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    Raise the curtain.

    Granholm to Supreme Court? Serious tax issues fit Obama pattern


    By Nick, Section News
    Posted on Thu May 14, 2009 at 07:28:49 AM EST
    Tags: Granholm, Obama, SCOTUS, tax cheat, IRS, lien (all tags)

    When you think about it, she's the only potential nominee who even makes sense.

    The Ivory Tower reports this morning that Michigan's very own Governor Jennifer Granholm has landed smack dab on the Obama administration's short list of potential nominees to fill outgoing Justice David Souter's seat on the United States Supreme Court.

    Others on the list: California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Appeals Court judges Sonia Sotomayor, Diane Pamela Wood and former Deputy Attorney General James Comey.

    Never mind that Granholm has zero days total experience sitting on any judicial bench- she makes up for her relatively amateurish legal credentials with the sort of resume line item that seems to grab President Obama by the throat and refuses to let go.

    What Jennifer Granholm has that every other member of that esteemed list lacks (we assume) is the kind of personal history that the President's other early-term appointments indicate he values the most... serious personal tax problems.

    The Detroit Free Press reported that an $800 lien was "placed against the Wayne County home of Granholm and her husband in 2006 for failing to file unemployment insurance reports on their nanny."

    But that was only the start of the Governor's difficulties with the tax man. Last year the Internal Revenue Service came calling on Jennifer Granholm in an attempt to collect nearly $20,000 in taxes she'd failed to pay on an inaugural committee, dating all the way back to 2003.  To show they were serious they brought a nearly $20,000 tax lien with them.

    The lien was necessary, according to Lansing's WILX, because Granholm had ignored at least four previous attempts by the IRS to collect the back taxes. In other words, she isn't just a tax cheat... she is a chronic tax cheater.

    The Obama administration has been embarrassed nearly a half-dozen times in the last three months by revelations that their nominees to various high ranking positions had personal histories of tax avoidance.

    Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius was the most recent nominee to be tarnished by a tax scandal after she was tabbed to work as the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, a position for which Governor Granholm was also considered. The Washington Times:

    The seemingly ever-growing list of nominees with tax issues also includes:

    • First HHS Secretary nominee and former Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota who filed over $140,000 in back taxes and interest in January after failing to disclose more than $300,000 in income, including the use of a car and driver. His violations of the tax code remain the most impressive and lead to his removing his name for consideration.

    • Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner failed to pay more than $40,000 in payroll taxes when he worked for the International Monetary Fund, correcting the error before the Senate voted on his nomination.

    • The husband of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis paid around $6,400 prior to her nomination vote for tax liens on his Los Angeles auto repair business dating from 1993. The White House said Ms. Solis and her husband were unaware of the lien.

    • Chief Performance Officer nominee Nancy Killefer withdrew her nomination in the wake of the Daschle tax disclosures after it came to light that she had a $947 tax lien filed against her by the District of Columbia in 2005 for failing to pay compensation taxes for a domestic employee. District records show she owed $298 in unemployment compensation, $48.69 in interest, and $600.00 in penalties that she paid five months later.

    A Granholm nomination would represent the sixth Obama selection with serious personal tax issues, a rate of about two per month.

    Most Americans pay their taxes and they pay them on time.  Most politicians pay their taxes and pay them on time.  Most Democrats, too.  To not only find but to nominate SIX individuals with personal histories of chronic tax avoidance... someone looking in from the outside could get the idea that President Obama is actively searching for them.

    Tax cheats Sebelius, Daschle, Geithner, Solis, Killefer...and now, potentially Granholm.  That's an impressive list of scofflaws-turned-nominees.  

    Moreno, Kagan, Napolitano, Sotomayor, Wood and Comey clearly have no chance at an Obama nomination... not with their sparkling records of good citizenship and on-time tax payment.  They might as well throw in the towel. Well, throw in the towel or immediately refuse to pay heir taxes.  Either way.

