Capital Capers

Chapter 1

The likelihood of two people like Henry (Hank) Hadley and Kylie Driscoll connecting is off the charts. Hank is from Helena, Montana and Kylie is from Indianapolis, Indiana. Kylie graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in political science and Hank graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in journalism. Hank did a hitch in the Marines and Kylie did a hitch in the Air Force.

They do have some similarities. Hank was an F/A 18 Fighter Pilot in Iraq and Kylie was an aerial photographer in Iraq. They both returned to civilian life in September of 2011, a few months before the war officially ended. They both decided to pursue a career in journalism, Hank the pounding on the computer keyboard type and Kylie photojournalism, but no one would hire them without any print media experience. No one, that is, except a small family owned daily, The Capital Sentinel.

The family patriarch, Gerald Parker, is a former reporter for several big newspapers who got fed up with the way the news emanating from the White House and the Capital was spun, slanted, fudged, by all areas of the news media without the appropriate facts to back the comments up, so he started his own paper with the help of a very rich uncle who passed away and left him a bundle. Hank and Kylie are both now 33 years old, have over six years of seasoning under their belts and are becoming known to the competition and the players in D. C.

Early on Parker realized that the two worked well together, allowing their insights to dovetail into some excellent reporting. They now have their own column, sharing a byline, and have developed their own news sources that have given them the occasional opportunity to scoop the competition.

The fact that The Capital Sentinel is still in the black and circulation and advertising income is rising, slowly but rising, has the pundits scratching their heads in bewilderment since they’ve been saying for quite a while now that the print media is dying.

Parker has a simple answer for the queries. Give your readers the facts as you know them as impartially as you can and let them do the analysis and draw their own conclusions. Save the opinions for the op-ed pages. So far, this strategy is keeping The Capital Sentinel’s doors open.

The paper is not officially accredited to any of the congressional news galleries, but this doesn’t prevent it from keeping its journalistic fingers on the pulse of D. C. politics and its reporters, especially Hank and Kylie, are extremely fluent in politicalese. Translating what comes out of politicians’ mouths into plain English is as easy as breathing for them. Tuning into undercurrents flowing about the capital is second nature to them and they are quick to clue in on silent communication factors such as changes in posture, hand gestures, eye movements which often tell a different story from the words being uttered.

This is a typical Monday morning in the Capital. The vehicle traffic is a nightmare and the pedestrian traffic isn’t much better. Everyone’s rushing somewhere and you’d better be fleet of foot if you don’t want to get run over. The looks on many faces are dour, conveying deep concerns over serious matters. Adding to this picture of gloom and doom is an overcast sky with the threat of rain in the air and the temperature hovering in the mid- fifties. It’s not atypical for mid-April in D. C. but it is nonetheless depressing.

Meeting in the parking lot and parking side by side, Hank and Kylie exchange good mornings and fall into step as they walk side by side across the street to the seven-story building that houses The Capital Sentinel.

Hank is toting an overstuffed briefcase and Kylie has a camera equipment case slung over her shoulder filled with a lot of Nikon and Canon equipment none of which Hank knows anything about. The only camera he’s ever used is the one in his cell phone and he sometimes screws that up.

Kylie could have made a good living on the other side of the camera as she has the looks for it, tall, slender and drop dead gorgeous. At five eleven with jet black wavy hair and sapphire blue eyes she turns a lot of heads, male and female.

Hank’s no slouch in the looks department either. He’s six two, weighs 190 pounds of hard muscle, sports a head of thick dark red curly hair and battleship gray eyes. He’s not what some women would call a pretty boy, but most would call him ruggedly handsome.

A few minutes after walking into the newsroom Parker summons them into his office.

Your story on the shady dealings over at the Office of Management and Budget will hit the streets tomorrow. That was good work and heads are going to roll. Are you working on anything I don’t know about?

Hank answers with, ‘We’ve got a clean slate."

