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.
No, the thing of value is the position of Secretary of the Navy. It boils down to a bribe for political considerations, the White House can make good on the bribe, it was not a nebulous "Hey, if you ..." kind of thing.