A Non-Story But...
I found the story surrounding newly minted Democratic nominee Joe Sestak from Pennsylvania, about him being offered a job by the White House if he dropped out of the primary against Arlen Specter, frankly a non-story.
Questions had surrounded Mr. Sestak's contention that he was offered a position, some had speculated that it was for Secretary of the Navy, within the White House if he would cancel his campaign. I remember Chris Mathews laughing about it months ago calling it an old campaign tactic sometimes used to increase an unknown candidates presence to the voters. I tended to agree with that feeling, but as time went on and he kept mentioning it because his team noticed it was effective to position him as the anti-Washington candidate. Because of this, naturally more and more questions began to be asked about what the job was that he was offered and whom offered it to him?
Perhaps because there were no firm channels of communication between Sestak's camp and the White House, Sestak's unwillingness to divulge any details of the offer and the White House staying mum on the subject, it garnered the attention of the GOP. As a result, the questions came quicker and more often, hitting peak pressure yesterday when the President was asked about it directly during a Press Conference focusing on the BP Gulf oil spill. It was here that the President said that they would be releasing a statement shortly and that the American public can rest assured that there was no impropriety or ethical violations.
The report was released today by the White House (hosted by the Huffington Post at Doctoc) and you can read it below, but Sestak wasn't offered the Secretary of the Navy, or any paying job. He was offered an unpaid advisory role while he served out the rest of his time in the House of Representatives:
sestakwh -
Questions had surrounded Mr. Sestak's contention that he was offered a position, some had speculated that it was for Secretary of the Navy, within the White House if he would cancel his campaign. I remember Chris Mathews laughing about it months ago calling it an old campaign tactic sometimes used to increase an unknown candidates presence to the voters. I tended to agree with that feeling, but as time went on and he kept mentioning it because his team noticed it was effective to position him as the anti-Washington candidate. Because of this, naturally more and more questions began to be asked about what the job was that he was offered and whom offered it to him?
Perhaps because there were no firm channels of communication between Sestak's camp and the White House, Sestak's unwillingness to divulge any details of the offer and the White House staying mum on the subject, it garnered the attention of the GOP. As a result, the questions came quicker and more often, hitting peak pressure yesterday when the President was asked about it directly during a Press Conference focusing on the BP Gulf oil spill. It was here that the President said that they would be releasing a statement shortly and that the American public can rest assured that there was no impropriety or ethical violations.
The report was released today by the White House (hosted by the Huffington Post at Doctoc) and you can read it below, but Sestak wasn't offered the Secretary of the Navy, or any paying job. He was offered an unpaid advisory role while he served out the rest of his time in the House of Representatives:
sestakwh -

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