While the Huffington Post in the past has based itself on its liberal credentials and independence, practices like these threaten to ruin its credibility.

Peter Goodman, the author of a recent story that paid homage to China's unfair trade practices, fired Elk after receiving complaints from representatives of the Mortgage Bankers' Association.

The Huffington Post was able to break this story thanks to unlimited access afforded to it by Elk who accompanied 200 construction workers who broke into a Mortgage Bankers Association summit in Washington, DC. The workers demanded to know why PulteGroup, fresh off a consumer fraud settlement in Arizona, had an executive chairing the summit and what the company did with a $900 million bailout received through the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009. The act was intended to create jobs and extend benefits to jobless workers but, according to Pulte's CEO, was instead used for land acquisition and debt restructuring.

The thanks Mike Elk received for guiding demonstrators and their representatives to another Huffington Post reporter was a call from Goodman telling him that he was taking it upon himself to cut ties between the Huffington Post and Elk.

To be fair to Goodman, he tweeted yesterday that his reason for terminating Elk was:

@PaulPimentel for the record, Elk is not a reporter, tho he pretended to be, in violation of our policy, and that's why we cut ties

However, according to the Huffington Post bio of Elk, he is a reporter.

At the same time, he told Elk in an email that:

sorry to say we are revoking your access to our blog and ending our association. I appreciate that what happened yesterday was a poor decision on your part, one made on the spur of the moment, but it was simply over the line from an ethical standpoint and it would compromise our integrity to have you continue to write for us or represent us in any way.

He must mean the same kind of integrity that got the Huffington Post famous, such as its Party Crashing team that made a name for itself rushing into GOP and corporate fundraisers and cocktail parties.

As part of its ongoing mission to cover run-of-the mill lobbying as it happens in real time, the Huffington Post tried to crash one of them -- held at a townhouse owned by a major health-care lobbying firm to benefit freshman Rep. Steve Driehaus, an Ohio Democrat fortunate enough to have scored a seat on the House Financial Services Committee. But we were turned away. Yet again.

Reporter Leaves Driehaus Breakfast Fundraiser Hungry

And if that's not enough there's these:

Sen. Johnny Isakson's Shady Dinner With Lobbyists: Crashing The Party

Diamondbacks Demonstration In DC: Today We Did Some Good

Rep. Joe Crowley Ejects HuffPost Before Crooning To Lobbyists

Dodd Dinner With Online Payday Lenders Transforms Into Fundraiser

Key GOP Senators Soak Up Thousands At Health-Specific Fundraiser

Lawmakers Skip Thursday Hearings To Raise Funds

Blue Dogs Party After Health Care Reform Markup Canceled

The only thing different this time around is that it seems Goodman's services at the Huffington Post and position as an editor are available to the Wall Street bankers who went beserk and sought blood after the demonstration. In fact, what Mike Elk did was akin to what we see from people like Michael Moore who has made a career of similar tactics.

The scary thing about this is not only does Goodman possibly represent a threat to the integrity of the Huffington Post, but his actions may have exposed a new disturbing trend where mortgage bankers and other corporate interests can now kills stories and fire reporters at any media outlet they want.

If you have a Twitter account, help us fight back by visiting our petition here and sending a strong message to Goodman and the Huffington Post that this sort of censorship won't be tolerated.