six months later, District of Columbia records show.
Committee Republicans have held up Solis' nomination since she appeared before the committee last month, in part because of questions about her service as an unpaid board member and treasurer of a pro-union nonprofit, American Rights at Work. The group's disclosure reports with the Senate say it spent $110,000 in 2007 and $200,000 in 2008 on lobbying, primarily to support legislation Solis co-sponsored that's designed to make it easier for unions to organize.
Solis did not list her board membership as required on her House financial disclosures. In written responses to questions from Republican committee members, Solis said the omission was "an unintentional oversight" she had corrected last month by amending her reports with the House clerk's office.
A spokesman for the panel's top Republican, Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, said Enzi is "reviewing those responses carefully." The spokesman, Michael Mahaffey, said he could not comment on Solis' personal finances.
Anthony Coley, a spokesman for committee chairman Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., did not respond to repeated messages seeking comment.
County records show that all of the tax liens are addressed to Sayyad at his business address, and seven list the repair shop as a debtor.
Eleven of the tax liens seek delinquent county taxes on unsecured property, which includes business equipment other than real estate. Two liens, from 1994 and 1996, are for $1,255 in unpaid state sales taxes. The remaining two, from 1994 and 1995, are for $786 in unpaid county health and safety permit fees.
Some of the liens were more recent. For example, two of the tax liens for unsecured property were issued in the past four months: One for $97 in December and another for $701 in November, the records show.
A tax lien is a legal claim filed by the government against the property of a person or business to collect unpaid taxes or fees.



Contributing: Matt Krantz in Los Angeles
 
N

NC Susan

Deceased
HERE IS NUMBER #6

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18438.html

In the wake of recent tax flaps surrounding Obama administration nominees, Republicans are zeroing in on another Democrat with a complicated personal tax history — Scott Murphy, the nominee for Kirsten Gillibrand’s vacant House seat in New York.

Murphy has been the Democratic nominee for less than a week, but already he finds himself on the defensive for not paying thousands of dollars in taxes on a start-up computer software company he owned more than a decade ago.

A venture capitalist with no experience in elective politics, Murphy is running against Republican state Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, in the upcoming special election in New York’s Hudson Valley-based 20th District. The date for the contest has not been an-nounced.

For Republicans, the election presents an important first test of their competitiveness in the Obama era. The district, one of the most Republican seats in New York, was a longtime GOP stronghold prior to Gillibrand’s upset victory in 2006. In a sign of the party’s acute interest in the outcome, newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele met with Tedisco in Albany Wednesday, just days after his election as GOP chief.

Within hours of Tedisco’s nomination Sunday, the National Republican Congressional Committee blasted Murphy for his start-up company’s failure to pay $21,000 in taxes on time — a charge with added resonance in light of the tax troubles of recent Obama administration appointees.

“Now that he is a candidate for public office, Scott Murphy should start explaining his questionable history when it comes to issues of taxes and past business dealings,” said National Republican Congressional Committee Communications Director Ken Spain.

Murphy said the charges are a distortion — and a distraction from his record of creating jobs in New York. He explained that the company, Small World Software, was under new management when the tax liens were issued and that he had no responsibility for paying the company’s corporate taxes.

“The tax lien was something the new management did after I sold the company. I sold my company to a larger company, and I did work there, but I wasn’t responsible for taxes and accounting,” Murphy said.

But according to copies of tax documents provided to Politico, two of the tax liens (totaling $744) were issued prior to the company’s merger with IXL Inc. in January 1998. And the third lien for unpaid sales tax, which totaled $20,800, covered a time period when the company was under Murphy’s management.

The $20,800 lien was paid off five months late in December 1999, but the two smaller liens are still due.

Tedisco has seized on the controversy, saying he was eager to contrast Murphy’s business background with his own working-class roots. He compared his opponent’s tax troubles with the tax problems that have dogged Obama administration nominees, including former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, as well as House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.).

