By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

Renewed questions over an alleged job offer from the White House to Joe Sestak prompted Republican U.S. Senate nominee Pat Toomey on Monday to ask his Democratic opponent to “tell the public everything he knows about the job he was offered, and who offered it.”

Sestak declined to elaborate about the alleged deal during an appearance Sunday on “Meet the Press” despite repeated prodding by host David Gregory. The congressman has steadfastly refused to give any additional details about the offer, which critics have said if true, could be illegal.

“Joe and I disagree on many important issues, from health care, to bailouts, to the unprecedented debt being racked up in Washington,” Toomey said in a statement. “That’s what our campaign should be about, rather than these other matters.

“Joe can clear that all away by simply disclosing all the facts that he knows, and I urge him to do that,” he said.

The Senate hopeful emphasized he’s commenting on the controversy only because of “nonstop inquiries” from the media, adding that he’s more focused on talking policy.

But Toomey’s explanation for the request didn’t satisfy the Sestak campaign, which called the issue a “political distraction.”

“Joe likes Congressman Toomey, but if Toomey really wanted to focus on issues that matter to the working families of Pennsylvania, he wouldn’t be talking about political distractions,” said spokesman Jonathon Dworkin. “But it’s clear that as a former derivatives trader who has fought his entire career on the side of big banks, the last thing Congressman Toomey wants to talk about are issues like job creation and small business growth.

“As he’s done his entire career, Joe Sestak will continue to fight for what matters to working Americans, from job opportunities to retirement security,” Dworkin said.

The White House has acknowledged that it talked with Sestak his primary challenge but said there was nothing illegal about the discussion

“Lawyers in the White House and others have looked into the conversations that were had with Congressman Sestak – and nothing inappropriate happened,” Gibbs said Sunday on “Face the Nation,” according to The Inquirer. “I’m not going to get further into what the conversations were.”

The alleged deal is the first story of the still very young race between Sestak and Specter, and although the Toomey campaign at least tried to portray itself as reluctant to discuss it, the state GOP showed no such qualms earlier Monday.

“How much is a U.S. Senate seat worth to the Obama administration, and why is Joe Sestak protecting a White House that attempted to bribe him out of the U.S. Senate race?” state party Chairman Rob Gleason said in a statement.”For months, Joe Sestak has garnered national media attention by claiming that the White House offered him a job if he left the U.S. Senate race, only to clam up when the media asked him to explain these explosive allegations.”