Some might raise an eyebrow at reports NYU law professor Stephen Gillers was paid $950/hour by the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (the entity administering the fund for the BP oil spill’s victims) to determine whether the fund’s administrator was sufficiently independent from BP, but that’s nothing. Gene Sperling, who is rumored to be on President Obama’s short-list to head the National Economic Council, was reportedly paid $137,500 by Bloomberg for a monthly column. As Kevin Drum notes, that’s equivalent to $11,000 for an op-ed. Those must have been some columns!