A month ago, White House interim communications director Anita Dunn stepped into the role of lead Fox News-basher.

She’s handing the reins over to her young protégé and fellow Tom Daschle flack, Dan Pfeiffer.

Dunn never planned to stay in the role permanently. So don’t mistake this for a Van Jones-style under-the-bus disappearance. She may be cutting back and switching seats (she remains as a consultant), but she’s not going anywhere.

I profiled Dunn, Pfeiffer, and the rest of the press shop here. Quick refresher:

Democratic media consultant Dunn’s claim to fame is her decade-long service as chief strategist for disgraced Democrat and former Senate Majority Leader-turned-health care lobbyist Tom Daschle. She was in the thick of his failed re-election campaign as Daschle asserted a bogus property-tax homestead exemption claim on his $1.9 million D.C. mansion – which he listed as his primary residence despite voting in South Dakota and claiming it as his primary residence in order to run for re-election. And Dunn was with Daschle during the years he failed to pay gobs of taxes on a luxury car and driver provided to him by crony donor Leo Hindery, Jr.

After working as communications manger for Obama’s political action committee and then as senior adviser to his 2008 presidential campaign, Dunn “trained” White House press secretary and anti-Fox sniper Robert Gibbs. Deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer is another young protégé of Dunn’s who worked with her on the disastrous 2004 Daschle re-election campaign.

(Another Daschle connection: Obama transition adviser John Podesta, who served as Daschle’s counselor and has helped staff the administration with many alumni of his left-wing think tank, the Center for American Progress. One CAP fellow, Hugo Chavez-admiring radical Mark Lloyd, has attacked conservative talk radio – second home of several Fox News hosts — and is now the FCC’s “Diversity Czar.”)

Dunn is married to Robert Bauer, a Washington, D.C. corporate lawyer who served as general counsel for Obama for America. It was Bauer who lobbied the Justice Department unsuccessfully last fall to pursue a criminal probe of American Issues Project (AIP), an independent group that sought to run an ad spotlighting Obama’s ties to Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.

It was Bauer who attempted to sic the DOJ on GOP donor Harold Simmons and sought his prosecution for funding the ad. It was Bauer who tried to bully television stations across the country to compel them to pull the spot. All on Barack Obama’s behalf.

While conservatives revel in the Left’s hysteria over Fox News Channel’s dominance, more of Obama’s friends hope he’ll wipe his nose and man up. Fat chance. As long as he’s surrounded by career flacks who demonize dissent to distract from the Beltway stench, the White House will remain an all-whine zone.

Keep an eye on Bauer, who has been rumored for more than a month to be in line for Greg Craig’s job as WH counsel.

Earlier this week, I spotlighted White House interim communications director and chief Fox-basher Anita Dunn’s career-long commitment to flacking for one of the Beltway’s most entrenched and crooked creatures, Tom Daschle.

I also noted that Dunn is married to Obama thug lawyer Robert Bauer, who tried valiantly to get the DOJ to prosecute conservative critics and punish TV stations for running an ad critical of Obama’s relationship with Weather Underground Bill Ayers.

Add to the mix this fun fact from Glenn Beck…Dunn is a Mao enthusiast. The White House says she is joking.

Doesn’t seem that way. And, um, who would joke about such a thing?

Hat tip: Ace and HA.

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More: Squier, Knapp, and Dunn — Dunn’s p.r. firm — has clients including:

*SEIU-National
*SEIU-Local 1199
*Ceres-Far Left environmentalists “for sustainable prosperity”
*American Rights at Work-Big Labor outfit chaired by David Bonior

And more from reader Dan:

1. Her firm did the ads for Rod Blagojevich in Illinois in 2002 and 2006. In other words, they used lies to help elect the most corrupt governor in Illinois.

2. She or her partner Squier have widely been speculated to be one of the figures mentioned in Blagojevich indictment as a Washington consultant on a conference call mentioned by Patrick Fitzgerald.

3. Dunn’s husband was also the personal lawyer of Barack Obama related to the Blagojevich matter. Remember, he was questioned by the feds.

(Limited edition Culture of Corruption trading card sets are now available! Get your Dirty Dozen pack here thanks to Tennyson Hayes)

I reported last month that failed HHS nominee Tom Daschle “may be out of the spotlight since his Health and Human Services cabinet nomination fiasco. But he is in constant contact with Team Obama.”

Chapter 1 of Culture of Corruption provides a full sketch of Daschle’s tax-cheating, influence-peddling ways — and exposes Barack Obama’s refusal to throw his wheeler-dealer Beltway buddy off the bus. Limousine liberal Daschle’s tax evasions were the least of his problems. Tom Daschle is the personification of all that Obama professed to detest during his campaign of Hope and Change— – a consummate Beltway insider who parlayed his public service (where he earned a $158,000 yearly salary) into a $5.2 million personal fortune as one of Washington’s biggest influence peddlers along with his lobbyist wife.

