Pay to Play

Mike Allen of Politico.com broke a major story about his former employer, The Washington Post, this week after a health care lobbyist shared an incriminating flier that showed that the prestigious newspaper had included on their invitation to an "intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon" during an "off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth" a promise to provide "a collegial evening, with Obama administration officials, Congress members, business leaders, advocacy leaders and other select minds" for $25,000 each or $250,000 for all 11 planned "salons." Now Politico is reporting that the embarrassed publisher has canceled its plans for the dubious influence-peddling pitched for the event. They were too late, however, to forestall the inevitable YouTube parody of the event.