Confirmation Hearing for Embattled Treasury Nominee Postponed

In an ominous sign for his confirmation prospects, a hearing for President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to head the Treasury Department was postponed from this Friday until the middle of next week. In light of the revelation that Timothy Geithner employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny, and failed to pay taxes owed on income he received while working for the International Monetary Fund, Republicans objected to waiving a rule requiring one week notice before a hearing date.

The move gives Republicans more time to uncover additional irregularities in Geithner's history. New revelations today include that Geithner did not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for himself while at the IMF. Worse, he failed to pay the taxes for the years 2001 and 2002 even after an IRS audit revealed that he had made the mistake on his 2003 and 2004 returns. That suggests a careless disregard for making proper tax filings, as evidenced by a slew of smaller tax troubles uncovered by the Obama transition team during Geithner's vetting process.

The transition team publicly maintains that Geithner's nomination is not in jeopardy, but privately, officials must be getting worried. Nothing good can come of the delay in Geithner's hearing, as more Senators - perhaps even a moderate Democrat or two - could be swayed to opposing his nomination. The weekend will bring added scrutiny to Geithner's nomination, and increasing pressure on President-elect Obama to replace him. However talented he may be, the public does not take kindly to powerful people being less than forthcoming in filing their taxes. Geithner may be about to become more of a distraction than he is worth.