Tom Daschle tapped for HHS

A Barack Obama campaign promise may be making it a little difficult for him to assemble his presidential administrative team.

The president-elect is reported to have selected former Sen. Tom Daschle to be the secretary of Health and Human Services in his cabinet.

But The New York Times reported today that Daschle’s activities since he left the Senate at the beginning of 2005 could raise conflict-of-interest questions.

Tom Daschle

Obama has pledged that none of his appointees will “work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employers for two years.”

Daschle is a member of the board of the Mayo Clinic, a major health care provider. In addition, he is senior public policy adviser at Alston & Bird, the Washington law and lobbying firm.

The firm’s website states that Daschle, a non-lawyer and the former Senate majority leader, places “particular emphasis on issues related to financial services, health care, energy, telecommunications and taxes.”

Presumably, some of Daschle’s current clients would be affected by his decisions at Health and Human Services.

“Although Mr. Daschle’s work might not preclude his appointment, it could raise the possibility that the administration would require him to recuse himself from any matter related to either the May Clinic or some of the clients he advised at Alston & Bird,” David D. Kilpatrick wrote in the Times.

A spokeswoman for Obama said, “If (Daschle) is asked to serve in the Obama administration, he will represent the interests of the president-elect and not his former clients.”

Daschle was an early backer of Obama and was rumored to have been a possible choice for the vice presidency.

He was also one of several people mentioned as a possibility to become Obama’s chief of staff, a post that will be filled by Rep. Rahm Emanuel.

Daschle has expressed a special interest in health care, and he’s the co-author of the book, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis?

Daschle’s wife, Linda Daschle, is a senior public policy adviser with the law and lobbying firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC.

A former deputy administrator and then acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, she focuses her lobbying efforts on aviation, homeland security, communications and transportation, according to her firm’s website.

Linda Daschle’s lobbying activities would not seem to present a conflict-of-interest problem for her husband, should he be appointed to lead Health and Human Services.

In addition, the Obama campaign has not extended the conflict-of-interest promise to spouses, the Times reported.

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