Romanoff given three job possibilities: Bribed by Obama? And what they were

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 8:00 pm, June 2, 2010 | Comments Off

The Associated Press reported this afternoon that the Obama administration “dangled the possibility of a government job for former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff last year,” with the objective being to get him to “forgo a challenge” to Sen. Bennet.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not reveal the job nor the name of the official who presented the job offer.  The story was confirmed by Obama spokesman Bill Burton, who attested that Romanoff “was recommended to the White House from Democrats in Colorado for a position in the administration.  There were some initial conversations with him but no job was ever offered.”

This evening, the Romanoff campaign released a statement and a copy of the three job offers as written in an e-mail from Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina.

The campaign claims the following:

[On September 11], 2009, shortly after the news media first reported my plans to run for the Senate, I received a call from Jim Messina, the President’s deputy chief of staff.  Mr. Messina informed me that the White House would support Sen. Bennet.  I informed Mr. Messina that I had made my decision to run.

Mr. Messina also suggested three positions that might be available to me were I not pursuing the Senate race.  He added that he could not guarantee my appointment to any of these positions.  At no time was I promised a job, nor did I request Mr. Messina’s assistance in obtaining one.

Later that day, I received an email from Mr. Messina containing descriptions of three positions.  I left him a voicemail informing him that I would not change course.

I have not spoken with Mr. Messina, nor have I discussed this matter with anyone else in the White House, since then.

What are the positions?  Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America and Caribbean, USAID; Director of the Office of Democracy and Governance, USAID; and Director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.  Interestingly, what the e-mail, as presented, includes are strictly three job descriptions, one for each position, including whether or not it requires Senate approval.  It does not include any introductory or conclusion remarks.

As I see it, there are two different key points to this story.

1.  First, the mere fact that the administration sent someone within its ranks to even suggest these job offers seems to me to be an obvious ploy to get Romanoff not to run and instead to take his pick from these possibilities.  Whether it was blatantly stated that he would get his pick of a job or not, the facts, beginning with a senior Obama official presenting the opportunities, indicate that he was offered what could legitimately be called bribes.  This, combined with the Sestak case and the C-SPAN controversy, among other issues, reveal a series of blatant violations of his pledge to be far more open and transparent than the Bush administration.  It will be interesting to see if further legal questions unfold as a result of these two scandals.

2.   Second, it does not surprise me that Romanoff was offered these jobs, nor that he refused them: It has been known for some time that Obama was pushing the former speaker out of the race right from the start, including intimidating him with a forceful endorsement of Bennet here in Colorado, accompanied by the silly claim that Bennet fights “against special interests” despite thumbing his nose at the people of his state (who did not elect him) and unequivocally supporting a healthcare bill the vast majority of Coloradans opposed.

In interviewing Romanoff twice on my radio show, however, most recently in April, I have found him to be sincere and honest, though we differ substantially on the issues.  I’m certain he holds a grudge against Gov. Ritter for blatantly passing over him (really, who wouldn’t?), but to be offered such low-level positions when he could do better seems to me to be yet another fly in the face.  He sincerely wants to be Colorado’s next senator, and he’s made some significant headway in the race so far given caucus and assembly success.  Bennet may well lose this primary to a guy that Obama worked to pressure out of the running, now revealed to have begun even before the campaign began.

Also worth noting is that if it is the case that bribes were made, as it seems to be, then Romanoff seems to be covering for the Obama administration here.  (After all, why not include more of the e-mail than the job description?  And how can it not have been a bribe?)  This makes sense, though: With the growing likelihood that Romanoff will end up being the nominee, he’ll want the president’s support if elected, not tension like a Sestak victory would inevitably bring about.  Don’t want to make an enemy of a potent ally, after all.

It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds and what the fallout is on Obama and the Senate race.  Romanoff is in the clear, but there’s more egg on Obama’s face.  Might Ritter and Bennet show up in this story somehow?  We’ll have to watch and find out.

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