The posters who have pointed out that the problem is with the rule are right on (Simple and USATF not so bad). It's well known that there will likely be scratches when the 5000 is so close to the end of the meet, so it makes sense to create a rule or policy to fill the field after athletes scratch. HOWEVER...
In the specific case of the men's 5000 at the USATF Championships, USATF did nothing wrong. The absence of the rule can and should be debated; the fact that USATF followed its own existing rules and guidelines is not cause to call it "corrupt" or what have you. If Stilin, Darling, et al. didn't understand the entry procedures, that's on them. Conjuring up a non-existent policy and then calling people/organizations names when they don't conform to your inaccurate perception of reality is the definition of childish.
If the whole point of this is to cast dispersion, find fault, or otherwise "blame" someone, why not look at the athletes who exploited the rule for their own advantage? Of the 18 athletes that declared, only nine ended up racing. Obviously, many were using the 5000 as a backup plan if they didn't make it in their primary events. But, many didn't even take advantage of this backup even when they could have. The runners that scratched were:
Chris Derrick (had already qualified in 10000)
Dathan Ritzenhein (had already qualified in 10000)
Evan Jager (had already qualified in 3000 SC)
Dan Huling (had already qualified in 3000 SC)
Will Leer (failed to qualify in 1500)
Bobby Curtis (failed to qualify in 10000)
Lopez Lomong (finished 3rd in 1500, still needs some help to make worlds)
Jeff See (failed to qualify in 1500)
George Alex (5000 was only event entered)
So, four of the nine scratches actually *needed* the backup plan and just chose to not use it. And there were several athletes (Rupp, True, Hill, G. Heath) in the 5000 that were doubling, so to say that conditions were too bad/strenuous to run two events is kind of BS. These athletes used the entry rules to their own advantage, and didn't even exploit that advantage.