By: Michael Calderone

Salon political writer Walter Shapiro, an e-mail published today in Playbook, wrote that the website “has suddenly slashed its small staff," including him. But Shapiro didn’t mention how many got the axe.

Editor-in-chief Joan Walsh, in an e-mail to Politico, said that nine staffers were let go last week, the first cuts since 2001.

Indeed, Shapiro said he was informed last Friday afternoon, a couple hours after interviewing Bill Ayers at his house. Without Shapiro, the Washington D.C. bureau drops from three to two members — Mike Madden and Mark Benjamin. Overall, Salon dropped from 66 to 57 staffers.

Walsh said that “it was personally very sad to me to lose friends and colleagues, but we did what we needed to do to preserve the financial health of the company, and I’m confident about our prospects.”

Of course, Salon has never been flush with cash, and according to SEC filings, agreed to pay $254,000 this week to outgoing chief executive Christopher Neimeth.

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