Ses-pool?

The disputes surrounding the claimed offer of a job by the Obama administration to Joe Sestak to drop out of the primary in Pennsylvania in favor of Arlen Specter keep growing. Sestak keeps repeating that he received such an offer, but he will supply no details. The White House will also give no details but says it did nothing wrong. Usually, these things get names that end in "gate" like Watergate, climategate, and all the others. Given Sestak's name, however, I think this should be called "Ses-pool".

Aside from the name, there is a real problem here. The United States Code (18 USC 595) makes it a crime to offer someone a job to drop out of a primary for a senate seat. That section provides that any government employee who "uses his official authority for the purpose of ... affecting, the nomination ...of any candidate for the office of ... Member of the Senate... shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both." Simply put, appointing someone to a federal job is certainly using ones official authority. Making such appointment in order to determine the outcome of a primary is a federal crime. so, if Sestak is telling the truth with regard to Ses-pool, he is alleging that a crime was committed by someone in the White House.

I doubt that this issue is going to go away any time soon. Sestak is either going to have to tell the world who said what and when, or he will be dogged by this until November. Indeed, If the GOP wins control of either the House or the Senate, Sestak can be guaranteed that he will be brought before the appropriate committee to testify under oath about what happened here. I am quite surprised that Sestak has not spilled the beans yet.

There is the possibility that Sestak is waiting for Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend to give out the details of Ses-pool. We will see soon enough.