The governor has postponed the meeting he was going to have this evening with legislative leaders about the energy legislation, with his staff saying that Democratic legislators are negotiating through the media and until they stop it, he won't meet with them.

Gubernatorial spokesman Jason Gibbs charged that Democrats are urging members of the media to crash the meeting.

Being a member of the media, that puts me in sort of an odd position. I don't want to be part of the story. I just want to maintain my status as the socially challenged, poorly paid, current events junkie in the back of the room.

Here I am squarely in the middle on this one, though. I'm the one who first wrote about the meeting and I can tell you it wasn't a case of the Dems spinning me on it. It was simply a case of me looking for a new angle on a story that was growing mold. Here's how my knowledge of the meeting unfolded:

I spoke last Thursday with House Speaker Gaye Symington. Knowing that she was leaving Friday for an overseas vacation and that I was trying to put together a couple stories on the energy legislation, I wanted to catch her before she left. I asked her if she'd spoken to the administration about the governor's energy proposal and she said no, but that while she was away Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin and House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Robert Dostis would be talking to the governor. At no time did she say that meeting might involve a compromise, just that they'd be talking.

Ding, went the bell in my head. If they're going to meet with the governor, maybe that will give my story a timeliness. I called Dostis to talk generally about the issues surrounding the bill and the governor's alternative proposal, and I asked him whether they'd be meeting with the governor any time soon. He said he didn't know the specifics, that Shumlin was in charge of that, and he was Shumlin's guest, but that he expected there would be a meeting in the near future. Dostis mentioned that he didn't think the governor's plan was enough, but maybe it could enhance the legislature's.

Another bell went off in my head and I got the notion that if these guys were going to meet, maybe I'd frame my story - which was going to be a comparison of the bill and the governor's alternative - around the question of whether a compromise between these two proposals was possible before the July 11 veto session.

Friday came. I was diverted into writing a story about housing prices. The weekend arrived and I pretended to have a personal life. Monday came around and I resumed my devotion to the energy story.

I put in calls to Shumlin and to Jason Gibbs, the governor's spokesman. Gibbs got back to me first. I asked when the governor would be meeting with Shumlin and Dostis, and he told me Wednesday, late in the day, somewhere halfway between Montpelier and Putney, which is where Shumlin lives and works. I started crafting the story around the idea that a meeting meant a compromise was at least possible, all the while thinking that a compromise was a long shot.

Later in the day, Shumlin returned my call. I verified the meeting and because I didn't just want to say in my story somewhere between Montpelier and Putney, I asked him where. He said Woodstock. Because I wanted some time frame about when I might inquire how the meeting went, I asked what time. He said 5:30 p.m.

After my story about the meeting and the chances of a compromise ran in Tuesday's paper, Shumlin and Dostis came out with a press release announcing they'd be offering a compromise. It surprised me as much as anyone. Though I had explored the idea of a compromise, I had no idea that a specific offer was in the works.

Gibbs said today that he's been getting calls from other media who want to attend the meeting, and he said clearly the Democrats have put them up to it by revealing details about time and location. Combined with yesterday's press release, that's a clear sign that Democrats are negotiating this through the media, Gibbs said.

I will grant you that Tuesday's press release from Shumlin and Dostis was an oddity. Other Democrats were surprised by it and were not entirely sure it was a good move. You could argue that it's a way of negotiating through the media. I can see why it would make the governor's office leery. But the other part, about Democrats encouraging the media to crash the meeting, I can only tell you that must be other media. I was just looking for what we call a "nut graf" for my story.

That's my story. Now let me retreat to the back of the room.

- Terri Hallenbeck