Given the exit of his good friend Tony Pierce from the LA Times in the wave of layoffs that hit the paper this summer, Andrew Malcom‘s exit from the paper seemed inevitable. Looks like that day has finally come. The Top of the Ticket blogger is moving on from the Times next month, when he’ll start a new job as a blogger for Investor’s Business Daily’s website Investors.com.

Top of the Ticket has been a big traffic draw to the Times‘ site, but those numbers haven’t come without controversy. The Times maintains that Top of the Ticket is politically neutral, but Malcolm, a former Laura Bush press flack, routinely posted conservative talking points on the site. Along with Andrew Breitbart and Bill O’Reilly, Malcolm was easily one of Media Matters’ favorite right-wing targets. Frankly, we’re astonished that site hasn’t said anything about Malcolm’s exit yet. Guess they’re keeping it classy.

One person who did wish Malcolm goodbye was Pierce, who called Malcolm’s departure from the Times the “saddest news of the year.”

H/T LA Observed