Florida Today's John Kelly Is Clearly Frustrated

Editor's Update: Now John Kelly is threatening to investigate why I left NASA. Go for it John. The answer: out of frustration with how the agency was being run - and I left to run a breast cancer peer review project for the U.S. Army. I hired several dozen SSF contractor personnel who had been laid off. They are very easy to find if you want to confirm things.

Editor's note: Florida Today's John Kelly and I have been having a pointless email volley this morning. He's clearly upset. Normally I just keep these silly conversations private. But when an accusation against me - or the hint thereof - creeps into the email - one that hints at a story someone is working on - I feel it is time to go public to nip things in the bud.

John just said this:

"Our style is to ask questions before we write about something. For example, we might ask whether you accepted payment from NASA during the O'Keefe regime to do a risk conference in Monterrey, or for the resulting "book" for the NASA history office. We might ask that, if it were relevant to write about."

OK John, since you asked: for the record, I did not accept any cash or payment whatsoever in the preparation, execution, or follow up of the symposium you mention. I donated all of my time (as is clearly stated in the proceedings), and paid all of my travel and lodging expenses. Yes, I did accept coffee, meals, etc. - as did every single one of the several hundred people - and media - in attendance. I tried to find out how to reimburse the event organizer for these items but was never told who to make out the check to. I'd be more than happy to write that check now. For what it is worth, the cost of whatever meals I ate was vastly eclipsed by the fair market value of the time I donated to this event - and the travel costs I shouldered. If there is a story here, it may be that I was foolish to donate my time to such an event - given your interest in my motivations.