In Colorado, after refusing to come clean for nearly 250 days, Democrat Senate hopeful Andrew Romanoff finally admitted he was offered a taxpayer-funded job by the Obama White House in exchange for ditching his primary challenge to appointed Senator Michael Bennet. Roll Call reports:
The Colorado Democrat who is trying to oust incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet in that state’s hotly contested primary has confirmed that a top White House official effectively dangled three administration posts in an attempt to deter him from seeking the seat… The Colorado flap comes just days after the White House admitted to using former President Bill Clinton as a go-between to raise the possibility with Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) that he could snag an unpaid presidential advisory post if he did not challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter.
The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza reports:
Former Colorado state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff released a detailed explanation of his contacts with the White House last fall as a top aide to President Barack Obama sought to convince him to leave the race. Romanoff said that he received a call in September 2009 from White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina making clear that the White House would be supporting appointed Sen. Michael Bennet in the Colorado Senate Democratic primary… The three jobs floated to him by Messina via email, according to Romanoff, were: Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America and Caribbean for USAID, Director of Office of Democracy and Governance at USAID and director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
While the Daily Caller reports:
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency director’s position would have been a post in charge of a $55 million budget and a staff of 78 people, which requires Senate confirmation. It is now the second confirmed Senate race in which the Obama administration has tried to lure challengers to Democratic incumbents out of their races with offers or potential government jobs, flirting with ethical and possibly even legal violations that have besmirched a president who based much of his candidacy on changing the way Washington operates… And in fact, the Romanoff revelation amplified questions about the credibility of the White House account of what they offered Sestak. “It’s difficult to imagine that the Obama White House offered multiple paid positions to a former state legislator in Mr. Romanoff, but simply offered an unpaid, advisory board position to Joe Sestak, a sitting United States Congressman,” said Brian Walsh, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
The Hill reports:
Republicans’ Senate campaign committee said that it was up to federal authorities to determine whether or not a formal investigation was warranted, but called for candidates like Romanoff and Sestak — as well as Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who’s waging a primary challenge to Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) — to disclose what, if any, conversations they had with the White House about jobs in exchange for dropping out of their races. “President Obama, his aides and Congressman Sestak owe an immediate and specific explanation to the American people. It’s time for all of the parties involved in this sordid affair to come clean to the American people,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) said in a statement.
And Politico reports:
The Romanoff instance has stepped up Republican calls for a full investigation of the White House political operation. Already seven Republicans from the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into the Sestak matter… “While it remains the responsibility of the Justice Department and members of Congress to determine what laws or ethics rules may have been broken by government officials offering kickbacks to political opponents, one thing is clear — President Obama, his aides and Congressman Sestak owe an immediate and specific explanation to the American people,” NRSC communications director Brian Walsh said in a statement. “It’s time for all of the parties involved in this sordid affair to come clean to the American people.”
