Republicans and conservatives think they have a legitimate controversy on their hands (complete with talk of special prosecutors and impeachment) but there are still questions about whether the job offer was illegal, and how this is clearly stated.
It is argued that three sections of the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883, which outlawed the spoils system, are relevant. But since they have (apparently) never been used to prosecute anyone for making a job offer for not running for office. These offers are somewhat common it seems and Democrats are using this argument to claim this is purely a political, not a legal, matter.
Some links:
- Slate.
- Huffington Post.
- Washington Post.
Applying this to class material:
1 - The Progressives are back in the news, at least indirectly. The Pendleton Act was intended to prevent political parties from treating jobs and contracts as goodies they controlled by holding office. Remember that the president not only holds an executive office, but is the unofficial leader of his party. There is almost certainly a great deal of tension in these two roles. In order to successfully be party leader one may well be tempted to do things that inhibit the ability of the executive branch to fully do its job. I wonder if the controversies involving the Mineral Management Service, where appointments were apparently made to political supporters, is similar legally to the Sestak allegations.
2 - Political leaders do all they can, complete with carrots sticks and all number of other things, to influence who runs for office. They do not like it when challengers take on seemingly safe (or safer) incumbents, or the establishment's preferred candidate. Think about this if you ever decide to run for office. Politics is brutal.
3 - And speaking of brutal, has the threat, or reality, of impeachment become just another aspect of the political process? Republicans pushed for the impeachment of Clinton as soon as he was elected. It just took sometime for him to give them ammo. Fringe Democrats were anxious to impeach both Bush and Cheney for war crimes, among other things, while they were in office. The authors of the Constitution were troubled by the idea that impeachments would be used for political purposes, but perhaps it was inevitable that ambitious politicians would do so.
4 - While the conservative media is trumpeting this story, the rest have seemingly determined that this is a non-story and have pushed it behind others. We will see whether they're successful in making independents and others see their way on this issue. Since the press is closely tied into public opinion, we'll be able to track changes accordingly.
