Short Takes| Oh geez, you answer a question and ...

While I haven't always agreed with her conclusions, I like Amanda Coyne; I like her new blog.  I even have promoted it to the readers of these pages ("A New Blog:  AmandaCoyne.com"), provide a link to her current stories on the "Daily News" portion of these pages (down on the lower right side here) and include them in the mix of Keithley Consulting's daily webpaper.

I never wanted to be the story, however.

Readers this morning will find a blurb on her, otherwise newsworthy and interesting, "Loose Lips" column, reporting on an exchange Amanda and I had yesterday.  Other than for the off-handed use of the words "so called" in front of the phrase "looming fiscal crisis" -- have you read the ISER report?!! -- I can't object much.  I know Amanda is a columnist, I responded to her question (not really thinking it was newsworthy, however) and she reports the response fairly accurately.

Angus King and Lowell Weicker indeed are University of Virginia Law graduates who ran for Governor of their respectives states as fiscal conservative Independents and won.  There is just something in the water at Mr. Jefferson's institution that leads to that sort of thing.

Anyway, just so I have it handy in the event it someday becomes relevant -- and so interested readers (hahaha, assuming there are any) can understand the context -- here is the full exchange:

Amanda Coyne:  hearing that you're running for governor. True? 

Brad Keithley:  If the Governor doesn't bring the budget down to sustainable levels some fiscal conservative is going to do it. Because I talk about the issue often, I suppose my name has become associated with the potential. I don't want to do it and remain hopeful the Governor will offer a sustainable budget in December ... but there is a tradition of Virginia Law School trained lawyers doing that sort of thing. Angus King in Maine, and Lowell Weicker in Connecticut, both UVa Law graduates, ran as independents for Governor and won.