The spill in Pennsylvania

Did President Obama or somebody in the White House offer Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) something in return for him to drop out of the primary race against Rep. Arlen Specter?

Yes, said Sestak in an interview when he first leaked the news. On Friday (of course, right before a long weekend — slow news day) the W.H. released a statement which sums it up: “Yes, but…”

MEMORANDUM FROM ROBERT F. BAUER, WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL

SUBJECT: Review of Discussions Relating to Congressman Sestak Recent press reports have reflected questions and speculation about discussions between White House staff and Congressman Joe Sestak in relation to his plans to run for the United States Senate. Our office has reviewed those discussions and claims made about them, focusing in particular on the suggestion that government positions may have been improperly offered to the Congressman to dissuade him from pursuing a Senate candidacy.

We have concluded that allegations of improper conduct rest on factual errors and lack a basis in the law.

Secretary of the Navy. It has been suggested that the Administration may have offered Congressman Sestak the position of Secretary of the Navy in the hope that he would accept the offer and abandon a Senate candidacy. This is false. The President announced his intent to nominate Ray Mabus to be Secretary of the Navy on March 26,2009, over a month before Senator Specter announced that he was becoming a member of the Democratic Party in late April. Mabus was confirmed in May. At no time was Congressman Sestak offered, nor did he seek, the position of Secretary of the Navy.

Uncompensated Advisory Board Options. We found that, as the Congressman has publicly and accurately stated, options for Executive Branch service were raised with him. Efforts were made in June and July of 2009 to determine whether Congressman Sestak would be interested in service on a Presidential or other Senior Executive Branch Advisory Board, which would avoid a divisive Senate primary, allow him to retain his seat in the House, and provide him with an opportunity for additional service to the public in a high-level advisory capacity for which he was highly qualified. The advisory positions discussed with Congressman Sestak, while important to the work of the Administration, would have been uncompensated.

White House staff did not discuss these options with Congressman Sestak. The White House Chief of Staff enlisted the support of former President Clinton who agreed to raise with Congressman Sestak options of service on a Presidential or other Senior Executive Branch Advisory Board. Congressman Sestak declined the suggested alternatives, remaining committed to his Senate candidacy.

Relationship to Senate Campaign. It has been suggested that discussions of alternatives to the Senate campaign were improperly raised with the Congressman. There was no such impropriety. The Democratic Party leadership had a legitimate interest in averting a divisive primary fight and a similarly legitimate concern about the Congressman vacating his seat in the House. By virtue of his career in public service, including distinguished military service, Congressman Sestak was viewed to be highly qualified to hold a range of advisory positions in which he could, while holding his House seat, have additional responsibilities of considerable potential interest to him and value to the Executive Branch.

There have been numerous, reported instances in the past when prior Administrations — both Democratic and Republican, and motivated by the same goals — discussed alternative paths to service for qualified individuals also considering campaigns for public office. Such discussions are fully consistent with the relevant law and ethical requirements.

So it wasn’t any staff member at the W.H., but rather former president Bill Clinton who was asked to be the middleman in this deal. I’ll give the administration credit for being so good at CYA. The Chicago style politics continue to amaze me.

Was it illegal? Many pundits have brought forth 18 USC Sec. 201 to pin it as criminal bribery.

I’m no law expert, but I think Obama and his gang have their hands clean this time. The “Sestak bribe” may have been poor judgment, but I don’t believe it to be illegal. Unethical? Well, then label our Congress a crime syndicate because it seems to me that our legislative process is exactly what Sec. 201 specifies. You know, pork project funding in exchange for votes from Senators or House members — the minor difference being that the member of Congress has no direct value gained. Instead, it just comes handy during re-election when votes are needed…

Nothing to see here. The real story is how Arlen Specter won’t be back in Congress next year.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Did Joe Sestak/Bill Clinton Chat Break the Law? (cbsnews.com)
• White House Asked Bill Clinton To Talk To Joe Sestak About Senate Run (huffingtonpost.com)
• White House: No ‘improper conduct’ on Sestak (msnbc.msn.com)