Clearly, I have some work to do to become Kevin McCarthy’s BFF.

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The Bakersfield Republican and recently chosen speaker of the House of Representatives paid a visit to my city, Clovis, on Tuesday. Thanks to redistricting, McCarthy now represents Clovis and eastern parts of Fresno County. So he came to town for a series of meetings with some local leaders.

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At the conclusion of those gatherings, he took questions from reporters in the lobby of the Clovis Veterans Memorial Building.

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McCarthy answered all the queries put to him. After about 20 minutes or so, he said he had to go, and began shaking hands with the reporters. I was the final person he came to.

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“Hi, Speaker McCarthy. I am Tad Weber, opinion editor for The Bee.”

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McCarthy stopped shaking my hand and looked directly at me.

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“So you are the one who writes those things about me and never calls for my comment,” McCarthy said, his voice rising. “Why don’t you ever call for comment? You never get my side.”

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I began to explain that, in fact, I had reached out several times to his office, but got no replies or even acknowledgment. But he continued pressing his point.

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“We would love to have you for an editorial board,” I said, referring to the formal interviews The Bee does with elected officials. “Do you want to give me your cell number?”

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McCarthy called over a staffer to ask if they had a record of me calling his office.

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As this was occurring, the television videographers were breaking down their equipment. But a reporter for the online news outlet GV Wire noticed the scene, and he began taking video. McCarthy saw the reporter point his phone camera our way, and like the pro he is, talked directly at it:

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“The Bee opinion has never called me. They take an opinion on everything I do, and never once asked me a question. So if you ever decide to ask my opinion, I’d love to give it.”

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With that, he turned and walked away.

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Whew! I just got called out by the speaker of the House!

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McCarthy’s team did not return calls

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McCarthy pointed his finger at me several times. Teachers consider that bullying behavior when students do it.

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I did not take it that way. Nor was I upset with the speaker getting mad at me. I have written some tough criticism of him over the months since the fall election. In the wake of 15 votes in the House to become speaker, the Editorial Board told readers that McCarthy would be beholden to a small far-right group of representatives. The Editorial Board also accused him of playing schoolyard politics with committee assignments.

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What is clear, however, is that our body politic suffers from significant communication breakdowns. Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C. reside in their camps and have little to do with each other. Then there is the tendency of many elected leaders, on both sides, to promote their messaging via social media without meeting the news media for an honest give and take.

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The truth is I reached out several times last year to set up an editorial board with McCarthy in advance of the fall election. The Bee wanted to meet him, hear his views, and ask him about his values and policy ideas as we worked on our recommendations for voters.

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I called his Bakersfield office well in advance of the election to set it up. The staffer said she would pass the message along to McCarthy’s press team. Weeks went by with no return call. I did a second outreach, and the situation replayed. McCarthy’s team would get back to me, then nothing. Silence.

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So I concluded he did not have interest in meeting with The Bee.

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It was deja vu from our dealings with former congressman Devin Nunes. For years I tried to invite him to meet with us or do a phone interview, only to be stonewalled. Nunes’ disdain for The Bee, and the media in general, was well known.

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That said, I am encouraged to try again with Speaker McCarthy. He is one of the most powerful politicians in the nation right now. Of course I want to hear his view.

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Besides, he is now my congressman.