June 7, 2010
The White House has confirmed that Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina contacted former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff to gauge his interest in joining the administration last fall. This, as Romanoff prepared to enter the Democratic primary for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
And this follows an attempt by the Obama administration to persuade Congressman Joe Sestak to withdraw from his race for a Senate seat from Pennsylvania in exchange for an unpaid job on a presidential commission.
These are two of many reasons why the trial of former Illinois Democrat governor Rod Blagoyavich is going to be so interesting. Chicago politics, as practiced by the Obama administration, is ugly, strong-armed stuff. Deals are made and incentives provided to do the work of the machine. It is why Republicans should win control of Congress so they can conduct investigations into all of these things, and possibly much more. You know Attorney General Eric Holder isn't going to investigate and neither is this liberal Democrat Congress.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.
