News-Record.com

In the "Will They Ever Learn?" Department, BusinessWeek Online reports that a senior fellow at the Libertarian Cato Institute took brazen liberties with journalism ethics and wrote a number of columns under the think tank's auspices for hire.

Doug Bandow stepped down last week, BusinessWeek reports, "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."

Making matters worse, Bandow also writes a syndicated column for Copley News Service that appears in hundreds of newspapers. He 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 in an epic understatement.

You'd think the Armstrong Williams (et al) Pontificate for Pay scandal would have taught Bandow something. Guess not.