In this piece, Politico reports that Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary winner Joe Sestak confirms that he was offered a job by the White House if he would drop out of the race, clearing the way (presumably) for long-time Senator Arlen Spector’s win.
I don’t know what federal law they’re talking about, but putting aside the legal issue for the moment, should Sestak provide more detail, or is it appropriate for him to limit his statements as he has thus far?
Republicans, of course, feel strongly that he should 'fess up, but something tells me they’re not exactly neutral observers speaking out for the good of the country when they say that.
I find there’s something odd about the whole story. It seems to be a frequent rumor that Sestak may have been offered (however indirectly) the job of Secretary of the Navy. However, Obama had his pick for Secretary of the Navy confirmed in June 2009.
It doesn’t quite make sense to me that Sestak would be promised a job that was filled by a White House pick just months prior to the alleged promise.
If I had to make a wild-assed guess about what happened, it could be that someone at the White House made a vague offer of Sestak continuing to be a friend of the White House, and Sestak took it as a hard offer; and thus there was born an embarrassing misunderstanding. Sestak can’t back down from his statement, and the White House doesn’t want to call Sestak a fibber/guy who can’t follow a conversation.
Setting any legal issues aside, I’m not sure that there is any ethical obligation for Sestak to provide more information.
I don’t think that Sestak has an obligation to say any more than he has. Nor should he. However, I do think the administration should answer inquiries fully. I was watching the talk shows yestgerday and there seems it seems to be an open question as to whether or not any law might have been broken. “Interfering with an election”, or something like that maybe?
FWIW, I looked up the Federal bribery statute, and in general, it tends to involve some sort of payment in exchange for an “official act.”
My uninformed opinion is that if Sestak had been promised an appointment in exchange for a vote on some issue, there might be a problem. But I wouldn’t call “deciding not to run for office” an official act of a congressman. I don’t think a “political act” is the same as an “official act.”
I agree. And so far as I can determine, there is no law that would forbid offering an appointed job to a person with the intent of removing him as a candidate for an elected position. That’s called “strategy.”
If any relevant federal law enforcement body wants to issue a subpoena, let them have at it. Until then, there’s nothing for either Sestak or the White house to answer or, nor any evidence of any violation of federal law. There’s no law against offering somebody a job.
It does seem sort of odd for it to be illegal. President Obama has appointed a number of qualified Republicans to offices with an obvious political goal of getting rid of elected Republicans. This doesn’t seem any more nefarious.
If there were any real or even potential infraction here, I have no doubt whatsoever that the OP would cite chapter and verse. This is just rabble rousing, and a lame attempt at that.
I guess I should start out by noting that I voted for Sestak.
I think his original revelation that he was offered a position if he declined to run was a dumb move on his part - whether or not it was true. (I happen to believe it was true, but it was still a dumb move.)
Now he’s given the Republicans a legitimate issue to beat him over the head with during the upcoming campaign. “He’s protecting illegal/immoral tactics by the administration!”
Do you sit around in front of a mirror and practice these absolute statements?
So far as I can tell, THIS job offer is perfectly legal. But there well might be a job offer that was illegal. As noted by Ravenman a job offer contingent on a particular vote might be illegal, for instance.
There well might have been a gorilla involved. There might have been talk of sending nuclear weapons to bomb Granada. There might have been a group of clowns dressed as nuns selling drugs to children dressed as ninjas.
I saw How To Get Ahead In Advertising; I know that trick.
Do you have any evidence, testimony, statements, or anything at all to indicate that there was another job offer? Or are you pulling this might have been shit out of your ass?
There’s a law (18 USC 595) that makes it illegal for someone who has a government position to use their official position to affect the nomination or election of a candidate, and another (18 USC 600) that makes it illegal to promise somebody a job in exchange for them supporting or opposing a candidate.
So, saying, “If you withdraw from the race, I’ll make sure you get appointed to X” could be illegal under those statutes.
Dick Cheney once personally called Tim Pawlenty and asked him not to run as the Republican candidate against Paul Wellstone because the Whitehouse wanted Norm Coleman to run instaead.
Was that not using an official position to affect an election? In return for playing along, Pawlenty got lots of support when he ran for Jesse Ventura’s vacated Governorship a couple of years later.
I think it might be different if you promise someone an official job in exchange for him agreeing not to run (or anything else). That’s called “bribery”.