Parker says, Good because I’ve got something that could dirty it up real fast. One of our sources at the Supreme Court just heard from Justice Steven Pearson’s admin that he has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer which is spreading throughout his body at a rapid pace. The doctors give him six months at best before the final hammer falls. The President, the Senate Majority Leader and the Senate Minority leader have all been informed and I’m betting before the day is out it’ll be all over the news. What might not be all over the news are the backroom battles that I’m sure will soon take place over who will replace him. Already there are some leaks springing about skullduggery in the making to push possible candidates to the fore when Justice Pearson officially steps down from the bench. I want you two covering this aspect of this development like a blanket. Don’t overlook anything. The makeup of the Supreme Court is a mixed bag of republicans, democrats, conservatives, liberals, middle of the roaders and they’re all independent thinkers. There will be a lot of political maneuvering behind the scenes to put someone in Pearson’s seat that will give an edge to a group. A fascinating story could be brewing here and I want us to be the brewers.

Kylie says, We’re on it.

Walking back to their office Hank says, Our first stop should be 1 First Street to see what tidbits might be floating around the Supreme Court building.

Kylie says, I agree and then we should pay a visit first to the White House and then to the Senate Majority and Minority leaders for their comments. Hopefully, we’ll be ahead of the surge of reporters that are going to flood the White House, the Capitol and the Supreme Court building. We’ll have to be extremely lucky to get into the oval office, but we’ve got a decent shot at talking with the President’s Chief of Staff or his Press Secretary.

Hank says, A lot of power resides in the hands of the nine justices of the Supreme Court and that power attracts a lot of parasites who want to attach themselves to it any way they can. The process on paper appears simple. The President nominates, the Senate confirms or denies. In reality, it’s far from simple. A lot of jawing takes place before a decision is made and behind the scenes things can get real nasty. This could keep us busy for a while.

As my mom used to say, ‘Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.’ If we keep busy with this, we won’t be able to get into trouble elsewhere.

If Kylie had any idea about the world of trouble she’s about to step into, she’d gladly swap for the troubles elsewhere whatever they may be.

Chapter.2

Their first stop, Justice Steven Pearson’s office, is surprisingly upbeat. Apparently, the dire news is not going to affect his normal routine as he’s in his office and when he hears Hank and Kylie talking with his admin, Lucille Simmons, he buzzes her on the intercom and tells her he will talk with them.

When they enter his office, the justice rises from his desk chair and greets them as though he doesn’t have a care in the world.

Man, word sure does travel fast around this city. Please have a seat and fire away with your questions.

Hank starts things off with, We appreciate your willingness to talk with us when you must have a many more important things on your mind.

Let’s get this Q & A off on a proper footing. I’m 83 years old and knew this time in my life was fast approaching. All of my affairs are in order and my wife Madeline and our kids and grandkids are dealing with the news very well. Death is part of life and it’s not something to be overly mournful about, especially when you believe in an afterlife like we all do. I am in no pain as the medication these days is amazing. So, let’s not conduct ourselves as though we’re at a funeral. Ask away.

The next hour flies by, the conversation centering mostly on his Supreme Court adjudication experience, his most interesting cases and any regrets he might have over decisions he made. The last quarter hour was spent on who the justice’s replacement would likely be and would he be recommending anyone.

"I won’t be recommending anyone. There are no official qualifications for becoming a Supreme Court Justice, so the pool of possible candidates will be quite large. The Constitution spells out age, citizenship and residency requirements for becoming president of the United States or a member of Congress, but mentions no rules for joining the nation's highest court. That’s always amazed me. One would think that at least some rudimentary legal background would be required, but that isn’t the case, however, that would provide an enormous confirmation hurdle to overcome.

I’ll tell you this. The selection of my replacement is going to be one hell of a political soccer ball. I’m the only moderate justice and the conservatives and liberals will be at each other’s throats trying to get an advantage.

While Hank has been firing questions at the justice, Kylie has been clicking away at the justice’s inner sanctum and the man himself for posterity’s sake, only very intermittently asking questions about pictures and other items in his office.

Winding things up Hank says, Thanks for spending this time with us, allowing us to intrude on your agenda. We’ll buzz off now.

It was my pleasure. This was a first for me. I’ve never been a focal point of the press. To be honest with you, I’d rather be sweating over a decision on the bench than sweating over making a fool of myself in an interview with the press.

