CONSTITUTIONALGOV.NET

June 4, 2010, Washington D.C (10:00PM EDT)
Governor Ed Rendell appears on the Greta Van Susteren show and tells Greta that he had conversations with the White House and then spoke with Representative Sestak (supposedly with no jobs being offered) encouraging Sestak to not pursue a Senate primary against Senator Arlen Specter.  Greta pushes Governor Rendell regarding why he didn’t mention this just last week when Greta was interviewing him about the Sestak controversy.  Governor Rendell replies that he didn’t think it was relevant because he didn’t speak to Sestak about a job, and on Greta’s show the week before, they were talking about a job being offered.  The real story here is not that Governor Rendell withheld information; the real story is that Governor Rendell is now covering for the White House and has become a willing participant in this scandal.

For weeks, Governor Rendell (an absolute shill for the Obama administration) has been promoting several memes regarding the Sestak controversy:

This is Not a Crime Meme; It’s done in Washington All of the Time:  Governor Rendell has compared an offer he made to someone to come back and see him if he dropped out of a Democratic primary race stating there may be a public service opportunity for him.  The fallacy in Governor Rendell’s first meme is that Governor Rendell didn’t offer a position, while a position was offered to Sestak by the Obama administration.  The second problem with meme #1 for Rendell is that Rendell was bound by State law while the Obama administration is bound by Federal law.  Throughout this “it’s done all the time meme,” Governor Rendell has never provided a single example of when this has happened before in Washington.

A Republican Attorney General has Said this Isn’t a Crime:  Governor Rendell’s second meme is to claim that Attorney General Mukasey (AG in the Bush administration) has stated that this is not a crime.  Former Attorney General Mukasey never made this claim.  There are several Federal statutes that the Sestak controversy fall under.  AG General Mukasey said that it would be a stretch to apply Federal Statute 595 in this matter which is much different than AG Mukasey stating that there is no crime.  Mukasey also stated in detail that all of the facts are not known.  Governor Rendell conveniently leaves out this point.  View this video to see what Former AG Michael Mukasey had to say on the entire matter.

Pennsylvanians Don’t Care About this Issue:  The third meme Governor Rendell has been pushing is that Americans and in particular Pennsylvania residents don’t care about this issue.  They are much more concerned with the real problems facing the nation right now.  Although Governor Rendell is correct that we are worried about many issues facing the nation, he is wrong if he thinks Americans are not concerned with corruption at the highest levels of government.

Last night, however, Governor Rendell went beyond his false planks of propping up the Obama administration in the Sestak matter to aiding and abetting the Obama administration in its cover up of the Sestak quid pro quo.  How convenient for Governor Rendell to have multiple conversations with the Obama administration (one Rahm Emanuel) and Representative Joe Sestak.  Governor Rendell’s exact words with Greta Van Susteren:

…my discussions were with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and we both agreed it was very, very important to try to persuade Joe to stay in the Congress and run for his House seat because we thought his House seat, if he ran for it, would be a slam dunk; he would win re-election easily.  Without him, we could lose it, so I tried on my own to convince Joe to stay in the House and wait his turn for the Senate.  Uh, but it had no, the discussion had nothing to do with jobs at all…this was in the previous year; it was in ‘09.

After this statement, Governor Rendell goes on to promote the three memes I outlined earlier.

The critical portion of this statement by Governor Rendell is that it now provides cover to the memo issued by White House counsel (Robert F. Bauer) which, in part, states:

Uncompensated Advisory Board Options.  We found that, as the Congressman has publicly and accurately stated, 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, allow him to retain his seat in the House, and provide him with an opportunity for additional service to the public in a high-level advisory capacity for which he was highly qualified.  The advisory positions discussed with Congressman Sestak, while important to the work of the Administration, would have been uncompensated.

When Governor Rendell specifically points out that these conversations occurred in ’09, and when he states that he had discussions with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and Rendell states he subsequently spoke with Sestak encouraging him to “wait his turn for the Senate,” Rendell is providing the cover the White House needs to support their memo that states that “[e]fforts were made in June and July of 2009 to determine whether Congressman Sestak would be interested in service on a Presidential or … Executive Branch Advisory Board.  The memo ends with the position “would have been uncompensated.”  Governor Ed Rendell ends his statement with Greta by saying the discussion had nothing to do with jobs.  The cover for the White House by Governor Rendell is now complete.

One of the first criticisms that surfaced after the White House Memo was released was that at a news conference on the same evening of the memo’s release, Representative Sestak stated he had one brief (10 minute) conversation with President Clinton regarding the unpaid advisory position.  This directly conflicted with the memo that stated “efforts were made in June and July.”  With Governor Rendell’s claim, the cover-up continues.  The White House can add Governor Rendell to their list of “efforts” supposedly leaving Governor Rendell unexposed to any wrong doing because this was an unpaid position.

Governor Rendell may, however, find himself in real trouble here as Federal Statute 18 U.S.C. 595 also applies to State officials and states in part:

Whoever, being [a public official] … uses his official authority for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or the election of any candidate for Senate … [is guilty of a misdemeanor].

Looks like Governor Rendell may have a problem.  Did he use his official authority when he interfered in this Senate race?  Did he speak to Representative Sestak in his Governor’s office?  Looks like Governor Rendell has some further explaining to do.

I ask that you watch next week how this plays out.  Watch them use Governor Rendell’s statement to support that he was part of the June and July efforts by the White House regarding Sestak thereby substantiating the memo.  Watch Governor Rendell slither out of any wrong doing and continuing meme #1 claiming this sort of thing happens all of the time and continuing to claim no violation occurred because no job was offered. 

People complain that the Obama administration isn’t providing the transparency they promised.  This is absolutely false.  The Obama administration and the corrupt games that they play are completely transparent as is the corruption throughout both political parties.  You just have to know where to look and follow the right shills as they continue to cover-up the crimes being perpetrated by this administration and others in government.