The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives access to the Obama administration and its own staff in exchange for cold, hard cash, reports Politico’s Mike Allen.

Politico obtained a WaPo flyer that was sent to a health-care lobbyist, who then “provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its ‘health care reporting and editorial staff.’”

Which is correct. It is most certainly a conflict.

Steve Benen makes the point I wanted to make:

Didn’t Dana Milbank just lecture Nico Pitney about “working in collusion” with the administration? His column on these “salons” ought to be a doozy. I can’t wait to read it.

Ed Morrissey thinks this report means that WaPo is pimping for the White House:

We’ve long argued that the national media has been in the bag for Barack Obama, but we didn’t realize that the Washington Post had been appointed to the position of White House Pimp.

I have to disagree. A pimp should have better game than this. Rather, WaPo is a giant whore who is willing to do anything for money, including publicly sacrificing the paper’s journalistic integrity.

And I don’t think the takeaway from this is that WaPo will give the White House favorable coverage, as Ed does, in return for these $25,000 - $250,000 payments from lobbyists.

The flyer states that “an evening with the right people can alter the debate.” This implies, to me, that WaPo’s coverage of a certain topic (say healthcare) will be influenced by the cash coming in from an interest group, which makes me reconsider the motives behind Ceci Connolly’s most ignorant story on the healthcare debate published last weekend.

Washington Post spokesperson Kris Coratti responds to Politico’s story:

The flier circulated this morning came out of a business division for conferences and events, and the newsroom was unaware of such communication. It went out before it was properly vetted, and this draft does not represent what the company’s vision for these dinners are, which is meant to be an independent, policy-oriented event for newsmakers.

As written, the newsroom could not participate in an event like this.

We do believe there is an opportunity to have a conferences and events business, and that The Post should be leading these conversations in Washington, big or small, while maintaining journalistic integrity. The newsroom will participate where appropriate.

I don’t think Coratti’s statement will mark the end of this controversy, nor should it.