You may remember the David Broder speaking fee mini-scandal from a few years back (I helped write a short summary of this on his wiki). The Post ombudsman of the time, Deborah Howell, did a pretty good job of whacking Broder and Post management over it:
Broder should have followed his own and The Post’s rules. Woodward’s case is somewhat different, but [then executive editor Len] Downie would like to know and should know what groups Woodward is speaking to in case he wants to object. Woodward’s name and The Post’s are synonymous, and whatever Woodward does is associated with the paper, even if he’s rarely there.
Most of all, The Post needs an unambiguous, transparent well-known policy on speaking fees and expenses. It should deal with charities and those on contract. Approvals for speeches that involve fees should be sought and given in writing by a high-ranking editor. Fees should be accepted only from educational, professional or other nonprofit groups for which lobbying and politics are not a major focus — with no exceptions.
Last May, Broder was the keynote speaker at a May 19 to 21 conference sponsored by GenSpring Family Offices, “a leading wealth management firm for ultra-high net worth families. With over $20 billion in assets under advisement, GenSpring…is trusted by more than 700 of the world’s wealthiest families to oversee or manage important aspects of their financial lives.” GenSpring is an affiliate of SunTrust Banks, which lobbies congress.
I guess one thing has changed, though: the Post now has an ombudsman who won’t write about this unless we can get Andrew Breitbart to start covering it. My guess is that Andy Alexander never touches this, now matter now many emails he gets about it. I just sent him an email about it — no reply so far.
Update. Just got an out-of-office reply from the ombudsman. This of course makes it that much more likely that he will never cover it.