Oh dear
Tim Lambert, sporting new blog digs, reports that Scripps Howard News Service has severed its relationship with Michael Fumento for not disclosing he received payments from an agribusiness firm. I guess Marmaduke is in the lead now.
It doesn’t look like he personally benefited but the appearance of impropriety is there.
Update: Yes, he benefited but that’s because the grant paid his salary. Doesn’t look as though he personally received a big chunk of change.
January 15th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
Next up. Anyone who’s received an Olin grant.
January 16th, 2006 at 1:06 am
Umm, Fumento personally benefited to the tune of $60,000.
January 16th, 2006 at 9:45 am
Tim, the grant was given to his employer who used it for his salary. Doesn’t look like a personal windfall to me.
January 16th, 2006 at 11:12 am
The fact that Monsanto didn’t give Fumento the money in a briefcase at a smoky bar makes it slightly less grubby, but he still should have disclosed it. Where your bread gets buttered affects your point of view. That’s why academics are constantly noting who funded their research and what chair they hold at their school – they’re telling you who’s buttering their bread.
January 16th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
What are you suggesting, Uncle? That Tim Lambert made an accusation against a prominent right winger, which accusation sounded very damning on the surface, but which upon closer examination proved to be trivial? I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked.
January 16th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
I don’t think failing to disclose payments is trivial.
January 20th, 2006 at 11:00 am
[…] In an update to Fumento not disclosing grants from corporations, Michael Fumento tells his side of the story: They realized they might eliminate more of their critics by simply accusing them of being paid corporate shills, and then siccing the media on them to see what they could dig up. They assembled an “enemies list,” giving it to reporters at publications including the New York Times and Business Week. I have locked horns with green groups for the past 15 years and earned a spot on that list. […]
January 20th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
I do, especially after reading Fumento’s response. Remember, if Lambert calls someone dishonest, the guy’s probably clean. Conversely, if the guy really were dishonest, Lambert would defend him. It’s really that simple.