Thomas L. Friedman and the high cost of speaking

I called the Times several times in the last couple of days to ask Friedman a bunch of questions, like how it felt to be such a giant cheese, whether he would disclose who else paid him big bucks and whether he felt queasy taking so much money from a public agency that presumably could spend the money on other things.Friedman didn't return my calls, and New York Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis seemed pretty cool to my questions. I got the feeling, from her long silences, that she thought my questions were a little silly.Then late Tuesday afternoon, Mathis called to say Friedman would return the $75,000. She said there had been "a misunderstanding."Times ethics guidelines allow staffers to take speaking fees only from "educational and other nonprofit groups for which lobbying and political activity are not a major focus." The Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which coughed up Friedman's standard fee, hardly fits that bill.So here's a tip of the reportorial green eye shade to Phil Matier and Andy Ross, the San Francisco Chronicle columnists who broke the story about the big payment. And here's a suggestion that the time has come for influential journalists like Friedman to disclose their substantial sources of outside income.