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DOZENS OF JUDGMENT LAPSES

Former Reagan official turned pundit Doug Bandow is brought down in a cash for comment scandal:

A senior fellow at the Cato Institute resigned from the libertarian think tank on Dec. 15 after admitting that he had accepted payments from indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff for writing op-ed articles favorable to the positions of some of Abramoff’s clients. Doug Bandow, who writes a syndicated column for Copley News Service, told BusinessWeek Online that he had accepted money from Abramoff for writing between 12 and 24 articles over a period of years, beginning in the mid ‘90s.

“It was a lapse of judgment on my part, and I take full responsibility for it,” Bandow said from a California hospital, where he’s recovering from recent knee surgery.

The mystery is why anyone would publish Bandow’s error-prone columns in the first place.

(Via Instapundit, who suspects payola punditry may be more widespread)

UPDATE. Mark Steyn:

The minute a third party is writing the checks any self-respecting person should know he’s doing something crummy that calls into question not only his own hackery but the entire industry’s. He was wrong on a ton of stuff anyway, he could at least have been ethically wrong.

Posted by Tim B. on 12/17/2005 at 08:38 AM

  1. My comments are available.

    It’s a poor pundit that can only express his own point of view.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2005 12 17 at 09:57 AM • permalink

  2. The real mystery is why anybody is surprised by this.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2005 12 17 at 11:48 AM • permalink

  3. Gotta sing, gotta write…

    Tim, as a followup to what rhhardin suggested brought up mentioned, may we advertise post our resumes put our email addresses say hi to Mom on your blog? I’d pay be grateful, and we needn’t mention our little, arrangement ermm, breakfast, to anyone, need we? OK, OK, Mom, mum’s the word. Talk later…

    Posted by ekw on 2005 12 17 at 04:55 PM • permalink

  4. My punditry is available for sale on certain t-shirts via CafePress.  I’ll pencil in a pang of shame for next Tuesday.

    Posted by Achillea on 2005 12 17 at 10:54 PM • permalink

  5. I don’t know.  I’ve read some excellent columns by Bandow in the Japan Times, mainly about the problems with Bill Clinton’s administration.  Very well reasoned.

    But I agree of course that no columnist should be paid to slant a column.  Unless it’s me.  If that’s the case, I say mind your own bees wax.

    Posted by wronwright on 2005 12 18 at 01:40 AM • permalink

  6. Columnists make little money; lobbyists make a lot.

    Nature abhors a vacuum.

    Posted by Rittenhouse on 2005 12 18 at 08:09 AM • permalink

    7. Page 1 of 1 pages

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