Short Takes| ... and then, I wasn't

Readers of the main blog site -- bgkeithley.com -- may recall that there is a box on the right side of the page that lists "Upcoming Engagements."  Over the weekend I updated the list to include an event at which I had been invited to speak by the Anchorage Republican Women's Club.  The event is the first in a three part series the Club is sponsoring entitled "Vision for Victory 2014:  The Big Picture."  I had accepted.

I know I was invited because I was listed on their website as a speaker (in fact, at the time of this posting I still am).  The website said this under the heading "Election Issues:"

Election Issues 

Budget Issues
Brad Keithley, Owner of Keithley Consulting and Founder of Alaskans for a Sustainable Budget, will evaluate the key budget issues. 

Oil and Gas Issues
Kara Moriarty, President of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, will discuss the pressing issues surrounding oil and gas. 

Ballot Initiatives
Rebecca Logan, General Manager of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, will brief us on the ballot initiatives on the table for 2014.

This morning, after Amanda Coyne ran a piece Monday in her "Loose Lips" column about an exchange she and I had earlier in the day about rumors that I was running for Governor, I received a call telling me that the Club had "decided to go in a different direction" and I was no longer invited to speak.  (If the website later changes, you can click on the relevant portion of the one that existed at the time of this writing at the picture above).  Those that read Amanda's piece will recall that I responded to her question as follows: "I don't want to do it and remain hopeful the Governor will offer a sustainable budget in December."

I intended to use the opportunity of appearing before the Club to encourage them to support the Governor in doing just that thing.

Interestingly, the call this morning comes also on the heels of an exchange I had earlier in the week with someone that participated in the Republican State Central Committee meeting over the weekend in Fairbanks, passing on that one of the participants in the meeting had been asked -- abruptly -- whether I was behind and/or funding their efforts opposing the adoption of the so-called "Common Core" education standards in Alaska.  Those efforts, which I am not affiliated with in any way (other than, apparently in the minds of some), include challenging the Governor over whether he has been involved in the adoption by the state of those standards.

Is there a pattern?  Who knows.  All that I know is that I was invited to talk about "key budget issues" to the Anchorage Republican Women's Club -- something that is critical to the future of this state, about which I know more than a little, and which others need to understand as well -- and then, I wasn't.  If you  -- including those members of the Club that had told me you were looking forward to the discussion -- want to know what I was going to say, you can catch up with the outline here.