Michelle Malkin has an extensive post with links and commentary about the whole Maggie Gallagher thing.

The press is all over these pay for ink scandals. As Media Lies put it, “the blood is in the water.”

Gallagher responds here.

Of course the reason Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post is interested is the now notorious case of conservative columnist Armstrong Williams, who signed a very different sort of government contract: to promote the Bush No Child Left Behind Act on his television show.

Armstrong defended himself in two ways. First by saying “I’m a pundit, not a journalist” and second by saying that he supported the Bush act anyway so why shouldn’t he take money?

It cost him his newspaper column. Very properly, I might add. I have no interest in taking either of these lines of defense. So what’s my answer to Howard?

My first instinct is to say, no, Howard, I had no special obligation to disclose this information. I’m a marriage expert. I get paid to write, edit, research, and educate on marriage. If a scholar or expert gets paid to do some work for the government, should he or she disclose that if he writes a paper, essay, or op-ed on the same or similar subject? If this is the ethical standard, it is an entirely new standard. I was not paid to promote marriage. I was paid to produce particular research and writing products (articles, brochures, presentations) which I produced. My lifelong experience in marriage research, public education and advocacy is the reason HHS hired me.

But the real truth is that it never occurred to me. On reflection, I think Howard is right. I should have disclosed a government contract, when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it. My apologies to my readers.

The blogosphere seems to be jumping all over her. I’m not sure it’s not a bit premature…

UPDATE: Captain Ed has some “it’s not as bad as it looks” commentary.

…unlike Armstrong Williams, Gallagher did not sell her column space to HHS, nor did she push others to cover the proposals or solicit positive commentary as a contractual duty. Gallagher wrote some of the brochures for the program, most of which went unused, and ghost-wrote an essay for program chief Wade Horn. She also spoke to program officials about marriage, which amounts to nothing much more than a stop on a lecture tour. She exercised some poor judgment and should apologize (which she already has), but it’s a much different situation than Williams.

UPDATE: LaShawn Barber weighs in; offers her services as a scandal free conservative writer, who, incidentally, is starting her own business.