Georgetown Mayor MaryEllen Kersch, who previously wrote to the Chronicle denouncing our reporters for not interviewing her (“Postmarks,” Sept. 21), has now expressed her deep personal regret for talking to our reporters. On Oct. 12, Kersch responded to Jordan Smith’s Oct. 5 “Naked City” item “Georgetown Follies, Part 345” (which recounts Kersch’s verbal abuse of citizens who speak at council meetings), by leaving a message on Smith’s voicemail. “At first I thought highly of you and not so highly of your associates,” Kersch said. “But after this last week, I really have lost all respect for you, and you really are so short of any level of journalistic integrity that I am sorry I ever spent any time with you.”

Jeez, Your Magnificence, first you tell us you never talked to us at all, and now you’re sorry for spending so much time with us. In the words of the old song: “How can we miss you, if you won’t go away?”

This article appears in October 19 • 2001.

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Contributing writer and former news editor Michael King has reported on city and state politics for the Chronicle since 2000. He was educated at Indiana University and Yale, and from 1977 to 1985 taught at UT-Austin. He has been the editor of the Houston Press and The Texas Observer, and has reported and written widely on education, politics, and cultural subjects.