The Boston Globe asserts today that there is a connection between Mitt Romney’s $10,000 donation to the Heritage Foundation and the endorsement of Heritage co-founder Paul Weyrich. The article also alleges that Heritage has lined up “support to Romney in his run for the Republican nomination.”

It’s absolutely silly to think $10,000 would buy the support of a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education institute like Heritage. It’s even more absurd to suggest Heritage would jeopardize its status as a charitable organization by engaging in political activity.

The claim that Romney’s gift to Heritage and Weyrich’s support for Romney are connected makes little sense. Had reporter Michael Levenson bothered to look into it, he would have discovered that Weyrich currently runs the Free Congress Foundation and has had no affiliation with Heritage since 1974.

More importantly, I think it’s important to make clear that Heritage wouldn’t risk its standing as a respected, nonpartisan think tank in exchange for a $10,000 gift — no matter who it came from, including a presidential candidate.

UPDATE — Nov. 26, 10:32 p.m.: My colleague Jim Weidman has a letter in the Boston Globe that clears up the errors in the Globe’s story.