    < Thursday in the Sphere: May 14 | Regressisphere off the tracks: Attempt to WATERBOARD Zarko is LUNACY! >


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    Look at it this way . . . (none / 0) (#1)
    by Kevin Rex Heine on Thu May 14, 2009 at 08:22:42 AM EST
    . . . that's at least $187,000 in back taxes that the Prez has collected within his first three months or so.  He's getting something productive done, see?

    A few thoughts on this (none / 0) (#3)
    by Rougman on Thu May 14, 2009 at 09:08:11 AM EST
    Nick, I really hope that this is not the big reveal that you promised the rest of us.

    But, in some ways, a Granholm nomination to the SCOTUS makes perfect sense because, even besides the obvious pattern of tax avoidance, she possesses other quality traits so highly regarded in progressive circles.

    First, she has empathy, and no amount of ancient paperwork is going to keep a blindfold over her eyes during deliberation.  Her deeply held affection for the people make her a prime candidate.  The rule of law should have a diminished role in chambers when feelings are involved.  I think Granholm understands this.

    Secondly, she is a woman of vision.  It is only through this foresight and a keen talent for pushing through her progressive agendas as governor that she has managed to keep this state plugging along with a vibrant private sector, a lean and highly effective public sector, happy citizenry, and a business climate proven to be a siren's song for employers.  How else could a state with such ugly 4-season natural surroundings, horrible universities, a poorly trained work force, and a minuscule manufacturing infrastructure keep our unemployment rate gloriously under 20%?  Seriously, that sort of success takes vision.  

    Finally, she is wise.  When she has had opportunities to help assuage certain inevitable difficulties within the state (none of which were even partially her fault,) she has answered the bell with keen insight.  For instance, when appointing a state CFO, a position created to help the government run even more efficiently and to further improve the business climate, she appointed a career labor lawyer.  When recognizing our current (and slight) employment blip (which was all the Republican's fault anyway,) she leaped into action by making homes more expensive to build, energy more expensive to purchase, children more expensive to educate, and, by God, we now have movies!

    Nope, nothing wrong with considering this woman for nomination to the highest court in the land as far as the country should be concerned.  Alas, many of us left behind in Michigan are sure going to miss her regardless of where she lands.  

    Oh, hope and change!

    • Granholm by johnny19, 05/15/2009 08:19:05 AM EST (none / 0)
    This information . . . (none / 0) (#4)
    by The Blue Diamond on Thu May 14, 2009 at 09:12:15 AM EST
    . . . definitely gives "new" meaning to the word "Scamholm".

    well (none / 0) (#5)
    by asido on Thu May 14, 2009 at 09:27:57 AM EST
    It would probably be good for Michigan but bad for America. On the other hand, almost anyone nominated by the Anointed One is going to be a judicial trainwreck...

    Arthur Sido

    It's like I've been saying (none / 0) (#7)
    by thejmfc on Thu May 14, 2009 at 01:30:34 PM EST
    to anyone who brings up the issue around me for months:  Yes, she would be terrible on the Supreme Court.  She has no experience.  She's effectively run a state into the ground.  The tax issues, I wasn't even aware of, but they only add to my case.

    That being:  Yes, she would be a terrible choice, but looking at the Obama administration thus far, she would be par for the course.


    Excellent (none / 0) (#8)
    by jenkuz on Thu May 14, 2009 at 05:22:08 PM EST
    Great job Nick.  Love this article.

    If I had to pick from this list (none / 0) (#9)
    by Eric T on Thu May 14, 2009 at 08:48:06 PM EST

    Obama is not going to pick a conservative or a republican.

    If he was interested in picking someone to fit his
    "The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor". statement. I would be glad to take the job.
    but, his list looks like experienced democrats

    California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Appeals Court judges Sonia Sotomayor, Diane Pamela Wood and former Deputy Attorney General James Comey.

    If the choice was up to me, from this list.
    I'd pick Governor Granholm over these others,

    1. Attorney General Experience
    2. Governor Experience
    The Governor experience I'd think would have forced her to look at issues, from different angles than a typical lawyer/or judge would. I would think she'd have a better understanding of issues related to industry, state government, general politics, trying to find solutions that work for everybody.

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