Online Gambling Nemesis Jon Kyl Won’t Support Timothy Geithner

Some call him "Enemy Number One" to the online gambling sector.  In fact, Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl probably considers that a compliment.  Kyl, who helped push through legislation that essentially prohibits most forms of online gambling back in October 2006, announced on Thursday he would not be supporting Timothy Geithner for Treasury secretary because he was disappointed with his explanations of why he had failed to pay certain taxes.

"I don't believe that the requisite candor exists for me to indicate my support for him with an affirmative vote," Kyl said before a Senate Finance Committee vote on Geithner's nomination.

"I'm just very disappointed that I don't think yesterday, before this committee, or in the responses to my questions, he displayed the kind of candor that I expect," Kyl said.

Geithner, 47, also faced tough questions about his role last year in devising federal bailouts for Wall Street's biggest firms and his failure to pay all of his taxes on time between 2001 and 2004.

Geithner, who settled his outstanding taxes only after he was nominated to the Treasury post, said he signed his tax forms without reading them carefully. "These were careless mistakes. They were avoidable mistakes, but they were unintentional. I should have been more careful," he said. He apologized to committee members for making them spend time on his personal history when the nation faced more pressing issues.

Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher