In this must-read piece Painter, the ethics person in the Bush II White House, discusses the Sestak/Romanoff job offers: “Despite what some Republicans might claim, such politicking is not illegal; in fact, this sort of thing has been business as usual in presidential administrations for a very long time. Nonetheless, these recent incidents should prompt us to rethink whether overtly partisan work has a legitimate place in the White House and, if so, who should be doing it.”
I agree with Painter on the illegality part, but not with the second part.
Painter wants legislation or an executive order “to prohibit all White House staff members from participating in partisan political activity in any capacity during the relatively short time they serve in government.” He’d make an exception for the President and Vice President. If the exception recognizes that the President and vice-president wear two hats always (as leaders of the country and as leaders of their political party), then it is both unrealistic and counter-productive to separate the two functions artificially. Moreover, doing so would create a legal gotcha game, in which White House attempts to set policy which has partisan implications will be attacked as political and illegal. It would only exacerbate the current problems with media coverage of politics in this highly polarized era.