Politics News Article | Newspapers to drop columnist who took cash

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. newspapers said on Monday that they would no longer publish opinion pieces by a conservative commentator who has admitted taking payments from lobbyist Jack Abramoff to write op-ed pieces favorable to Abramoff's clients.

The Manchester Union Leader and the Washington Times, which run influential conservative opinion sections, said they did not know that Peter Ferrara took undisclosed payments for his op-ed pieces and did not think the activity was appropriate.

"Anybody who misrepresents or doesn't voluntarily reveal that they are being paid to write the article by an interest obviously has fallen below the standard that we would hold any published author to," said Washington Times editorial page editor Tony Blankley.

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.

Ferrara did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Abramoff is at the center of two criminal 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.

Justice Department indictments against Abramoff's partners detail trips taken by at least one lawmaker to exotic locales, underwritten by Abramoff clients, and frequent free dinners at a restaurant he owned.

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 think tank where Ferrara works as a senior policy fellow, by contrast, defended him. The Institute for Policy Innovation said Ferrara did not work there when he took payments from Abramoff and has not identified himself as an IPI fellow when writing articles paid for by others.

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.