Obama performance chief Killefer out, citing taxes

Wow! What a shock, another Obama nominee with tax issues.

Obama performance chief Killefer out, citing taxes
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN and LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer Michael J. Sniffen And Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Nancy Killefer, who failed for a year and a half to pay employment taxes on household help, withdrew her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer for the federal government on Tuesday.

Killefer was the second major Obama administration nominee to withdraw and the third to have tax problems complicate nominations after President Barack Obama announced he had chosen them.

In a brief letter to Obama, the 55-year-old executive with consulting giant McKinsey & Co. wrote that she had "come to realize in the current environment that my personal tax issue of D.C. unemployment tax could be used to create exactly the kind of distraction and delay" that must be avoided in responding to urgent economic problems.

She offered no further details of her tax difficulties.

Obama took no questions Tuesday after announcing his choice of Sen. Judd Gregg to be commerce secretary. He left the White House lectern ignoring a shouted question about why so many of his nominees have tax problems.

When Killefer's selection was announced by Obama on Jan. 7, The Associated Press disclosed that in 2005 the District of Columbia government had filed a $946.69 tax lien on her home for failure to pay unemployment compensation tax on household help. Since then, administration officials have refused to answer questions about the tax error, which she resolved five months after the lien was filed.
Here's the link to the rest of the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090203/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_killefer