This gets a genuine laugh out of all of them and it brings the interview to a close.

Walking back to their car Hank says, That’s one fine man. I wish this city had more like him.

Kylie asks, "How about we try to touch base with some of the other justices to get their slant on

things?"

"If not with the justices, the admins might have some revealing things to say. Let’s give it a

shot."

They spend the next couple of hours chatting up the other eight justice admins and even got five

minutes with the Chief Justice. Nothing worth column space resulted from these efforts and they

moved on to the White House.

As anticipated, they didn’t gain access to the oval office, but they did manage to wangle fifteen

minutes of the Chief of Staff’s time and it was a very informative quarter hour. Fifteen names

have already crossed his desk as potential candidates to be Justice Pearson’s successor and the

letters of recommendation are loaded with not so veiled threats of presidential support, both

political and pecuniary, being pulled if the writer’s recommendation is not nominated.

When asked if any one of the people recommended stands out from the crowd, the Chief of Staff

coughed up a very tongue in cheek political answer. At this point in time, they all do."

Hank asks, Can you provide us with the list of names currently under considerations?

Another innocuous answer was proffered. "At the moment, no one is under consideration as

we’ve just begun the candidate gathering stage."

Hank follows that up with, "How about giving us a list of the people who have been

recommended and by whom?"

"Not for all the gold in Fort Knox. I’ll tell you what I’ll do though. I’ll give you the number of

people in a specific category and you and your readers can drive yourselves wacko trying to

guess who the potential candidates might be, but you’ve got to keep my name out of your

column as the source. It’s that or nothing."

Without a moment’s hesitation Hank says, Deal.

The Chief of Staff provides the following list of categories.

3 appellate court judges

4 district court judges

3 senators

2 congressmen

3 Fortune 500 CEOs

"Of the fifteen received to date, two are female. The youngest of the lot is 48 and the oldest is

60. Now I’ve got to go. Have fun."

As they’re leaving the White House Kylie glances at her watch and seeing it's a few minutes

after one says, "The majority and minority leaders are probably still at lunch and we won’t be

able to get into their dining room. However, we might get lucky and find them in their offices.

Fortunately for us, both of these men never turn down a photo op. If they’re in, they’ll talk with

us. If they’re not, we can find out when they’ll be free for an interview. It won’t be a total waste

of our time."

Okay, so far we’re ahead of the other journalists in the area. Let’s see if our luck holds out.

It did and they found both of the senators in their offices. The Majority Leader, Senator

Frederick Monahan from New Jersey, and the Minority Leader, Senator Peter Battaglia from

Delaware, are battle hardened in the trenches veterans of the many political wars that have been

waged over the last twenty years in the nation’s capital. Both Monahan and Battaglia have

extensive legal backgrounds, Monahan eighteen years in commercial law and Battaglia fifteen

years in banking and finance law. They are respected members of Congress and they know how

the game is played. If MVP awards were given out, they’d have more than a few.

Each of the gentlemen gives them thirty minutes of their time with instructions to their admins to

not be interrupted. This immediately perks the journalistic ears of Hank and Kylie up big time.

They both conclude in the wink of an eye that these guys have a quickly forming agenda in their

heads and the press is going to be the primary tool to implement it.

These two senators couldn’t have been more diametrically opposed on just about every issue that

has come before the public eye since they took office and it looks like the selection of Justice

Pearson’s replacement is going to jump to the top of that heap.

During their interviews, they both offered names of people that they thought would be ideal

replacements and suggested that both CNN and FOX News would be ideal forums to present

their candidates to the public. They both also suggested that viewers could also be invited to

phone in their yay or nay votes.

It’s a rarity for both of them to agree on anything and this has Hank and Kylie thinking that the

senators both think their candidate would outshine the other and put enormous pressure on their

congressional colleagues and the President to go along with public opinion.

When they finish up with the senators, they rush back to the newsroom to tweak and twist what

they have learned into a story and series of pictures that will grab the readers’ attention and have

them craving more input.

When they get the copy and pictures the way they want to present the story, they dump it on

Parker for his stamp of approval.

