I actually think it has more to do with how they went about financing it.
If Dept of Ed is like any other Dept, they have numerous in-house journals. Hire the guy to write for those.
He gets paid by the papers for his columns. What's the difference?
For example, let's say that he had some differences of opinion with NCLB that he developed over time. Let's say that he would like to see the abolishment of the DOE (as many conservatives do).
Mind you, I'm just throwing out examples.
But given that, how do we know that we aren't getting his honest opinion, as opposed to what the DOE has told him he HAS to say?
Boortz made a great example on the air Friday: He comes in and wants to decide on a topic of discussion. As opposed to what he wants to talk about, he talks about what the highest bidder wants him to talk about.
This is no different.