Rep. Darrell Issa: Romanoff job offer renders Obama "brand" ruined
By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
06/03/10 2:23 PM EDT
Rep. Darrell Issa, the ranking minority member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sees irreparable damage being done to the Obama brand as a result of the growing White House bribe jobs scandal.
Former Colorado House Speaker Anthony Romanoff is challenging Sen. Michael Bennett, D-CO, in that state's Democratic senatorial primary. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said earlier today that Obama's deputy chief of staff Jim Messina discussed employment possibilities with Romanoff earlier this year but only after the latter had applied for a federal position.
It is illegal to offer a federal job to somebody in return for their doing something designed to influence the outcome of a congressional election.
Issa isn't buying the White House version of the Romanoff events.
"If things were as benign and innocent as the White House is trying to make it sound, there would have been no need for Messina to have sent an e-mail detailing three positions that would be available to Romanoff should he withdraw from the Colorado Senate primary," Issa said.
"If it were as simple as following up on an application, Messina would have taken no for an answer after speaking with Romanoff, instead he persisted with the intent of coercing him with the implied promise of a job. Clearly, that was the intent, which was conditioned on Romanoff exiting the primary which is bare-knuckle Chicago-style politics-as-usual. Can anyone imagine a scenario where Romanoff exits the primary and doesn't get the job?"
Last week, the White House was embroiled in controversy over Pennsylvania Democrat Rep. Joe Sestak's allegation that last February he was offered a job by somebody in the Obama White House in return for his dropping his Democratic primary challenge of Sen. Arlen Specter, D-PA.
The White House said Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel recruited former president Bill Clinton to talk to Sestak but that nothing illegal was said during their conversation.
An indication of the growing seriousness of the scandal is seen in a Politico story in which the accompanying photographs sandwhich Obama between Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Mayberry Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife, portrayed in the popular TV sitcom, "The Andy Griffith Show," during the 1960s.
Politico's Jonathon Allen and Carol E. Lee quoted a senior House Democrat saying "it is baffling 'how one group of people can be so good at campaigning and so bad at politics' — a phrasing nearly identical to that of a second veteran House Democrat who expressed the same sentiment."
Also today, Issa asked White House counsel Bob Bauer to provide detailed information about all electoral races in which Obama or his aides have sought to influence, asking for "full and complete list of all elections in which the White House engaged in efforts to persuade specific candidates to drop election bids and if a job or any other thing of value meant to entice a candidate to withdraw from or not to enter the race was offered, [to] specify to whom it was offered, and by whom it was offered."
Issa also asked Bauer to provide copies of a "written commitment to preserve all records and communications related to any attempts by the White House to clear the field in Democratic primary elections."
Read more at the Washington Examiner: washingtonexaminer.com |
