Democrats have been theorizing that former National Hurricane Center director Max Mayfield was pressured by the Bush Administration to downplay a link between global warming and an increase in tropical (hurricane) activity. Yesterday, Waxman’s office released a report entitled “Political Interference With Climate Change Science Under the Bush Administration“.

But, as Bryan points out, Mayfield actually has a voice and is choosing to use it.

The former director of the National Hurricane Center says political pressure did not cause him to change his congressional testimony to downplay the link between global warming and hurricanes — contradicting the findings of a Democratic led investigation released Monday.

“I can truthfully say that no one told me at any time what to say in regard to possible impacts of climate change on tropical cyclones,” said Max Mayfield in an e-mail to ABC News…

Mayfield, however, denies that anyone told him to alter his testimony as the Waxman report suggests.

“I want the record to show that no one forced me to say anything on the subject of climate change and tropical cyclones that I didn’t believe at the time,” Mayfield told ABC News.

“I accept the fact that global warming is real,” Mayfield said. “Most meteorologists with knowledge of tropical cyclones think that there will be some impact from global warming on hurricanes. The debate is over how much of an impact.”

He says he never heard from anyone on the committee about the incident. “No one ever asked me about the context in which my testimony was given. No one from this committee or any other Congressional committee ever asked me if I was improperly pressured to change my testimony,” Mayfield said.

Why didn’t Waxman just ask Mayfield about this directly? Why? It might have been an inconvenient truth, if you will. So what do Waxman’s people have to say about Mayfield’s contradicting their report?

A spokesperson for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee could not immediately be reached for comment.

Of course.