Years ago in what amounts to another life, I got to meet and occasionally hire Doug Bandow as a freelance writer for some of the publications Coral Ridge Ministries then produced. I was shocked to learn through Scott Cunningham that he lost his position at the Cato Institute because of he had, at one time, received money from Abramoff for editorials he wrote.

While I think it might be good for there to be some sort of guild that develops principles for editorializers, I don’t think Bandow’s integrity should be questioned. As Thomas DiLorenzo wrote on the Lew Rockwell blog:

Let’s try to put this thing into perspective. The Left, which includes Business Week, the AP, and other “mainstream” news outlets, is going overboardin reporting/gloating about this. This includes Paul Krugman in the NY Times. Bandow has admitted writing a few columns for a lobbyist who paid him a few thousand dollars. By comparison, there are literally thousands of statist-oriented nonprofit “advocacy” organizations that collect BILLIONS ANNUALLY in government grants. Much of it is used to write op-eds, books, reports, etc. to promote the agendaof the government agency that made the grants. This includes nearly every college and university in America. These Think Tanks for Statism receive BILLIONS ANNUALLY as well.

This is not to say that two wrongs make a right, but that if there isa problem with biased research in the public policy arena it is with all the government-funded statist academic researchers like Paul Krugman and his nonprofit sector political allies. Comparing the Statist Establishment in this regard to Doug Bandow is like comparing a gnat to an elephant.

(Sidenote: will someone please train Rockwell bloggers in html markup and ban caps?)

At this point, I am doubtful that there are two wrongs here. But even if there are, I can’t help but sympathize with someone who could be making a lot more money working for the other side but who takes an opportunity to write about what he already believes anyway.

For what it is worth, here is Doug’s take on the issue.

My only regret in all this is that I never stayed in touch with him. I didn’t always agree with him, but I always found him to be admirable.