A flyer was distributed this week offering an “underwriting opportunity” for a dinner on health-care reform, in which the news department had been asked to participate.

The language in the flyer and the description of the event preclude our participation.

We will not participate in events where promises are made that in exchange for money The Post will offer access to newsroom personnel or will refrain from confrontational questioning. Our independence from advertisers or sponsors is inviolable.

There is a long tradition of news organizations hosting conferences and events, and we believe The Post, including the newsroom, can do these things in ways that are consistent with our values.

–

You can follow TWI on Twitter and Facebook.

Scheunemann, confirming that his e-mail had been searched, accused Schmidt of “acting in a manner of Iranian secret police” in going to his account.

Fourteen paragraphs later — this is a war of inches! — comes this:

“So after that, they went nuclear with ‘diva’ the next day,” Scheunemann said, referring to the Palin-bashing done to CNN’s Dana Bash the day after the POLITICO story. “But did anybody search Mark or Nicolle Wallace’s e-mails for leaks to Dana Bash?”

I hope for Scheuemann’s sake that he’s actually complaining about a double standard, as the alternative explanation is too awful a crime against self-awareness, but in either case, I just don’t know how these guys lost the election.

“I don’t know any SEALs,” said Sarosdy, 81, speaking by phone from his home in Pensacola, Fla. “I have no idea who transmitted that.”

Sarosdy said he received the e-mail from a friend – he thinks it was another retired military officer – a few days after the stand-off ended, he said. He thought it was interesting, so he forwarded it to a couple dozen other people.

And so another hoax email about Barack Obama was born.

The Obama Transition team launched its new “Open for Questions” tool today on Change.gov. This new tool will allow anyone to ask and vote on questions they have for the transition team. Popular questions selected by the community of web users on Change.gov will be answered on a regular basis by the Obama team.

“Open for Questions” is yet another step to open up the transition process to the millions of Americans who are following closely – encouraging them to take part in the process and make their voices heard during this important time.

In addition to allowing Americans to “make their voices heard,” the tool also serves a valuable function for the transition team. In order to ask a question, or to vote for questions asked by others, visitors must register with the Website — and registration requires an email address. The tool will allow the transition team to add to the massive database of 13 million addresses the Obama campaign compiled during the presidential race.

No word yet as to how the organization intends to use the list, but the transition may have given a sneak preview last month when it sent out an email blast soliciting donations for wildfire victims in California.

As for the questions, how many do you suppose will be about the Blagojevich scandal?