NY Times picked up on the timing issue....

Today.


WASHINGTON — President Obama’s choice for health secretary, Tom Daschle, was aware as early as last June that he might have to pay back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a private equity firm, but did not inform the Obama transition team until weeks after Mr. Obama named him to the health secretary’s post, senior administration officials said Saturday.....

Mr. Daschle did not think to mention it earlier, in part because “he thought his accountant was taking care of it,” and in part because he had no idea the amount owed would be so high.

[Guess that makes it OK. Let's move on.]

“The president believes that nobody is perfect, but that nobody is trying to hide anything,” Robert Gibbs, the president’s press secretary,

As a politician, Mr. Daschle often struck a populist note, but his financial disclosure report shows that in the last two years, he received $2.1 million from a law firm, Alston & Bird; $2 million in consulting fees from a private equity firm run by a major Democratic fundraiser, Leo Hindery Jr. (which provided him with the car and driver); and at least $220,000 for speeches to health care, pharmaceutical and insurance companies. He also received nearly $100,000 from health-related companies affected by federal regulation.

“He’s never lobbied, therefore he’s not in violation of the pledge,” Mr. Gibbs said. “The president is comfortable with Senator Daschle’s variety of experiences and backgrounds. It’s why he believes he’s best suited to the efforts to reform our health care system.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/us/politics/01daschle.html?hp