Let’s not forget: Daschle was aware as early as June 2008 that he might have to pay back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a private equity firm, but he failed to inform Obama transition team until weeks after Obama designated him the HHS nominee in mid-December 2008. The donor and personal friend who provided the chauffeured services, Leo Hindery Jr., had also made Daschle chairman of the executive advisory board of InterMedia Advisors, a high-flying investment firm. Daschle raked in a million-dollar salary from the arrangement in addition to his private chariot. Asked why he hadn’t disclosed the cozy arrangement, Daschle “told committee staff he had grown used to having a car and driver as majority leader and did not think to report the perk on his taxes, according to staff members.” It was a perfect expression of the culture of Beltway entitlement.

Daschle was on the cusp of attaining enormous power to reshape the American economy and implement his sweeping universal health care proposals. He wasn’t going to let a pesky tax omission get in the way. On January 2, 2009, he was forced to amend his 2005 and 2007 tax returns to reflect $255,256 for the use of the car service, $83,000 in unreported consulting income, and $14,963 in charitable contributions. In addition, the would-be Health and Human Services Secretary failed to pay $6,000 in Medicare taxes for the driver. On February 1, 2009, Daschle groveled before his former Senate colleagues to explain away the back payments he owed as well as dubious charitable deductions worth an estimated $146,000, including interest and penalties. It was downplayed as a “tax glitch.”

Daschle withdrew on February 2, 2009. Obama stuck with him until the very end. He expressed “sadness and regret” that his HHS nominee got tripped up by his “mistake.” Obama said he “screwed up” and promised not to repeat the mistake again.

Another empty promise.

Over the weekend, the New York Times detailed just how cozy Daschle has been with the White House and the health care industry over the past six months. Daschle has been raking in speech money — billed as the “architect” of Obamacare — and raking in consultant fees for health care clients who stand to benefit from “compromise” proposals Daschle has been lobbying for at the White House and on the Hill:

Six months have passed since the morning when Tom Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, under fire for not paying certain taxes, called President Obama in his study off the Oval Office to withdraw his nomination as health secretary and reform czar.

But these days it often seems as if Mr. Daschle never left the picture. With unrivaled ties on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, he talks constantly with top White House advisers, many of whom previously worked for him.

He still speaks frequently to the president, who met with him as recently as Friday morning in the Oval Office. And he remains a highly paid policy adviser to hospital, drug, pharmaceutical and other health care industry clients of Alston & Bird, the law and lobbying firm.

Now the White House and Senate Democratic leaders appear to be moving toward a blueprint for overhauling the health system, centered on nonprofit insurance cooperatives, that Mr. Daschle began promoting two months ago as a politically feasible alternative to a more muscular government-run insurance plan.

It is an idea that happens to dovetail with the interests of many Alston & Bird clients, like the insurance giant UnitedHealth and the Tennessee Hospital Association…

When members and allies of Team Obama engage in back-scratching and Beltway business as usual, it’s not lobbying. It’s “helping” and providing a “resource:”

Mr. Daschle is not registered as a lobbyist and recently told U.S. News and World Report that he preferred to describe himself as a “resource” to those in government and industry.

“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,” he said. “I am most comfortable with the word resource.”

White House officials say they appreciate his help. “He is one of a number of people that provides outside advice to the White House, and the president greatly appreciates that advice and Tom’s friendship,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a spokesman for the White House who previously worked for Mr. Daschle. Mr. Pfeiffer added that the former senator was “a recognized expert on health reform who knows more about the legislative process than just about anyone.”

Daschle is just another privileged Corporate Shill for Hope and Change. Bobby Gibbs won’t be questioning his motives anytime soon.

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One final, grating detail buried in the NYTimes piece: Republican Senate pal Robert Dole, one of Daschle’s colleagues at Alston & Bird, collaborated with him on his latest tweaking of the Obamacare plan — from which Dole and Daschle’s clients stand to benefit.

Like I always say: When government grows, corruption flows. And both Democrat and Republican Beltway creatures are guilty of providing the fertilizer.

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Health insurers respond to Obamacare negotiations: “It’s a bonanza!”

But you won’t see him wagging his finger over the passengers on this one:

Educap is a multibillion-dollar student loan charity run by CEO Catherine Reynolds. As CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reported Monday night, Educap is under investigation by the IRS and Congress for alleged abuse of its tax-exempt status because it charges high interest on charitable student loans, and provides lavish perks with millions in compensation for Reynolds and her husband.

