All 7 Members of Senate Judiciary Committee Ask AG Holder to Appoint Special Prosecutor to Investigate Sestak SecNavy Job Offer

I just wrote the Secretary of the Navy job offer as if it's confirmed, which it really isn't, but pretty much everyone thinks that's what Sestak was offered, and he's never denied that's what it was.

So: We're now using major, major postings like SecNavy as political gifts.

In violation of law, of course.

Pretty sure Holder's going with "no controlling legal authority" here, which is a lie, because the law happens to say an awful lot about giving away federal jobs for political favors.

Some jobs are considered political and you can give them to your cronies. Most are not.

Axelrod concedes that if the facts are as Sestak alleges, it's a serious breach of the law:

Rep. Sestak, D-Penn., who defeated Specter in the primary last week, told Comcast’s Larry Kane in February that the White House had offered him a position in exchange for not challenging Specter. White House senior adviser David Axelrod said on Monday that White House lawyers had looked into it and judged everything “perfectly appropriate.”

CNN’s John King suggested to Axelrod that such a job offer “marches up into the gray area, perhaps into the red area of a felony. It is a felony to induce somebody by offering them a job.”

“If such things happened they would constitute a serious breach of the law,” Axelrod told CNN, “and when the allegations were looked into there is no evidence of such a thing"

But, um, I guess we shouldn't actually get the facts here, but rather allow the Administration to investigate itself and, while withholding from us the facts which would allow us an independent analysis, just accept their conclusion that "nothing inappropriate" occurred during this phone call.

Here's a vid that's going to bring back memories. Victoria Tonsing, cable-news fixture during the Clinton Impeachment Ordeal, is here to tell you that yes indeed this is potentially criminal.

Actually the other guy goes further than she does.

More:

Karl Rove, longtime White House adviser to President George W. Bush, said the charge is explosive because of federal law.

"This is a pretty extraordinary charge: 'They tried to bribe me out of the race by offering me a job,'" he said on Greta Van Susteran's "On the Record" program on the Fox News Channel. "Look, that's a violation of the federal code: 18 USC 600 says that a federal official cannot promise employment, a job in the federal government, in return for a political act.

"Somebody violated the law. If Sestak is telling the truth, somebody violated the law," Rove said. "Section 18 USC 211 says you cannot accept anything of value in return for hiring somebody. Well, arguably, providing a clear path to the nomination for a fellow Democrat is something of value.

He continued, citing a third law passage: "18 USC 595, which prohibits a federal official from interfering with the nomination or election for office. ... 'If you'll get out, we'll appoint you to a federal office,' – that's a violation of the law."

Remember November!

posted by Ace at 01:31 PM

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