Posted on 05/26/2010 5:10:30 AM PDT by Kaslin
Rep. Joe Sestak, the winner of the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary, says quite openly and repeatedly that he was offered a job by the White House if he would drop out of the race against Sen. Arlen Specter. Having secured Specter's conversion to the Democratic Party, thus giving the party a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the Obama administration obviously sought to keep its word to Specter that it would do its utmost to deliver the Democratic nomination to him. According to Sestak, that included a job offer.
Who made the offer? What position was offered? And when did it happen? Sestak, who was nominated on a platform of "transparency" refuses to answer any of these questions. The White House admits that a conversation took place but won't provide any details and insists that an "internal investigation" revealed that "nothing inappropriate" took place.
Or did it?
It is unlikely that Sestak was offered a job interviewing people for the census. Only a high-level job offer -- a Cabinet post or an ambassadorship to a key country -- would have sufficient gravitas to conceivably induce him to drop his primary challenge. Some have speculated that Sestak, a retired admiral, might have been offered the post of secretary of the navy. Others wonder that, since he is fluent in Russian, he was to be tapped for ambassador to Moscow.
And, before an offer of that magnitude were tendered, it would have had to have been cleared with the higher levels of the White House. How could an offer of a Cabinet post have been made without consultation with the chief of staff?
And how was the offer made? It would have to have been proffered by somebody who Sestak could reasonably assume was speaking for the president and could deliver on his end of the deal. A lower-level official wouldn't have that kind of clout. Could the offer have been tendered by Rahm Emanuel himself? It's clearly his style.
But, could Rahm or anyone else have made such an offer without consulting the president himself? You can't go around passing out Cabinet posts or ambassadorships without consulting the boss. Whatever position of that level the White House dangled in front of him, it would have to have been approved by the president.
And Sestak must have probed the person who conveyed the offer to ascertain its bona fides. He would reasonably have asked, "Did you clear this with the president?" Otherwise, why would he even consider such an offer?
The White House and Sestak are stonewalling questions from the media, and obviously, a Democratic controlled Congress is not about to go poking around asking about the proposed deal.
So how could the Republicans break it open?
The weak link here is Sestak himself, who claims that he embraces "transparency." Fueled by his primary victory and the momentum it generated, Rasmussen has him four points ahead of Pat Toomey, the GOP candidate. This lead won't hold up for long in the face of a refusal to respond to questions the public is entitled to have answered.
Toomey or the Republican Party or other independent expenditure groups should run ads throughout Pennsylvania asking these basic questions. They should tell Sestak that he ran on a platform of transparency and that its time to reveal who offered what and when.
Either Sestak is lying and there was never an offer, or the White House has skirted very close to having committed a crime or may have stepped over the edge. And, considering the stakes and the nature of what the offer would have had to have been, this scandal could reach very high indeed.
Is it a high crime and misdemeanor to offer someone something of value in return for withdrawing from a U.S. Senate race? We may be about to find out.
Pretty soon we’ll be called racist for asking.
The last few weeks have been very fortuitous for Pat Toomey. First, Sestak defeated Specter (along with the state party establishment) in the Democratic primary after a bloody and expensive battle. Second, the issue of the White House’s alleged offer to Sestak to get him out of the primary has re-surfaced. Sestak will be an easier opponent to define based off his voting record since joining Congress in 2007. He’s voted for everything in the Pelosi agenda and ranks as one of the most liberal members in Congress. Every day that is spent talking about Sestak’s claim of a job offer from the White House can only help Toomey. Toomey will also be on more equal footing with fundraising against Sestak. He had a very strong 1st quarter of 2010, raising $2.3 million and ending with over $4 million on hand. Sestak just spent a large portion of his $5.1 million war chest defeating Specter.
Probably just compose a strongly worded letter to AG Holder.
“Sestak stepped in it by admitting he was made an offer, and he has not retracted his claim. It is now incumbent upon the powers-that-be to investigate it thoroughly — that does not mean the White House gets to absolve itself of any wrong-doing, either. “
The WH has already absolved itself. I suppose it is up to Darrell Issa to do the work. Republicans are cowards.
I think Rod before Joe
Lame excuses is all the liberals have
1) The Bill Clinton defense.
