According to the Daily Caller, some popular political bloggers are receiving more than news tips from their favored candidates:
In California, where former eBay executive Meg Whitman beat businessman Steve Poizner in a bitterly fought primary battle in the campaign for governor, it sometimes seemed as if there was a bidding war for bloggers.
One pro-Poizner blogger, Aaron Park, was discovered to be a paid consultant to the Poizner campaign while writing for Red County, a conservative blog about California politics. Red County founder Chip Hanlon threw Park off the site upon discovering his affiliation, which had not been disclosed….
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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“I can be retained at a quite reasonable rate or for ‘projects,’” Park wrote in an e-mail to campaign officials…
But while Red County’s Hanlon expressed outrage at Park’s pay-for-blogging scheme, questions arose about his own editorial independence when it emerged that Red County itself had been taking money from the Whitman campaign.
In December of 2009, Red County received $20,000 from the Meg Whitman campaign, which has sent the site $15,000 a month since then.
Egads, I’ve been missing out on the payola. There’s got to be an archaeological lobbying group out there that will toss me a few denarii for some positive coverage. Trowel and shaker screen subsidies now!