Here on Freedom@Work, we've kept a close watch on Hilda Solis, the California Congresswoman nominated by President Obama to serve as Secretary of Labor. 

We've told you about Solis' secret ballot hypocrisy, her admission that she is not "qualified" to discuss Right to Work, her refusal to answer basic questions on key labor issues, and her position as treasurer (which she failed to disclose to Congress) with a Big Labor lobbying group.

Now USA Today reports that Hilda Solis is the fourth major Obama nominee to be faced with a tax scandal:

The husband of President Obama's Labor secretary nominee paid about $6,400 Wednesday to settle tax liens that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years against his business, the Obama administration told USA TODAY this afternoon...

Personal tax problems have tripped up three of President Obama's nominees for top administration jobs. Two nominees withdrew on Tuesday over tax issues, including Tom Daschle, Obama's choice head the Health and Human Services Department. The other withdrawal was chief performance officer nominee Nancy Killefer, who had a $947 tax lien filed against her in Washington four years ago for not paying unemployment compensation taxes for a household employee. She paid the debt less than six months later, District of Columbia records show.

But there's more.  According to the report, some of the tax liens resulted from "unpaid county health and safety permit fees."  And Solis has the gall to seek a position that enforces health and safety laws against workplaces across America? 

Maybe Solis' cozy relationship with Big Labor's high command over the years has given her the false impression shared by so many union bosses that they are above the law.  With all those special privileges such as immunity from federal prosecution for union violence and exemption from anti-monopoly laws, union bosses actually are above the law in many respects.  And with Solis running the Department of Labor, union chiefs would expect Solis -- who voted with the AFL-CIO 100% of the time -- to cut funding to the agency which investigates union boss corruption.

Solis' indiscretions are even more disturbing in light of President Obama's recent executive orders which would give the Secretary of Labor unprecedented authority to fire federal contractors who don't grease the rails for coervice card check organizing. 

This hypocrite aspiring to be Labor Secretary is poised to receive virtually unchecked power over which contractors get to do work funded by the nearly trillion dollar "stimulus" plan.  Perhaps Hilda Solis should withdraw herself from consideration and get her own house in order.

National Review's Byron York has a few pointed questions for Hilda Solis (emphasis added):

Solis had a rough hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee when she declined to answer all sorts of seemingly noncontroversial questions about her positions on basic labor issues. (Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus wrote a frustrated account of the hearing, asking, "How can senators consent if they have no clue what policies they might be consenting to?") Now, some committee members want to know more about Solis' relationship with a pro-labor group called American Rights at Work. On the group's website, Solis is listed as a member of the board of directors, and she also served as Treasurer of the organization from 2004 to 2007. The question is whether Solis, who as a member of Congress is prohibited from lobbying Congress, fully disclosed her relationship with the group.

American Rights at Work is an important part of Big Labor's push for the Employee Free Choice Act, known more accurately as card check.

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No one is accusing Solis of concealing her connection with the group; it was common knowledge in the labor world, and she listed it in the paperwork she submitted for her confirmation hearing. But she did not list it on the disclosure forms she was required to submit to the House of Representatives. It was an unpaid position, so there is no problem with income. But there are questions about whether Solis, as Treasurer, played a de facto role in the group's lobbying activity; if you're a member of Congress, you're not supposed to simultaneously lobby Congress.

Solis may not have concealed her position at American Rights at Work (ARAW), but her dubious statements made on a Senate questionnaire and disclosure forms raise serious questions about her integrity.

ARAW is a 501(c)(4), which means that influencing legislation is the primary political activity it engages in. (On the group's website, where Solis is still listed as a board member, appear a number of pro-Card Check television ads and an announcement of a $3 million ad buy.)

Given her fiduciary responsibilities as Treasurer of ARAW, it seems unlikely she wasn't somehow involved with ARAW's extensive lobbying efforts. But according to the Wall Street Journal, she responded to a written follow up question submitted by Senator Enzi by claiming "I have never participated in lobbying, or advised anyone on lobbying, either Congress or the Executive Branch on behalf of American Rights at Work."

As for ARAW itself, the organization is simply a Big Labor front group set up to promote the ugly agenda of forcing workers into union collectives. (Union bosses also set it up to "tangle" with National Right to Work and originally planned instead to name ARAW "National Rights at Work" before our trademark lawyers threatened them with a lawsuit.)

A quick search of union disclosure forms reveals ARAW received at least $411,000 for "political activities" from various union outfits in 2007 while she was treasurer of the organization. And this isn't even counting over $700,000 in generic contributions from unions that the group received in 2007 -- funds also likely to have been spent for lobbying while Solis was Treasurer.

It was bad enough when Solis flatly refused to answer a few basic questions about her stance on state Right to Work laws and coercive card check organizing, but now she appears disingenuous about her relationship with this union front group and naked promotion of forced unionism.

The confirmation of radical unionist Hilda Solis, Democrat congresswoman from Los Angeles, to be Obama's new Secretary of Labor has hit a snag.

While the Senate has approved other Cabinet nominees left and right -- including a Treasury Secretary who has admitted to failing to pay income taxes -- Solis has yet to make it out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The Pasadena Star-News has more:

At least one unidentified Republican senator is using a parliamentary procedure to holdup Solis' confirmation, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, alleged from the Senate floor Thursday.

The anonymous hold -- as the informal delay tactic is known -- essentially prevents the full Senate from voting on Solis' confirmation by threatening a filibuster. It could be lifted at any time.

The hold was placed on the nomination because of Solis' support for legislation aimed at facilitating union organization and regarding pay-discrimination, and for non-responsive answers during her confirmation hearing, the Washington, DC-based Congress Daily reported Friday.

President Obama is asking the Senate -- and the American people -- to approve as Labor Secretary a Congresswoman who chose not to -- or can't -- answer questions about worker freedom, secret ballots, or prevailing wage laws. As we recently wrote, Solis told the HELP Committee that she is "not qualified" to discuss Right to Work.

Solis has made a political career of carrying Big Labor's water -- first in the California legislature and more recently in the U.S. House of Representatives.  She sports a 100 percent lifetime AFL-CIO rating.  In fact, the union bosses hand-picked Solis in 2000 to challenge then-incumbent Congressman Marty Martinez (D-CA) because Martinez "only" voted with Big Labor 80 percent of the time.

Here is what she said at the recent U.S. Senate confirmation hearing in which Solis dodges questions on basic issues any Labor Secretary nominee should be able to address -- issues like card check and Right to Work.  Check out the video below: