White House reporters need to ask about Romanoff job offer, too By: Mark Hemingway Commentary Staff Writer 05/28/10 12:54 PM EDT Byron notes that the GOP, not to mention the public at large, have good reasons to be highly skeptical of the White House’s version of events surrounding the Sestak job offer.
In particular, little attention has been paid to allegations that the White House made a very similar offer to Andrew Romanoff to get out of the Colorado senate primary where he is challenging incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet. L’Affaire Sestak looks eeirly similar to what happened in Colorado, yet has received little scrutiny in the national media. Denver Post columnist David Harasanyi dedicates his column to this today:
In September 2009, an article headlined “D.C. job alleged as attempt to deter Romanoff” by the Denver Post’s Michael Riley reported that Andrew Romanoff, former speaker of the Colorado House who was then still contemplating a run again against the governor-installed, administration-sanctioned foot soldier Michael Bennet, received an “unexpected communication” from a renowned kingmaker in Washington.
“Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s deputy chief of staff and a storied fixer in the White House political shop,” wrote Riley at the time, “suggested a place for Romanoff might be found in the administration and offered specific suggestions, according to several sources who described the communication to The Denver Post.”
Harsanyi correctly notes: “You might be able to ignore Sestak, but another similar story makes the plot far more plausible.” Given that the White House has established a modus operandi here and have refused to answer questions satisfactorily for so song, at a minimum it’s safe to say the White House has been far less transparent and honest with the American people than they should be.
That realization should spur reporters to ask a lot more questions about what’s going on here.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/white-house-reporters-need-to-ask-about-romanoff-job-offer-too-95118374.html#ixzz0pFIVbHht
