Confirmation hearings for Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis now involve more than her lobbying for an anti-employer organization attempting to change federal law to allow union organizers to more easily coerce workers into joining unions.
Today’s Senate’s Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee was canceled after USA Today reported yesterday her husband, Sam Sayyad, paid about $6,400 to settle tax liens against his business that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years. The committee is looking into the report.
Perhaps Obama should fire his vetting team and hire USA Today. At least the reports back would be presented in easy-to-read pictographs.
Frankly, it’s a little unfair to hold someone responsible for late tax filings by their spouse’s sole proprietorship. But with yet another nominee running into tax problems, it does suggest that Obama should take the Libertarian Party’s advice and simplify the nation’s tax code.
Not only would hundreds of thousands of Americans no longer run into trouble for inadvertently violating a complex maze of regulations, it would have made it a little easier to get his nominees through the Senate.
