Unlike his wife Linda, who runs a lobby shop in Washington, Tom Daschle is not a registered lobbyist.
He prefers to be called a “resource.”
Daschle withdrew his name in February from nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services, citing the outcry over his failure to pay all of his taxes. Yet as The New York Times recently pointed out, “These days it often seems as if Mr. Daschle never left the picture.”
In a role that is defined by Daschle, but not by government ethics or disclosure rules, he enjoys entry to many parties on many sides of the health care debate.
Tom Daschle
He is an informal adviser to President Obama, visiting as recently as Aug. 21. (The White House downplayed the importance of the session, describing it in a press release as “a quick check-in on the health insurance reform process.”)
Daschle is a paid adviser to Alston & Bird, whose clients include Abbott Laboratories and other health interests. He is also a consultant to United Health Group, one of the nation’s largest health insurers.
He told U.S. News in July:
I’d like to be a resource to my former colleagues, to the extent that I can to the administration, to the stakeholders, and to people interested in just kind of knowing how this is all going to play out—I am most comfortable with the word ‘resource.’
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1 Comments
#1. Craig 09.13.2009
Real Americans need to speak up and stop the communist takeover of our country! First step, Obama must prove he’s legally President. Why has he not offerred one shred of evidence he was born in the US? We need one of our own kind in the President office. Vote Republican in 2010 and impeach the usurper!
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