After he’s reviewed it and made some minor changes, Parker calls them into his office and says,

"This is terrific. This will grab the readers’ attention and you’ve laid an excellent foundation for

whatever might happen in the coming days. Good work. I’ll run it in tomorrow’s edition. This is

going to stoke the fires of competition. When the movers and shakers find out that there are

already fifteen names in the hopper, they are going to shift into high gear and road kill be

damned."

Hank asks, "Have any of the other newshawks picked up on the Pearson situation yet?’

Parkers says, "Not yet and that surprises me, however, they might have bigger fish to fry. Who

knows? Now get out of here. Take the rest of the day off. You’ve earned it."

Looking at her watch Kylie says, Gerry, it’s past six in the p. m.

Smiling he says, I know, but it’s the thought that counts.

Shaking their heads, they turn and leave the office, but they too have smiles on their faces. They

scored some major points with the boss today.

Walking back to their office in the newsroom Hank says, "Your pictures made our story come

alive Kylie. Without them it would have just been another news blurb melding with dozens of

others."

"Why thank you, Hank, but with us it’s the sum of the parts that works. Solo we’d get lost in the

crowd."

"Well, we really clicked today, but enough about work. Since we didn’t have time for lunch

today, I’m starved. I’m going to eat everything in the fridge when I get home and between bites

yell at the Nationals pitching staff whenever they walk someone."

"I was planning to throw something in the microwave and crash in front of the TV too, but I’m

not in the mood to do even that kind of cooking. There’s a new prime rib place that just opened

up close by my apartment. I think I’ll check it out. If you want to avoid stressing out your vocal

chords and keep some vittles in your larder, I’d welcome the company and I’ll pick up the tab.

Are you interested?"

Like a kid in a candy store.

Then let’s get a move on.

Chapter 3

The next day it is like a journalistic dam broke. A tsunami like wave of so-called pundits

espousing a reasonable facsimile of the facts surrounding Justice Pearson’s situation along with

opinions and speculations hits the airwaves and print media and it is the lead story for the entire

day, not just in D. C. but throughout the entire country.

However, like a surfer, the Capital Sentinel rides the top of the wave with more facts and

pictures than any of the competition.

Before the week is out, nerves are showing signs of fraying and tempers are beginning to flare.

Every potential candidate’s name that is made public attracts a barrage of negative comments.

By the end of the following week, certain names are beginning to stand out from the crowd as

definite possibilities and the comments are getting rougher, some bordering on the profane.

To add to the maelstrom, when asked when he planned to step down from the bench Pearson replied, Only the Good Lord can answer that. In the meantime, it’ll be business as usual.

By the end of the third week, the story has lost its shock value and it begins to slip out of the daily news coverage. But behind the scenes, things are really heating up as the jockeying for the spotlight intensifies.

A couple more weeks go by and now there are only three names that have surged to the front of the pack, an appellate court judge, a senator from Massachusetts and a well-connected CEO of an environmental research firm based in Nebraska.

All eyes are on the White House to see what the President’s nomination decision is going to be. The rhetoric is taking on a new tone, possessing more of an academic bent than a political one, but it is still very heated.

Another week goes by and then a special White House press briefing is called. When the President appears on stage he is accompanied by a lumberjack of a man with a snow-white mane of thick hair who slowly scans the group of reporters with a laser like stare. The President quickly gets to the purpose of the special press briefing. He introduces the gentleman as Iowa State Appellate Court Judge Raymond Forrester and adds that he is his nomination for Justice Pearson’s replacement.

The fact that the President’s nominee is none of the three whose names are being bandied about, but rather an unknown state appellate court judge from Iowa has caught them completely off guard and stunned the entire press core into silence.

The President continues with, "Judge Forrester is a former criminal law attorney who without hesitation lowered the boom on any organized crime figure who appeared in his courtroom. His life has been threatened several times, but nothing has ever happened. He’s fifty years old, a widower with no offspring and was the recipient of a special award for valor for saving the life of a Lincoln policeman who was wounded chasing an armed car wash robber.

