White House Still Stonewalling On Job Offer For Joe Sestak In Exchange For Dropping Out Of Primary Race Against Arlen Specter (D/Coward, PA)

Joe Sestak, the Congressman from PA running for the Democratic Senate nomination against Arlen "The Cowardly Lion Of the Senate" Specter, says the Obama administration offered him a job if he would drop his Senate bid.

Now, the ranking Republican member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wants to know if any federal laws were violated in the process.

But in a letter to White House general counsel Robert Bauer Wednesday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said that, if Sestak’s allegation is true, administration officials may have violated a federal statute which makes it a crime for a government employee to use his authority “for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or the election of any candidate” for certain offices, including Senate seats.

"While the White House may think this is politics as usual, what is spectacularly unusual is when a candidate — a U.S. congressman no less — freely acknowledges such a proposal,” Issa wrote. “Almost always candidates keep quiet about such deals, and for good reason — they are against the law."

Sestak first made the accusation during a television interview in early February, and he repeated it when asked about it during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this week.

Asked about the allegation Tuesday, Gibbs said: “ I don't have the update with me, but let me check and see if I do have anything.”

Major Garret of FNC has been asking this question of Gibbs for weeks and the most transparent administration evah has been stonewalling. It's as pathetic as it is predictable that no one else in the press corps (pronounce 'core' in case the Professor Obama is reading this) is really hammering Gibbs on this.

This seems like a rather straight forward question for Gibbs. He could call Sestak and ask who he spoke to and thenn go to that person for confirmation or denial. But it's 3 weeks into this and he still hasn't gotten around to that. Why? does he forget? Every day for 3 weeks? Maybe instead of writing cheap jokes on his hand, he could jot down a note, "check into bribe allegations, re: Sestak".

In his letter Issa asks a number of questions, including whether or not this matter will be referred, no laughing please, to the Department of Justice. I love the politics of this, even though I'm not sure we really want to be criminalizing an age old political practice.

To me the issue isn't whether or not it's illegal, I honestly doubt it is or should be, but the fact that it's another example of how "Hope and Change" was just an empty slogan a lot of stupid people fell for. Anything that helps expose their savior for the clay footed hack politician he is is a good thing.

Now pass the popcorn!

posted by DrewM. at 04:38 PM

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