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White House, Sestak need to come clean
It might just be the shortest victory celebration in political history.
The applause had barely died down as Joe Sestak claimed a huge upset win in the Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. Senate race over Arlen Specter when another clamor erupted.
Surely Sestak thought his win would sweep away the nagging questions surrounding his claim that someone in the White House offered him a position in exchange for getting out of the race against the party-switching and new Dem darlin' Arlen Specter.
It didn't.
Instead the din only got louder.
Specter had questioned Sestak's claim during the campaign, saying the candidate should provide proof of the job offer, first made in response to a question from political analyst Larry Kane.
To his credit, Sestak has stuck to his guns repeatedly when asked about his response. He has consistently repeated the claim, no doubt much to the chagrin of the White House, which has just as consistently maintained that nothing improper occurred.
After the election Sestak made the round of Sunday talk shows, and as you might have guessed, that question came up again. Sestak offered the same response, that the offer was made, and that he really wasn't saying any more about it.
Somebody needs to, either the new Democratic Senate standard-bearer or the White House.
As you might expect, Republicans have been quick to seize the issue.
In particular, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has been beating the drum, suggesting that either the White House or Sestak is lying, and raising the possibility of criminal actions in the offer.
His call for a special prosecutor was rejected this week by the Justice Department.
But the uproar grew louder when all seven Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee fired off a letter to the attorney general urging the appointment of a special prosecutor.
Sestak's Republican foe, former congressman Pat Toomey, has stated that he would like to stick to the clear differences between the two men in their campaign, but he also this week said "it would be helpful" if Sestak cleared the air on the matter.
Such criticism from Republicans is to be expected. Similar friendly fire from within Sestak's own party is not.
But that was Sen. Dick Durbin, the second highest-ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate, calling on his colleague to clear up exactly what — if anything — transpired between him and the White House.
Democratic National Committee boss Tim Kaine and Sestak's House colleague Rep. Tim Weiner, D-N.Y., made similar claims.
On Wednesday Gov. Ed Rendell, who supported Specter in his party switch, chimed in, saying the White House and Sestak should "be a little more detailed and put this behind them."
The White House seemed to give a bit, saying the matter had been reviewed by the proper authorities and that "nothing inappropriate" occurred.
It's presumed at this point that we should take their word for it. That has never been good enough in the past; it's not good enough now.
Ironically, both the Obama administration and Sestak have talked a lot about transparency, a sense of openness and ending the way politics gets done in Washington, D.C.
But their actions in this instance belie their talk.
The Pennsylvania Senate race will be one of the most-watched in the nation in November. There are important distinctions and a clear choice between Sestak and Toomey.
That conversation should not be clouded or diminished by continued wrangling over what did or did not transpire between Sestak and the White House.
Both sides need to come clean on the matter.
The sooner the better.
— Journal Register News Service/ The Delaware County Daily Times
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