This editorial ran in the Dec. 28 edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. It does not necessarily reflect the views of The Spokesman-Review’s editorial board.

We like advertising and advertisers. They pay our salaries here at the Daily News editorial board.

Still, there’s something a little troubling each time they show up in a new part of our lives.

Who wasn’t just a little disturbed by the thought of watching the Beef ’O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl, even without knowing that Southern Mississippi and Louisville were the teams involved?

Now, it seems the Washington Legislature has approved a pilot project that will put advertising on the state website for ferry schedules.

Well, not exactly.

Today, that site is wsdot.wa.GOV/ ferries/. Come Saturday, it will be wsdot.wa.COM/ferries/ or something similar.

Why?

Internet rules don’t allow government sites, those with .gov in their name, to carry advertising. So, users going to the government website will immediately be forwarded to the .com/ferries/ website, where they can see ads for Hawaiian vacations among the links for schedules, tickets and ferry-lot cameras. Three little letters, letters the state is hoping you will never notice, are the difference between violating the rules and playing by them.

Seems a little sneaky to us. Letter of the law, but not the spirit.

But what does that have to do with the Palouse?

The most heavily trafficked website in these parts is wsu.edu, and as we all know Washington State University is threatened with severe and continuing state budget cuts.

Maybe we will soon see advertisements for Extra-Strength Excedrin Headache Formula on the schedules.wsu.edu page.

Another popular destination is the School of Economic Sciences page. Expect ads from all the major accounting and consulting firms, plus several “sure-bet” recruiters who have hundreds of jobs for the right candidates.

Then there’s the home page of the School of Veterinary Medicine, which could be brought to us by Petco, Purina, Pedigree and Pfizer. Sort of a rotating sponsorship.

There’s heavy traffic on WSU’s Blackboard telecommuting app for distance learning. Lots of opportunities there for Sanyo and Sony to convince students that they really need a 24-inch, 10,000,000-1 contrast ratio, 1080p video screen instead of the wimpy thing they’re staring at.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?