“JournoList” being the off-the-record website where journalists, liberal bloggers, and policy wonks discuss stories and share notes. It was mentioned in passing by Ezra Klein, busy trying to justify the existence of the list.

The problem is more about Peter Orszag’s past than his present situation. He was formerly head of the Congressional Budget Office, which is supposed to be non-partisan. Now we find that he’s been sharing notes and stories with lefties on an email list.

Journolist is meant to serve a very specific purpose that’s actually related to my experience building this blog. The work of this site has always been to illuminate standard political reporting with expert policy commentary. In that, I’ve been helped by the many experts who have adopted the medium as their own: Mark Thoma, Brad DeLong, Paul Krugman, Matthew Holt, Peter Orszag, Andrew Gelman, Larry Bartels, Dani Rodrik, John Sides, among others. As a journalist, it’s hard to always know who to call or which questions to ask. The joy of those blogs is that I don’t have to guess what experts think is important: They simply explain what they think is important and I can use, or follow-up on, the information.

Which is great if we’re talking only about policy wonks and talking heads. But heads of government agencies taking part in liberal mailing list discussions with bloggers and left-wing journalists, and not disclosing them, is a different story. It makes you wonder how many other supposed “non-partisan” government employees are on the list with Orszag.

Via Ace of Spades.