Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) is at it again.  This time he says that the Patriots and the NFL are stonewalling his efforts to investigate questions arising from Spygate I and Spygate II.

For starters, Specter says that the league isn’t doing enough to allow former Pats employee Matt Walsh to speak.

“My suspicion is that they’re going to put enough conditions on it so that he won’t talk,” Specter said.  “If they had wanted Walsh to talk, it would have been done a long time ago.  They are not helped by keeping him on ice, unless they intend to [permanently] keep him on ice.”

Specter also thinks that this is part of a concerted effort by the league and its teams to not cooperate, at all, with his investigation.

Daniel Goldberg, outside counsel for the Patriots, essentially takes the position that Specter has no jurisdiction to explore these issues.  “You look at it from our perspective,” Goldberg told ESPN.com.  “Who is the right forum for an inquiry into a matter like this?  We regard this as a league matter.  It deals with league rules, league enforcement.”

Outside counsel for the Jets, the team that helped nail the Pats in Spygate I, adopts a similar approach:  “Our firm was engaged to represent certain employees of the New York Jets in connection with a request for information from Sen. Specter,” attorney Scott Michels told ESPN.com.  “Our clients have not spoken to the senator or his staff and at this time have no plans to do so.”

Specter believes that this is part of a league-wide effort to close the book on cheating allegations.

“Well, I don’t want to pick a fight with everybody in the world, like all the owners,” Specter told ESPN.com.  “But they are functioning from talking points — ‘We’re satisfied with the investigation.’  ‘Oh yes, the penalty was sufficient.’  ‘Oh, let’s put this behind us.’  ‘Let’s move on.’  You have heard everyone say the same thing.”

The reason for such an approach, if that’s indeed what’s happening, is obvious.  The league has a strong interest in protecting the goose that poops the golden eggs.

The problem with continuing that strategy (if that’s indeed what’s happening) is that it gives people like Arlen Specter legitimate ammunition to get more folks curious about what’s really going on.  If one of the goals of the league is to avoid a full-blown Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, a total failure to cooperate with Specter isn’t the way to make it happen.