Vote Buying?

I wrote yesterday about Obama appointing the brother of a House Democrat to a Federal Appeals court, today The Washington Times has this editorial:
Jobs for political dropouts

The Justice Department ought to open an investigation immediately into whether any White House officials broke federal law by offering administration jobs in return for disfavored Democratic candidates to withdraw from two major Senate races. Whether illegal or not, and whether as direct offers or just as broad hints, any job incentives of that sort are sleazy.

The story broke Feb. 18 when Rep. Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania Democrat, told a local cable news show that somebody in the administration offered him a high-ranking job if he would decline to challenge party-switching Sen. Arlen Specter in his state's Democratic primary this year. Speculation has been rife that Mr. Sestak, a retired admiral, might get named as secretary of the Navy, although he would not identify the specific job he was offered. The congressman told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he stuck to his story even after the White House denied it.

This was the second such story in the past half-year. In August, the Denver Post cited "several top Colorado Democrats" who said that Deputy White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina "offered specific suggestions" for a administration job if former Colorado state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff would agree not to challenge Sen. Michael Bennet, Colorado Democrat, this year. Again, the White House denied the story, but these are Democrats making the allegations, not Republicans attacking a White House of the opposing party. It is thus much harder to write off the claims as mere political hit jobs.

Read it all here.