“What concerns me is the pattern on the other side of the aisle — Mr. Rangel didn’t pay his taxes, and neither did Mr. Geithner or Mr. Daschle, and now Scott Murphy has a record of saying he’s been creating jobs and hasn’t paid his taxes,” said Tedisco. “I think there’s a pattern there.”

Murphy, however, believes that any tax issue will be short-lived, and most voters would rather elect an experienced businessman over a candidate who has spent the past two decades in the Legislature.

“Assemblyman Tedisco has been working in the Assembly for over 20 years; that’s what he’s done,” said Murphy, previewing his campaign’s message. “And you have Scott Murphy, and he’s been creating and saving jobs across New York state.”

For a candidate running in upstate New York, Murphy has an unconventional biography. He was raised in the Midwest, graduated from Harvard and served as an aide to former Missouri Govs. Mel Carnahan and Roger Wilson.

He moved to upstate New York three years ago to be closer to his wife’s family, who live in the district. His wife’s cousin is Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan.

In seeking the Democratic nomination, Murphy began with little name recognition. But his combination of business experience and personal wealth intrigued national Democrats. On behalf of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) traveled to Albany to ensure the party picked the most electable candidate.

“He knows how to create jobs, and his
family has generations of lineage in the district,” said Israel. “But we acknowledge it’s a heavily Republican district and presents a significant challenge for Democrats to win there.”

He was also chosen because of his willingness to spend some of his personal fortune on the campaign. Murphy already has committed $250,000 in seed money to launch his campaign, a valuable asset with a special election likely to be scheduled within the next two months.

He said he has raised about $350,000 from 400 contributors, giving him about $600,000 as he begins the campaign. That’s a cash advantage over Tedisco, who has been fund raising from scratch.

The DCCC ended 2008 with only $492,000 cash on hand and holds $16.4 million in debt — and would prefer to not go too much deeper in debt to start off the year.

“The Democrats did the easy thing — they picked a guy who could self-fund. They took the cheap and easy way out,” said New York-based Republican strategist Tom Basile. “It’s never a good thing when the first thing voters hear about you is some question of impropriety — it turns people off.”

Gov. David Paterson has not yet called for a special election but is expected to do so in the near future. After his declaration, a special election would have to be held within 40 days — and most likely would be slated for March or April.

Leading New York Democrats in Washington had urged Paterson not to select Gillibrand, concerned that her seat would be difficult to hold, particularly given the early time frame of a special election.

“There was a good bit of teeth-gnashing at the governor’s decision [to select Gillibrand], and a special election at this point in time is not helpful,” said one high-level New York Democratic operative. “It was made abundantly clear to the governor, and for whatever rea-son, Gov. Paterson chose not to consider those issues. ... As a result, he is under lots of pressure to help win this seat.”
 
N

NC Susan

Deceased
Better idea.
Get all these DemoCraps to pay back taxes, and fines and penalties and balance the Federal Budget
 
Ender

Ender

Inactive
Originally Posted by NC Susan View Post
Better idea.
Get all these DemoCraps to pay back taxes, and fines and penalties and balance the Federal Budget
Click to expand...


You can NEVER balance the budget until you get rid of fractional banking.
 
C

Copter Doctor

Inactive
I'd agree with doing away with the Federal Reserve....but Congress has enough problems with out pretending to be economists. BBut wait....that's what they ARE doing!

Oops
This is really bad news!
**snicker**
I get a little silly when I don't have oxygen...but I have ammo...
 
kozanne

kozanne

Inactive
This stuff speaks to two things, which I will list in order of magnitude:

1. The level of widespread corruption in government at almost every level
2. The cowardice and theft by those who would sit on this stuff forever had they not received a juicy political appointment
 
nharrold

nharrold

Deceased
"The disclosure form Solis filed after her nomination also lists bank accounts containing between $250,000 and $500,000."

Wow! He must have repaired a lot of autos! /s
 
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