Posted on 05/25/2010 5:25:30 PM PDT by Libloather
Sestak to comply with political job-offer probe
By Michael R. Sisak
Published: May 25, 2010
KINGSTON - U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak pledged Monday to "absolutely" comply with investigators if his claims of a politically motivated White House job offer become the focus of a federal probe.
Mr. Sestak, the Democratic winner in Tuesday's U.S. Senate primary, has refused to publicly discuss details of the offer since it was revealed three months ago and maintained that tack Monday in Kingston, saying additional discussion was "just getting into politics."
U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to probe whether the offer, supposedly made last summer to clear the primary field for five-term incumbent Arlen Specter, blurred political and legal bounds.
The Department of Justice rejected Mr. Issa's request to appoint a special counsel to the case, but said in a written response Friday that the matter could still be investigated.
Mr. Sestak disclosed the job offer during a television interview on a Philadelphia cable outlet in February and has answered questions since in retrospective fashion, confirming only what was said on the broadcast and leaving anonymous "others" to fill in the rest.
"I felt it was important that I answered a question that was given to me as a question about something that happened seven or eight months earlier, honestly," Mr. Sestak said. "Anything else beyond that is for others."
Mr. Sestak, who retired as a three-star admiral after 31 years in the Navy, channeled his military experience as a guide in approaching the job offer questions, which have threatened to disrupt what one House staffer described as his post-primary "victory lap."
"In the Navy I learned personal accountability and so I spoke about my role in it honestly," Mr. Sestak said. "The accountability for others' roles in it is for others to speak about, not me."
Officials with the Obama administration have been equally as coy.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dodged more than a dozen questions about Mr. Sestak and the job offer during a press briefing last week and declined to directly confirm the offer despite veering off into its legal ramifications during an appearance Sunday on the CBS program "Face the Nation."
"I'm not a lawyer, but lawyers in the White House and others have looked into conversations that were had with Sestak. Nothing inappropriate happened," Mr. Gibbs said. "I'm not going to get further into what the conversations were."
Mr. Sestak's opponent, conservative former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, said Monday that Mr. Sestak should reveal as much as he knows about the job offer publicly, instead of waiting for investigators.
"Congressman Sestak should tell the public everything he knows about the job he was offered, and who offered it," Mr. Toomey said in a statement. "To do otherwise will only continue to raise questions and continue to be a needless distraction in this campaign."
Mr. Sestak attempted to maintain focus on the campaign and the issues during the Kingston visit - his first stop in Northeastern Pennsylvania since defeating Mr. Specter.
Mr. Sestak greeted diners at The Atrium, a restaurant on Market Street, for more than an hour, sharing his ideas on growing the economy and fostering small business, and listening to concerns about the environmental and economic impacts of natural gas drilling on the Marcellus Shale.
Mr. Sestak said he would work to organize a forum with local residents, environmental experts, gas company representatives and people opposed to the drilling.
Mr. Toomey also campaigned in Northeast Pennsylvania on Wednesday at a hotel adjacent to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. To a crowd of supporters and party leaders, Mr. Toomey, a former three-term congressman from the Lehigh Valley, said he believes his message of reduced government, lowering taxes and reducing debt will resonate with voters in the November general election.
One of the underlings will no doubt self-sacrifice to protect the criminal fraud-in-chief.
Hearings start right after January 2011.
Sestak should tell the absolute truth and let the chips fall where they may. It is not his responsibility to cover for Obama if a felony has been committed and Obama had knowledge of it. I’m not really hopeful though.
Unfortunately no one in Washington DC will impeach this sitting President.
The Dems do not want it and the few Pubbies with the cajones will never get enough support.
In order to change the Dems there must be a loud and resounding wake-up call sent to DC ... IMHO, it will fall on deaf ears.
Dems will be lemmings going over the cliff not understanding everyone elses position on this President.
Yeah, when pigs fly.
kindly refrain from altering the “Title”
A win-win for Reps. If Sestak is lying, Toomey benefits. If he is telling the truth, someone in the WH is going to pay a price assuming there really is going to be an objective, fair DOJ inquiry.
He should be Freeped where ever he goes with signs saying; Just tell us, come clean!
bet they clean this up and nothing happens
The jellyfish GOP will do nothing.
Why do you mess with the headline? Ego trip?
>> He should be Freeped where ever he goes with signs saying; Just tell us, come clean!
Yeah! What’s with all the drama? “If I’m investigated I’ll testify yadda yadda yadda...” Hey Sestak! Just TELL US NOW what the hell happened! Date dates and name names!
I hate politicians.
The dems would never have a better chance at redeeming themselves than to throw Obama under the bus with everyone’s ratings in the tub. After all what’s he done for them, they’ve never been this low in the ratings.
Another nail in the first black presidents coffin.
Obama has ruined the possibility of another black president for another 250 years!
This is very unfortunate because there are many blacks that would be great CIC’s.
Only a fool would actually try impeaching him with democrats in control. However these things do take time and the democrats may not be in control by the time we get to that point.
Who will fall on their sword?
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