Rendell calls Sestak affair ‘hard-knuckle politics’

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Gov. Ed Rendell is defending the White House’s actions in enlisting former President Bill Clinton to try to ease U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak out of Pennsylvania’s Senate primary with a job offer.

It was intended to clear a path for Sen. Arlen Specter to the Democratic nomination, which Sestak eventually won.

On “Fox News Sunday,” Rendell called it “hard-knuckle politics.” He said he did the same thing in 2006 in asking former congressman Joseph Hoeffel to drop out of a race and later named him a deputy secretary of commerce.

But Rendell said for the Obama administration to dodge questions about the issue for months was “not smart.”

Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House oversight committee, again called for an investigation and said the episode showed that President Barack Obama had become a part of the Washington culture he decried as a candidate.

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