Economists and Government

A recent note on Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/07/priceless-how-the-federal_n_278805.html
suggested that the Federal Reserve has captured the economics profession because it hires so many economists. Moreover, these economists are the gatekeepers of major academic journals such as American Economic Review, Journal of Money Banking and Credit and Journal of Monetary Economics. I recall publishing a paper with co-authors in the Journal of Money, Banking, and Credit in which we were criticl of the Fed and argued that much of its actions were to increase its power and reach.
"The Federal Reserve as a Bureaucracy: An Examination of Expense-Preference Behavior," JOURNAL OF MONEY, CREDIT AND BANKING, Vol. 20 (May, l988), 181-190.
I was told by an economist working at the Fed, that many people there were very irritated with the paper. I am not sure what that means other than there has to be an incentive to look favorably on Fed actions if you are being compensated by the Fed. I wonder how many free market advocates are compensated by the Fed.