SUP. MARK Leno gave us a long list of political priorities when he came down for an endorsement interview, and the item that's stirred up the most controversy is one that wasn't on the list.

Leno told us that he thought an effective progressive legislator should avoid trying to take on every possible cause and instead stick to a limited agenda that might actually get accomplished. He ticked off his list of issues: housing, transportation, health care, education, energy, and water. We talked about a few of them for a while. He's got a lot of ideas about building more housing, for example, some of them quite sound and reasonable.

So I asked him whether California should accept rapid growth as a fact of life or maybe look for a statewide approach to planning that emphasized limited commercial development. His response: "I don't think that debate is going anywhere." He wants to spend his time in the legislature "effectively," he explained.

That, I think, sums up Leno fairly – he isn't going to be the person who sets out to disturb the status quo at every opportunity. He's not going to take on a crusade whose time hasn't come. He's practical about his politics.

In the course of the interview, I also asked Leno if he was going to bring his battle for transgender health benefits up to Sacramento. I knew the answer already – of course not. The state legislature is nowhere near ready to approve that sort of bill, so Leno isn't going to spend his energy on it. As he put it, in answer to my question, "I only have so much time and political capital."

What we said in our endorsement was, I think, entirely accurate: Leno "won't ... push transgender rights on the state level." In a letter on page 6, Leno calls our comment "a misstatement." He cites two things: a state law that limits local governments from enforcing local civil rights protections (he vows to try to repeal it) and a bill already in the legislature that would add gender identity to laws against housing and employment discrimination (he supports it). I don't see anything that contradicts our assertion or our position: Leno will, of course, support good bills by others on all sorts of issues. But on tough, controversial causes, he's not walking point. That's why we endorsed Harry Britt.