| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
19 Dec 2005 03:35:52 PM |
| Object: |
Papers drop columnist who took indicted Republican lobbyist's cash |
From Reuters, 12/19/05:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2005-12-19T201008Z_01_SPI965571_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-ABRAMOFF.xml
Papers drop columnist who took lobbyist's cash
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
Two U.S. newspapers said on Monday they would stop publishing articles
by a conservative commentator who was paid by a criminally indicted
lobbyist to write pieces favorable to his clients.
Peter Ferrara has admitted taking payments from Washington lobbyist
Jack Abramoff, a key figure in a growing probe into payments to
members of Congress who has already been indicted for fraud in the
purchase of a casino cruise line in Florida.
The Manchester Union Leader and the Washington Times, which run
influential conservative opinion sections, said they did not know that
Ferrara took undisclosed payments for his op-ed pieces and did not
think the activity was appropriate.
Washington Times editorial page editor Tony Blankley said, "Obviously
you can't write an article where you have a financial interest in it
and not identify that. That's simply wrong."
Ferrara, a prominent advocate of Social Security reform, told
BusinessWeek Online last week that he takes payments from lobbyists
"all the time" to write articles favorable to their clients and did
not see anything wrong with the practice.
In a prepared statement, Ferrera said he had not accepted payments
from Abramoff or other lobbyists for his op-ed articles for several
years and he relied only on think tanks and other policy outfits where
he works for financial support.
"I am glad to ask people to contribute to my work if they agree with
what I have been writing for years now and want to support it,"
Ferrera said in a statement posted on the Web site of the Institute
for Policy Innovation, a conservative thinktank where he works as a
policy fellow.
Ferrara did not immediately respond to a request to clarify his
statement.
Abramoff is at the center of two influence-peddling investigations
that have implicated top Republican lawmakers.
Former Abramoff partners have pleaded guilty to fraud or conspiracy
charges for overbilling Indian tribes by millions of dollars and
falsifying loan payments in the purchase of a Florida casino cruise
line.
Abramoff paid at least one other opinion-maker to write columns
favoring his client's positions.
Doug Bandow had his column suspended by Copley News Service and
resigned from the libertarian Cato Institute last week.
The Institute for Policy Innovation said Ferrara did not work there
when he took payments from Abramoff and never identified himself as an
IPI fellow when writing articles paid for by others.
Two other prominent Washington thinktanks, the conservative Heritage
Foundation and the liberal Brookings Institution, said their policies
prohibited employees from taking secret payments for op-ed columns.
The Bush administration has also paid commentators who support its
views.
Armstrong Williams took $240,000 to tout Bush education policies in TV
appearances and in his column, while the Pentagon has secretly paid
Iraqi newspapers to run pro-American stories.
________________________________________________________
The ever-expanding Republican Culture of Corruption.
Harry
.
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