It is NOT sop for a sitting President to offer a position to someone in a political race as long as they drop out. That is a clear violation. That SOB is guilty as hell.
The way it typically works is a little more sneaky.
Hey Sestak you know we’d like you to take the Sec. of Navy position; however, you appear to busy since you’re running for senate and we’d like to appoint you sooner rather than later. What do you think...any chance you’d take that offer?
But Sestak blew the lid off it when he mentioned the job offer and now it stinks like a pile of crap at a paper plant in Houston during the heat of summer. (Ron White joke).
Anyway, I think what really happened Sestak didn’t realize he let the cat out of the back when he tried to parlay his refusal to take the job as a good thing.
Yes. It is exactly the same as 'vote-rigging'. It is the same as paying a boxer to throw the fight.
We know those things to be wrong.