As the impasse between the NFL and Matt Walsh regarding the terms of an agreement that would allow him to tell his story of alleged spying by the Patriots lingers, Senator Arlen Specter  (R-Pa.) is speaking out about the stalemate.

“We need to hear from Walsh,” Specter told the New York Times. 

To get there, Specter wants the league to release the chain of correspondence exchanged between the NFL’s lawyers and Michael Levy, the high-priced Washington, D.C. attorney who still hasn’t responded to requests from ProFootballTalk for more information on how he came to represent Walsh.

Levy also has yet to respond to our request for comment regarding the disclosure by the Patriots that Levy isn’t bound by any confidentiality agreement, which disclosure was buried last month in an ESPN.com item and generally ignored by the rest of the media.

We agree with Specter.  The letters should be released.  But why isn’t Specter asking Walsh’s lawyer to release them?  The letters aren’t secret; if Walsh and/or Levy want to make them public, they can.

“Any objective or accurate reading of the correspondence would show the [NFL] is trying to discourage Walsh from coming forward,” Specter said.  Fine.  If so, Walsh should release the letters.

In our “objective and accurate” assessment, Specter has finally gone too far.  If there’s no confidentiality agreement, nothing prevents Walsh from talking — other than Walsh’s desire to get immunity for anything he might say.

Our advice to the NFL?  Call Specter’s bluff.  Release the letters.  And, while doing so, the league and the Patriots should take out a full-page ad in every major paper in the country with an open letter to Walsh explaining that there will be no litigation pursued for anything that he previously has said or done.

And if Walsh still wants immunity from the legal consequences of anything he might say in the future, the league promise to indemnify him for any such claims, as long as he agrees to tell his story under oath.

Though the league and the Patriots have by all appearances handled capably the legal chess match with Walsh, they’ve bungled the P.R. battle,  in our view.  It’s time for the NFL to make it known, in plain terms that persons of average intelligence will understand, that there’s no impediment to Walsh’s ability to tell his story.

As we’ve previously said, this issue isn’t going to go away without Walsh’s version being out in the open.  Until that happens, there will be an impression that the powers-that-be are trying to keep him from talking.

Especially if Arlen Specter will be continuing to stir the pot.