Treasury nominee scrutinized on taxes, housekeeper

Treasury nominee Timothy Geithner's onetime housekeeper lost her immigration status while working for him, and he failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes from 2001 to 2004, two black eyes that President-elect Barack Obama nevertheless said should not jeopardize Geithner's nomination.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., called committee members to his office Tuesday afternoon to discuss the matter before confirmation hearings begin Thursday for Geithner, currently president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Obama surrogates argued that the infractions were minor and should not tarnish Geithner's candidacy.

"He's dedicated his career to our country and served with honor, intelligence and distinction," incoming White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. "That service should not be tarnished by honest mistakes, which, upon learning of them, he quickly addressed. He made a common mistake on his taxes, and was unaware that his part-time housekeeper's work authorization expired for the last three months of her employment."

Geithner would not be the first Cabinet appointee to be derailed by "immigration woes." Bernard Kerik, a Homeland Security pick for President Bush in 2004; Linda Chavez, Bush's first choice for Labor secretary; and Zoe Baird, President Clinton's first attorney general nominee, were all felled by revelations that they had employed illegal immigrants.

Check out the blog Lost in Transition, a joint effort of Government Executive and National Journal.