CBS News has obtained exclusive details of what may have been the biggest charity perk: use of Educap’s $31 million luxury jet, which costs thousands of dollars an hour to operate.

Investigators say for five years, Reynolds jetted friends, family and luminaries to faraway and exotic destinations that sometimes had little to do with the charity’s mission.

CBS News has learned that high-profile names on the Educap flight list include CIA Director Leon Panetta, former Sens. Tom Daschle and Ted Stevens, former FBI Director William Sessions and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

According to flight records, Panetta and Daschle, while not in public office, accompanied Educap’s Catherine Reynolds on flights to private business meetings not related to the charity…And records show Reynolds took Chicago’s Daley and his wife on 58 flights including ones to Turkey, Asia and Sweden.

Tom The Dodger Daschle withdraws his HHS nomination. President Obama accepts the withdrawal “with sadness and regret.” Regret that Daschle’s serial evasions caught up with him. Sadness that he didn’t get the Geithner treatment. DLTDHYOTWO!

Obama said Tuesday he accepted the withdrawal “with sadness and regret.”

Daschle has been battling for his nomination since it was disclosed he failed to pay more than $120,000 in taxes.

He said he’s withdrawing because he’s not a leader who has the full faith of Congress and will be a distraction.

(link)

Photoshop: Leo Alberti

Tax evader Tom Daschle is a serial dodger.

In addition to all the “glitches” he has apologized to the Senate Finance Committee for, there’s another important episode in his financial history that bears mention.

William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has the reminder:

In the current controversy regarding Tom Daschle’s failure to report income (and thereby evade the taxes on that income), Daschle has portrayed himself as the most honest person in America, who always intended to pay all the taxes he owes, and who simply made an honest mistake. But history shows that this is not the first time Daschle has dodged taxes, raising even more questions about Daschle’s veracity and fitness for office.

In 2004, during his failed re-election campaign, it was revealed that Daschle claimed a property-tax homestead exemption for his $1.9 million Washington, D.C. mansion. The problem was that in order to claim the tax exemption, Daschle had to certify under penalty of perjury that the mansion was his primary residence. Daschle did so, and got the tax exemption, but there was a problem. Daschle had voted in South Dakota, the state he represented, by absentee ballot, listing a South Dakota address as his primary residence. South Dakota primary residency also was a requirement of Daschle running for office. When the homestead issue surfaced, accusations were made that Daschle or someone on his behalf altered the records to make it appear that only Daschle’s wife has applied for the exemption.

Daschle’s opponent, now Senator John Thune, made an issue of this tax dodge in the campaign, and Daschle was defeated…How much did Tom Daschle save on his homestead exemption tax dodge? A measly $288. Is there any thief more pathetic than a petty thief?

Yes: The other petty thieves in the Senate who have signaled their undying collegial support for Tom the Dodger Daschle.

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Mirabile dictu: The New York Times calls for Daschle’s withdrawal.

Broken clocks and all. Perhaps if his tax troubles had involved an illegal alien, the NYTimes would have given him a pass, too.

Now, WWBORD? What will the B.O. Republicans do?

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Update: John Hinderaker at Power Line digs up a hilarious 1986 Daschle campaign ad. Watch. Snort. Shake your heads.

Update: DeMint calls for Daschle withdrawal…

The White House press corps stopped snoozing today and is all over WH spokesman Robert Gibbs on the Daschle tax debacle.

ABC News’s Jake Tapper, who broke the story late Friday night, pressed Gibbs on whether Daschle’s ethical messes undercut Obama’s squeaky clean agenda. Several other reporters questioned the Team Obama talking point that Daschle was the “best” suited nominee to handle the job given his cloud.

Gibbs was glib: “Nobody’s perfect.”

Except, of course, The One…

Cue Tammy Wynette. President Obama is standing by his man, Tom Daschle. And why not? The Senate Republicans aren’t going to demand that he throw one of their dear old chums under the bus over a silly little “glitch.” Senatorial privilege has its perks.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday underscored his support for health secretary-designate Tom Daschle, despite tax errors that prompted Daschle to pay $140,000 in back taxes.

During a meeting with Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, Obama was asked if he still supported Daschle.

“Absolutely,” Obama replied.

(link)

Before we get to tax cheat Tom Daschle, let’s recall the names of the Bend Over Republicans who pooh-poohed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s tax troubles and accused critics of “thinking in small political terms.”

On the Senate Finance Committee, B.O. Republicans Mike Crapo, Orrin Hatch, John Cornyn, Olympia Snowe and John Ensign all determined that Geithner’s “tax goofs” worth $43,000 did not disqualify him from the job of overseeing everyone else’s taxes.