“It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’”
2) The Johnnie Cochran defense:
“if the offer doesn’t fit , you must acquit.”
3) The Chewbacca Defense.
“None of this makes sense!”
It cannot -- pressure will come to bear, they will not be allowed to simply say "We looked into it, there's nothing there." Until and unless Sestak pulls the "Hey, I was just kiddin'" line, the questioning on this will not stop.
I’m guessing that any paper trails, recordings, etc. that even remotely mentions Sestak have already been purged. It then boils down to “he said, she said” and that is tough to prosecute.
Correct and that is why we must get the House back this November, and we must get enough seats in the Senate to minimize the Rat's super majority
If the House goes GOP in November, then the White House no longer controls any investigations -- Issa is set to become chairman of his committee, subpoena power included. He's already onto the scam/scheme of the CCX, which was begun by 0bama before he held federal office, and he will continue to ask questions of both situations. Until and unless Sestak retracts, admits he was making up his claim, the pressure will continue.
Where's the crime? I don't see it.
“It cannot — pressure will come to bear, they will not be allowed to simply say “We looked into it, there’s nothing there.”
This means any evidence has already been destroyed. And the Republicans didn’t even stand up to Calderon. They could have scored big points with that one.
Axelrod says the WH lawyers "looked into this" -- that means they have spoken to one or more individuals, there are records of those investigative discussions, details. Sestak and the WH official had at least one conversation, the time and location is recorded, though not necessarily the actual audio. They can't purge official documentation, no erasures or pages torn out of the record books, etc.
Unless Sestak retracts, he must be made to name names, along with the date, place and time, and it cannot be done by some WH lawyer, no Justice Dept. guy gets to be Officer Barbrady, "Nothing to see, move along."
Courtesy: mewzilla
18 USC 211 - Acceptance or solicitation to obtain appointive public office Whoever solicits or receives, either as a political contribution, or for personal emolument, any money or thing of value, in consideration of the promise of support or use of influence in obtaining for any person any appointive office or place under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. Whoever solicits or receives any thing of value in consideration of aiding a person to obtain employment under the United States either by referring his name to an executive department or agency of the United States or by requiring the payment of a fee because such person has secured such employment shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. This section shall not apply to such services rendered by an employment agency pursuant to the written request of an executive department or agency of the United States.
Also, this from Judge Napolitano earlier:
Sestak case deepens--did White House commit a felony by offering a job to Sestak?
Well the ramifications are potentially enormous. I mean to offer someone something of value in order to affect their official behavior as a member of Congress is a felony. We call it a bribe. To offer someone something of value to affect the outcome of an election is a felony. Each of those carries five years with them. The government has an affirmative obligation to investigate this.And Congressman Sestak who is a decent guy, we've all interviewed him. He sent you handwritten thank you notes after he was on your show, whether he agrees with you or not. Congressman Sestak has an obligation to tell the truth. Who offered him a job? What was the quid pro quo and what was the job? If he doesn't say that voluntarily a federal prosecutor should bring him before a grand jury and the grand jurors will inquire of his knowledge as we like to say.
Interesting. I’m not a lawyer so it’s hard to tell, but I still don’t see the crime.
I agree.
I think that the key is to press Sestak, and make this an issue that either sinks him as a senator or brings it to the White House.
"Joe, if you're not lying, this is a felony. Have you had discussions with DOJ about prosecuting the offenders? Or are you covering up a felony? If you are lying, you have no business being a Senator & when are you pulling out?"
I can ask and they can’t call me a racist. But being a black conservative they will call me an uncle Tom!
Others mentioned Specter, I hadn't been considering him at all until it was explained to me -- did he also have some deal with the White House earlier, he told them he'd switch to Dem to assure the 60-vote margin, they (not necessarily 0bama himself) told him they'd fix the primary, no challenger?? This needs to be looked into as well, why we need Sestak to tell us just who made him the offer he claims he got.
I guess, I can’t really sort it out for certain. It seems like that statute is designed to prohibit people from buying and selling jobs. It’s questionable to me whether the Sestak scenario fits that description. Is Sestak withdrawing from the race a “thing of value”? Not sure.
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