White House aims to protect Specter – offered Sestak a job

The ultimate good ol’ boy network. Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) is running for Senate and headed towards a primary with Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.). Back in July when Sestak was thinking about running, he says he was contacted by someone – either from the Obama administration or a proxy – to not run in exchange for an Executive Branch position.

I’m not all that certain this is a big story, simply because it probably happens all the time within the Washington, D.C. beltway. Democrats and Republicans both protect their own, but Sestak did drop a “minor” bomb and then failed to follow up with any additional information pointing to the “confidentiality” of the conversation.

Uhh, OK. Guess he wanted to make a few waves to get some publicity. Hat tip to Sweetness & Light, who points us to the original Philly.com article.

Rep. Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) said yesterday that the White House offered him a federal job in an effort to dissuade him from challenging Sen. Arlen Specter in the state’s Democratic primary.

The disclosure came during an afternoon taping of Larry Kane: Voice of Reason, a Sunday news-analysis show on the Comcast Network. Sestak would not elaborate on the circumstances and seemed chagrined after blurting out “yes” to veteran news anchor Kane’s direct question.

“Was it secretary of the Navy?” Kane asked.

“No comment,” Sestak said.

“Was it [the job] high-ranking?” Kane asked. Sestak said yes, but added that he would “never leave” the Senate race for a deal.

A White House spokesman this morning strongly denied an offer had been made to Sestak. Before the spokesman issued the denial, a senior Pennsylvania Democrat said Sestak’s account was met with anger by White House officials yesterday.

With the strong denial, should Sestak be considered a rogue Democrat? If he is successful in the primary fight, he’ll drop out of the Congressional race for Pennsylvania’s 7th and cause more issues for the Democrats.

If he looses the primary, I assume he’ll continue the campaign – rebranded Sestak for Congress – and he may still get pushed around by Democrat leadership in the future.

Sestak is a retired United States Navy Rear Admiral and a Democrat, one presumably strong on national defense. He’s probably safe either way even though the extreme left may throw a fit.

Judicial Watch also writing. AP at Hot Air too.