White House details job talks with Colorado Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff

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The White House confirmed early Thursday that an aide to President Obama spoke to Andrew Romanoff, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Colorado, about a possible administration job. But spokesman Robert Gibbs said that no offer to Romanoff was extended in exchange for his dropping his challenge to incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.

Gibbs said Romanoff applied for a job with the U.S. Agency for International Development after the 2008 election. Last September, when it appeared that Romanoff, the former speaker of the Colorado House, would be entering the race, he was phoned by the deputy White House chief of staff, Jim Messina, Gibbs said.

Messina ‘called and e-mailed Romanoff last September to see if he was still interested in a position at USAID, or if, as had been reported, he was running for the U.S. Senate,’ Gibbs said. ‘Months earlier, the president had endorsed Sen. Michael Bennet for the Colorado seat, and Messina wanted to determine if it was possible to avoid a costly battle between two supporters.

‘But Romanoff said that he was committed to the Senate race and no longer interested in working for the administration, and that ended the discussion,’ Gibbs said. ‘As Mr. Romanoff has stated, there was no offer of a job.’

Romanoff released a similar account of the events Wednesday evening, saying Messina ‘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.’
The two statements aren’t likely to quell the demand by some Republicans that the White House fully detail its overtures to Romanoff and to Rep. Joe Sestak, the Pennsylvania congressman who defeated Sen. Arlen Specter last month in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary.

The White House revealed that former President Bill Clinton approached Sestak and discussed a possible unpaid slot on a presidential advisory board if he dropped out of the race against Specter, but it has insisted there was no direct contact between aides to Obama and Sestak.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to the White House on Wednesday asking for notes, e-mails, transcripts and other records regarding any offer to Sestak.

-- James Oliphant