Barack Obama faces taxing problems as the shine comes off his polished image

This article retreads old ground, but I didn't know this:

One of his first acts as President was to sign executive orders for a new era of civic responsibility designed to end the old influence-peddling ways of Washington by banning lobbyists from working in his Administration.

The White House swiftly bent its new rules to allow a lobbyist for the defence contractor Raytheon to be picked as the Pentagon's No 2 and another to be lined up as Mr Daschle's deputy.

Mr Daschle, though not a registered lobbyist, had received more than $250,000 (£173,000) in income from health sector clients as he amassed a multimillion-dollar fortune in the private sector. The six-figure sum in federal tax that he had failed to pay was owed from a chauffeur-driven car provided for him by a wealthy Democratic donor.

Source: The Times, via Julia M