Superdelegates on the payrolls

According to this article, both the Obama campaign and the Clinton campaign have superdelegates on their payrolls.

Bickford officially endorsed Clinton on Nov. 1, the same day he began consulting for her campaign in preparation for the New Hampshire primary, according to interviews with Bickford, the Clinton campaign and an endorsement pledge form obtained by The Sun.

Now, I'm not here to cast aspersions on Clinton's or Obama's campaigns for doing something completely within the rules.  However, it does raise some considerable concerns about the nature of the superdelegate system, and what it means to "woo" these party stalwarts.

We already heard about Ohio Congressmen who are waiting to endorse until the candidates address their concerns about the economy.  We know that Hillary invited a bunch of superdelegates over for lattes and appletinis last week.  And I think we also know that, while in general these men and women are of the highest character, in politics there is always the temptation to engage in ... quid pro quo.  There just is.

It's too late for the DNC to impose an ethics clause on the superdelegates (this is LEGAL activity after all), but it's not too late for the campaigns to stop paying superdelegates and for superdelegates themselves to sign a pledge that they will not take money from the campaigns.  Perhaps they can go one step further and pledge to endorse the candidate who ends the primary season with the most pledged delegates, so there will be no question of other possible ethics violations (promised jobs, $$ into congressional districts, etc.).

Either way, the superdelegate system is being tested like never before.  As a Democrat (and, let it be known, an Obama supporter), I feel like we should try to avoid the appearance of impropriety whenever possible.  And I feel like we should keep these little things in mind as we debate back and forth whether the supderdelegates should vote based on their conscience, the pledged delegates, the "popular vote," the polls, or who has the best shot in November.  Because I would hate to have the election ride on who most recently wrote a check for a superdelegate's services.