Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) reportedly called for an emergency meeting for committee members inside his office Tuesday. The problem? The disclosure by Obama Treasury Secretary appointee Timothy Geithner earlier in the day that he had failed to pay $34,000 in taxes from 2001 to 2004. Oops.

Disgustingly, Senator Judd Greg (R- NH) just stated that “we need to move past the ridiculous and focus on the serious” regarding Geithner in an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto. (Greg also said we need to rush the second half of the TARP bailout, 350 billion dollars, into action. When quizzed about the lack of oversight and disclosure regarding the first half of the bailout, Greg dismissed the concerns of many, and insisted that Treasury and the Fed know what they’re doing. Riiiight.)

Not only did Geithner fail to pay self-employment taxes on income he earned while he was with the IMF, he took a dependent child-care deduction not once, but THREE SEPARATE YEARS for sending his kids to camp! Sorry, but camp counselors don’t count as child-care providers, dude. Geithner says the self-employment taxes were commonly overlooked among IMF employees, because they were hard to understand! Does Geithner do his own taxes?! As someone who runs 2 companies, and does do all the corporate returns and filings, this is NOT comforting to me. Besides, the IMF says it sends out numerous forms and notifications regarding tax obligations. Geithner amended his returns…after being audited by the IRS. This guy is going to run the TREASURY DEPARTMENT?!

Similar “illegal housekeeper” problems sunk Zoe Baird and other potential cabinet members in the past. To give Geithner a pass on this type of monkey business is beyond hypocritical. Baucus is hinting that while problematic, Geithner’s offenses aren’t deal-breakers. The meeting has reportedly ended, and Geithner had no comment for the press. So much for Obama’s much-hyped “transparency” promises in his government practices. We’ll have to watch and see if Geithner gets tougher questioning than Hillary Clinton is receiving in her confirmation hearings for Secretary of State. So far, they’ve pretty much been softballs.

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