Meg Whitman Proves Two Can Play at Paying Bloggers

Twenty thousand dollars will buy you a lot of advertising online. A lot. Especially on a site with a limited readership -- like Chip Hanlon's right-wing blog Red County.

But that's how much the former eBay CEO Meg Whitman's gubernatorial campaign paid to Green Faucet, the investment firm owned by blogger Hanlon and parent company of Red County.

Hanlon told Calbuzz that the money was for advertising, however other advertisers seem to be much better at negotiating than Whitman's campaign -- another advertiser is only paying $300 a month.

Plus, the timing is rather suspicious. The payment was made only a week after Hanlon kicked a writer off the site after finding out that the contributor was getting paid by Whitman's Republican primary rival, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

At the time, the Poizner campaign stated that Red County was a pro-Whitman site, thanks to advertising deals with the campaign. And if they'd like to score some points with fiscal conservatives, they were only paying the fired blogger $2,500, a relative bargain!

Wonder if Hanlon will fire himself?

As for reports that the Whitman campaign successfully lobbied former Congressman Tom Campbell to switch to the Senate race, Campbell has categorically denied the claim.

Campbell told the San Francisco Chronicle that he had wanted to hire Whitman fundraiser Kristin Hueter all along but she declined on account of working for his primary opponent, and once Campbell switched races, she became available.

Jackson West would be happy to show you his apartment as proof that he has received no money from any political campaigns.