On Jan. 26, when the full Senate voted, 10 B.O. Republicans cast their votes in the affirmative for the serial tax evader and bailout failout architect. Those 10 B.O. Republicans were:

Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
Ensign (R-NV)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Voinovich (R-OH)

What, pray tell, will these apologists for tax evasion do with Tom Daschle? Like Geithner, Daschle pleads ignorance – and only paid back taxes and interest during the vetting process for his Health and Human Services Secretary nomination:

ABC News has learned that the nomination of former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to be President Obama’s secretary of health and human services has hit a traffic snarl on its way through the Senate Finance Committee.

The controversy deals with a car and driver lent to Daschle by a wealthy Democratic friend — a chauffeur service the former senator used for years without declaring it on his taxes.

It remains an open question as to whether this is a “speed bump,” as a Democratic Senate ally of Daschle put it, or something more damaging.

After being defeated in his 2004 re-election campaign to the Senate, Daschle in 2005 became a consultant and chairman of the executive advisory board at InterMedia Advisors.

Based in New York City, InterMedia Advisors is a private equity firm founded in part by longtime Daschle friend and Democratic fundraiser Leo Hindery, the former president of the YES network (the New York Yankees’ and New Jersey Devils’ cable television channel).

That same year he began his professional relationship with InterMedia, Daschle began using the services of Hindery’s car and driver.

The Cadillac and driver were never part of Daschle’s official compensation package at InterMedia, but Mr. Daschle — who as Senate majority leader enjoyed the use of a car and driver at taxpayer expense — didn’t declare their services on his income taxes, as tax laws require.

During the vetting process to become HHS secretary, Daschle corrected the tax violation, voluntarily paying $101,943 in back taxes plus interest, working with his accountant to amend his tax returns for 2005 through 2007.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Late Friday night, ABC News obtained the Senate Finance Committee report on Daschle, which revealed even more unreported income:

Mr. Daschle also didn’t report $83,333 in consulting income in 2007.

The Senate Finance Committee Report also notes that during the vetting process, President Obama’s Transition Team “identified certain donations that did not qualify as charitable deductions because they were not paid to qualifying organizations. Daschle adjusted his contribution deductions on his amended returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007 to remove these amounts and add additional contributions.” This adjustment meant a reduction in the amount he contributed to charitable foundations of $14,963 from 2005 through 2007.

With the unreported income from the use of a car service in the amounts of $73,031 in 2005, $89,129 in 2006 and $93,096 in 2007; the unreported consulting income of $83,333 in 2007; and the adjusted reductions in charitable contributions, Daschle adds a total of $353,552 in additional income and reduced donations, meaning an additional tax payment of $128,203, in addition to $11,964 in interest.

And then there’s the issue of his travel with an education-loan provider — reported by the WSJ last week:

In part, some Finance Committee staff members are looking at Mr. Daschle’s interaction with EduCap Inc., a nonprofit lender that has faced Internal Revenue Service scrutiny for its lending practices and faces a separate Finance Committee probe into what some on the committee believe to be abuses of its status as a charity. Attempts to get comment from EduCap were unsuccessful.

According to Finance Committee aides, EduCap flew Mr. Daschle on its corporate jet several times, including flights to vacation spots. News of such flights first emerged in 2007, after Mr. Daschle had left the Senate.

The Finance Committee staff is trying to determine whether those flights had a legitimate charitable purpose and whether Mr. Daschle’s presence on board could be justified as a charity project. In that sense, the inquiry may have more to do with EduCap’s tax status than Mr. Daschle’s.

Daschle aides have acknowledged he was on some flights but said there was nothing improper about the trips.

Finance Committee aides are also looking at past tax returns, whose complexity has slowed the vetting process. Mr. Daschle and his wife have numerous business interests. Other people familiar with the nomination say one avenue of inquiry is how he characterized charitable deductions on his income tax returns.

But Daschle’s “naive” mistakes make him more qualified to hold a Cabinet position, remember? That’s the reasoning embraced by the Lindsay Graham wing of the Republican Party. Now, the B.O. Republicans will have to 1) twist themselves in pretzels to find a logical explanation for opposing this new tax cheat with liabilities three times Geithner’s; or 2) assume the downward dog yoga position, approve yet another corrupted Obama nominee, and meekly dub him indispensible and “uniquely qualified” to raise the taxes of other Americans after failing to pay his own.

Screw up, move up. It’s the bipartisan Washington way.

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John Hinderaker finds a silver lining: “Thee good thing about electing a Democrat as President is that, as he nominates fellow Democrats to senior positions in the Executive Branch, millions of dollars in unpaid tax liabilities come to light and are belatedly paid to the IRS, with interest. It is, perhaps, the most tangible advantage of electing Democrats to office.”