“Whoever solicits or receives … any….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.” — 18 USC Sec. 211 — Bribery, Graft and Conflicts of Interest: Acceptance or solicitation to obtain appointive public office
“In the face of a White House denial, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak stuck to his story yesterday that the Obama administration offered him a “high-ranking” government post if he would not run against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary.”
— Philadelphia Inquirer
February 19, 2010
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I thought the same as you but I don’t know about that. Apparently the administration was soliciting a promise not to run against Specter, can a promise not to run be considered a “thing of value”.
On the other hand it appears to be a clear case of attempted bribery, if it is illegal to accept a bribe, can it be legal to offer one?
The laws on bribery work as you’d expect except for those in power. They are specifically written in such a way that makes it near impossible to prosecute them. For them bribery is standard business—just look at the cornhusker kickback. That is a bribe by any definition, but it’s standard operating proceedure for politicians so they have to write the laws in such a way that allows them to “do business”.
Plus all the guy has to do to make it legal is to say, if you don’t run for senate you know you’d make a fine {fill in the blank}. But we need to fill that position before the election so if you choose to run we will have to look elsewhere to fill that position.