1:30 am Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and one of his top aides, Jim Messina, have been referred to the government's Office of Special Counsel for an investigation into whether they violated the Hatch Act by offering administration jobs to two political candidates in exchange for dropping out of their races.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, wrote in letters to William Reukauf, the acting U.S. special counsel, that the statements by the White House and the two candidates involved – Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., and former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff – are "prima facie" evidence of violations.
The act prohibits "the use of official authority or influence by federal employees for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election," Issa's letters dated yesterday – one referring Emanuel and one referring Messina – explained.
"In the White House's June 3, 2010, public statement, Mr. [Robert] Gibbs claimed that clearing the field for a candidate preferred by the White House was not problematic because 'there was no offer of a job.' There is evidence to the contrary," wrote Issa.
Sign the petition today to demand an independent counsel appointment in the Sestak affair.
"Additionally, a finding of a Hatch Act violation does not require that a job was formally offered; any use of official authority by a restricted federal official to interfere with or affect the outcome of an election is unlawful," he wrote.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency, Issa's statement explained.
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The letter about Sestak said evidence of a violation came from White House Counsel Robert Bauer and Sestak himself.
Sestak reported the White House job offer came in July as he was preparing to formally announce his Senate candidacy in August.
Sestak's account "is prima facie evidence that an individual in the White House violated the Hatch Act's prohibition against using official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election," Issa's letter said.
Further, the facts later were confirmed by the White House, Issa charged.
Bauer wrote that the congressman "publicly and accurately stated" that "options for executive branch service were raised with him. Efforts were made in June and July of 2009 to determine whether Congressman Sestak would be interested in service on a presidential or other senior executive branch advisory board, which would avoid a divisive Senate primary."
"The Hatch Act prohibition on using official authority or influence for the purpose of affecting the result of an election extends to the White House chief of staff," Issa wrote. "Only the president and vice-president are exempted. … The Hatch Act covers all officials of the executive agencies and departments, even agency and department heads appointed by the president with advice and consent of the Senate, as well as all officials, staff and aides in the offices of the president and vice-president."
Basically, Issa charged, "Rahm Emanuel was leveraging the power and access of his official position to advance the political interests of the Democratic party by affecting the result of the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. This is precisely the sort of behavior forbidden by the Hatch Act.
"A final determination of whether or not Mr. Emanuel's actions violated the Hatch Act is rightfully made by OSC investigators following a thorough review, not by the Office of the White House Counsel," Issa wrote.
According to a separate letter, Messina allegedly offered a position to Romanoff.
Both Sestak and Romanoff ultimately did not accept any offers from the White House. Sestak, running for the Pennsylvania Senate seat, defeated White House favorite Sen. Arlen Specter in the primary. Romanoff pursued a primary challenge against White House favorite Sen. Michael Bennet.
WND reported late last week when Issa wrote to Bauer seeking, "A full and complete list of all elections in which the White House engaged in efforts to persuade specific candidates to drop election bids."
Issa wrote then that, "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, please specify to whom it was offered, and by whom it was offered."
He also asked Bauer publicly to commit to preserving all records concerning "job offers made to Rep. Sestak, Mr. Romanoff, and any other candidates."
Issa and several other members of Congress earlier said the situation raises questions not only of election influence but also suspicions of evidence and witness tampering and evasion of the legal process.
The accusations came from Issa and Reps. Lamar Smith, R-Texas; and James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.
House GOP Leader John Boehner said while the White House "unsurprisingly acquitted itself of any wrongdoing, " the fastest way for the American people to get answers "is for the White House to come clean and fully disclose its use of federal appointments to manipulate elections."
Still developing are accusations in the ongoing trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blogojevich that may link Obama or White House staff members to allegations the impeached governor tried to cut a deal involving his authority to appoint a replacement to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat vacated by Obama's election to the White House.
Republicans already twice have asked the Justice Department for a special prosecutor to investigate the Sestak case, without success.
"It's time for everyone involved in this scandal to come clean," Tom Fitton, president of the government corruption watchdog Judicial Watch, has said.
He said the case raises concerns about a "disturbing pattern" in the Obama White House.
"We still don't have all the details about involvement of Obama administration officials in the sale of Obama's former Illinois U.S. Senate seat by Rod Blagojevich. And we still don't have answers about the charge that Obama Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina offered a federal job to Colorado Democratic Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff to keep him out of the Senate race. There is also the report that President Obama tried to push disgruntled White House Counsel Greg Craig out of the White House by offering a federal judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. And now we have Joe Sestak," he said. "The Chicago Machine has truly come to Washington."
Peter Ferrar, director of budget policy at the Institute for Policy Innovation and a policy adviser to the Heartland Institute, went further.
"Months ago, I predicted in this column that President Obama would so discredit himself in office that he wouldn't even be on the ballot in 2012, let alone have a prayer of being re-elected. Like President Johnson in 1968, who had won a much bigger victory four years previously than Obama did in 2008, President Obama will be so politically defunct by 2012 that he won't even try to run for re-election," he wrote.
"I am now ready to predict that President Obama will not even make it that far. I predict that he will resign in discredited disgrace before the fall of 2012. Like my previous prediction, that is based not just on where we are now, but where we are going under his misleadership."
Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, who retired as deputy commanding general for the Pacific, is calling on Obama to resign.
"We can wait no longer for a traditional change of power and new government," he said.
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