"The owner of the car wash was hit over the head by the robber who used his gun like a club and then scooped up all the cash in the register and fled. One of the customers who saw the whole thing going down called 911 and a patrol car that was only a block away was soon on the scene. When the officer saw the robber run down an alley, he got out of the patrol car and pursued the guy on foot. When the robber exited the alley with the cop closing in on him, he turned and fired a couple of shots at the officer, one of which hit the officer in the leg and he went down losing his gun in the process. The robber, seeing this, moved in for the kill not knowing that Forrester who was across the street saw the whole thing and was doing his own moving in. The robber was taken completely by surprise when Forrester tackled him to the ground, tore the weapon from his hand and then commenced to beat the daylights out of him.

He’s a no-nonsense law and order guy and as a registered Independent has no political affiliation whatsoever. You will have a difficult time putting a label on him because he’s all over the political spectrum with his approach to things. A copy of his complete profile will be given to each of you as you leave. I will not take questions at this time nor will Judge Forrester. We’ll hold off on that until after the confirmation process is concluded. Have a good day.

Hank and Kylie along with everyone else in the room are trying to grasp what really went down here. What drove the President in this direction and why Forrester?

This latest development is at the top of the agenda of every political strategy meeting, the topic of conversation at every social gathering and every political analyst is consuming Tums like they’re M&Ms. No one saw this coming and it’s shaken the establishment to its core.

When the first vote on confirmation is cast it is a dead heat, 50 for 50 against. This added more to the fire of speculation. The talk shows and standup comedians love it because it has given them more material to exploit.

A couple of days later another vote was cast with the same result. No one would budge. Now what?

A couple of days later the solution to the problem comes out of nowhere. Mother Nature stepped in and took care of the problem. Judge Forrester was found dead in his hotel room when the maid came in to do her thing. There are no signs of foul play. His autopsy reveals that he has died from a heart attack while he was asleep. There were no signs of this being caused by any poison. He apparently just died from natural causes.

Now what?

Hank and Kylie are not yet ready to accept that Forrester died from natural causes even though there are no signs of foul play. This is just a little too convenient. However, they are not detectives and will leave it up to the professionals to pursue any doubts they might have about the real cause of Forrester’s demise.

Upon learning of Forrester’s death, the President through his press secretary expresses his condolences and his intentions to explore other avenues for a new nominee. No mention is made of the other three people who had jumped to the fore prior to his nominating Judge Forrester.

Sitting in Parker’s office watching the news briefing on TV Hank says, Here we go again. We’re back to square one.

Parker says, From his selection of Forrester, it appears the President is trying to get someone onto the Supreme Court bench that is politically neutral. That reduces the pool of potential candidates substantially, but it still leaves a lot of room for speculation.

Hank says, There is a lot of acrimony floating around the halls of the capitol building over the deadlock on Forrester’s nomination. Compromise seems to be a dirty word over there at the moment. I’ve got a feeling deep in my gut that things are going to get a lot uglier before this political episode becomes history.

Kylie adds, These attitudes are spilling over into other areas of legislation both in the Senate and the House. Every question we ask of any legislator generates an answer loaded with vitriol. It’s like we’re sitting on the sidelines waiting for some kind of powder keg to explode.

Parker nods his head and says, Well, keep your eyes and ears open for any signs of any shift in attitude on the part of anyone or any group. Keep an especially keen eye on the President’s advisors. Look for any signs of a change in attitude in the White House. Sooner or later someone’s going to have to back down. I want us to be the first to report that. In the meantime, in your column focus on the things we’ve talked about here today. Do your best to interview every senator who will give you the time of day for their opinions on the selection process and their best guess about what is likely to happen going forward.

Hank says, I’m thinking that it might be interesting to take a close look at what issues the Supreme Court currently has on its agenda to address and to postulate how they would be adjudicated if Pearson’s chair is vacated and no one has been selected to replace him. Our conclusions are sure to arouse the ire of many interested parties to say nothing of our readership

Smiling Parker responds with, I like the way you think. Now get out of here and make the fourth estate proud of you.

Walking back into the newsroom Kylie asks, How many of the one hundred senators do you think we’ll be able to suck into this war of words?

As many as we approach. There’s no politician on this side of terra firma who will pass on the chance to offer his opinion on just about anything even if he has to formulate one on the go, especially when the press is involved.

