On the Friday before a long holiday weekend, the White House issued a statement admitting that President Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel arranged for former President Bill Clinton to ask Representative Joe Sestak if he would consider dropping out of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary. Mention was made in their discussion of Sestak’s possible appointment to a prominent, but unpaid, government advisory position if he did decide to drop out.
The apologists for the Obama administration will argue that Clinton did not have the authority to offer – much less promise – a position in the executive branch as an inducement for Sestak to drop out of the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. At most, they will argue, there was just a quick feeler from a private citizen, albeit an ex-President.
However, the key question was what was promised, if anything, and under whose authority.
Emanuel, as a government employee, may have committed a felony under 18 U.S.C. 600 if, through his emissary Bill Clinton, Emanuel communicated a promise of an appointment in the executive branch if Sestak agreed to drop out of the Senate primary and not challenge the Democratic Party establishment’s choice, Arlen Specter:
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