"Now that I think on it, that’s even truer when it comes to getting their picture in the paper or on

TV."

Chapter 4

Another couple of weeks go by and nothing on the Presidential front presents itself to give any

one a clue about who he might be thinking about as his next nominee. However, Hank and

Kylie’s postulating in their column has people sitting up and taking notice and taking sides.

Some of the responses have been borderline criminal threats.

Sitting in their favorite pub, Gallagher’s, after dealing with an unusually long string of

vituperative attacks on their intelligence and heredity, the two are reviewing what they’ve

accomplished with their commentary in their column.

Kylie says, "The good thing about what we’ve accomplished is we’ve gotten a lot of people

publically involved in the process, players and non-players, who never would have openly taken

sides before. The bad thing is we’ve also ignited the tempers of folks who normally stay cool no

matter what is going on around them. We are definitely playing with fire here."

Hank says, "Well, we’ve accomplished what we set out to do, to get our readers involved in the

process, to care about what is going on in their government. However, I’m running out of ideas

on how to keep the ball rolling. How about you?"

"Other than asking our readers to submit names of people they think could fill the bill on the

Supreme Court along with their reasoning which we could pass on to the President, my well has

gone dry."

Shaking his head Hank says, Well then we’re left with buying time through reiteration, emphasizing points we’ve made previously, hoping the President will get back in the game with a new nominee before we’ve emptied that reservoir.

Kylie asks, What do you think of my idea about inviting our readers to submit people for consideration by the President?

I think it’s a great idea for three reasons. The first, there might be a real good candidate in the lot. The second, it will keep our readers interested in our column. The third, it will give us a very good reason to approach the President and get us access to the oval office. I can think of no negatives."

Good. Let’s put the request in tomorrow’s column. When we forward the names and reasonings submitted to the President we can also tack on our two cents to the commentary.

Downing the rest of his vodka tonic Hank says, I’m ready to call it a day. The drink has sufficiently soothed my hurt feelings from all of the name calling that I’ll enjoy the rest of my evening in front of the TV chowing down some fettuccini alfredo with chicken take out.

I’ll walk back with you to our cars. I’ve got some household chores that I’ve been putting off to attend to.

They settle up with the waitress and head for the parking garage a couple of blocks away. When they get to the parking garage which is on the other side of the street they start to cross and when they are in the middle of the wide avenue a black Beemer comes barreling at them from the exit of the garage. If Hank hadn’t caught the movement of the car out of the corner of his eye and pulled Kylie out of the path of the SUV, they both would have been flattened. The driver never took his foot off the gas. Before either one of them thought of trying to get a look at the license plate the SUV was too far away for it to be read. If the driver not stopping didn’t give them a clue that this was something intentional, the fact that the headlights were off let them know that it was deliberate.

Hank uttered, Son of a bitch. We’re definitely rubbing some people the wrong way.

Kylie says, I don’ know about you Hank, but I’m going to buy a gun and apply for a concealed carry permit first thing tomorrow morning. If someone wants me dead, they’re going to have to work at it very hard.

I never thought things would come to this, but now that they have I think I’ll do the same.

At least we don’t have to concern ourselves with what’s going to be in our next column.

There’s that, but it’s little consolation. This kind of thing happens in some Latin American country, not in the good old USA. Come on. Let’s get out of here.

The next morning, they clue Parker in on what happened the night before and what they intend to do with respect to arming themselves.

Parker’s quick response is, Do it and the paper will foot the bill. We must have stepped hard on some cobra’s tail and it doesn’t like it. Well now that cobra is messing with a mongoose and the mongoose doesn’t like it.

Two hours later they return, each with a 9MM Glock 19 Gen4. Kylie has a brother who has a friend who is a gun collector who knew a private individual who would sell him what they needed. This way they get around the background check and waiting period which can take a while and they want immediate possession as their lives are in danger. Getting an immediate concealed carry permit was going to be more difficult, but they’ve decided to take their chances and submit their applications for a concealed carry permit with a request for a waiver of the waiting period to the Metropolitan Police Department. Parker’s son