Chapter Two D: Chief of Staff

“Okay, people, let’s get started.” Nina Patterson sat at the head of the conference table and called the staff meeting to order at their 8:00 briefing. Technically they were all hired by Congresswoman Stamos, but practically, everyone reported to Nina. She’d worked hard to get here at her age. Only 29 years old and she was Chief of Staff for a US Representative. Granted, a fairly junior representative who was only in her second term, but Chief of Staff nonetheless. And her predecessor in this office had been offered a plum job with the Minority Whip after his COS retired last year. This was a good steppingstone. And there was the further possibility that she could ride Representative Stamos’s coattails right up to her ultimate goal: the White House.

Right now the rumblings were loud about Rep. Stamos becoming Sen. Stamos in the next election. Nina had no problem changing houses to further her career. Heck, she really didn’t mind changing sides of the aisle. In moving up the non-elected ladder in government it helped to be a-political. Her goals were strictly non-elective. She knew the value of being the power behind the throne. You made a reputation for yourself in making your boss look good, and then people sought you. This team was her domain and she managed it with unquestioned authority.

“Next item: The Great Lakes Bill. Jason, what the heck is happening out there?” Nina glared at her legislative aide. From what she was hearing around the halls this wasn’t going to be good.

“Big trouble,” Jason said. “I’ve been here all night trying to sort out what is going on.”

“Save the sympathy play,” Nina interrupted. “What’s the status. The buzz coming up the steps was that it was dead.”

“Not dead, but it might as well be,” Jason plowed in. “It’s out of Environmental Concerns Committee. But they dodged it completely and sent it to Commerce. Had to have been a compromise. They didn’t want it to go through, but couldn’t afford the press of killing it. So they sent it to that jerk from Michigan.”

“Jason, you are talking about a United States Congressman.” “Doesn’t stop him from being a jerk. If it doesn’t benefit the auto industry, he doesn’t care about it. At the moment it’s unlikely that it will even get brought up. I still don’t know who got to the committee last night. There had to be some pretty powerful arm-twisting going on to flop the bill into that committee.” “Okay people. Jason needs ideas. The poor boy hasn’t had any sleep so he’s not thinking straight. Who are the most powerful lobbies opposing our bill?” Nina shifted into rescue mode. This was not the way she wanted the day to go. “Transportation lobbies, especially shipping.”

“Manufacturing/refining business located along the shores.”

“Manufacturers who depend on either of the above.”

“Automotive industry.”

“Steel.”

“There, we’ve got it,” Nina cut off the brainstorm. “Top suspects for this lobby are automotive and steel. Betts, take automotive, I’ll take steel. Jason, you have to figure out how to position the bill so that it’s seen as a benefit to the steel and automotive industries.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Not if you love your job it isn’t.” Nina glared at Jason as though the whole blow-up was his individual fault. And, indeed, if the bill died in committee, she’d be sure Pol knew who let her down. “The rest of you, we’ll need a press release as soon as Jason has come up with the benefit list. I want round the clock watch on who is being seen with the Honorable Representative from Michigan. Don’t slip up on this.” The staff started to stand and move to work but Nina wasn’t done with them yet.

“One more thing: We are about to launch a campaign. Of course, no one in this office will have anything official to do with Congresswoman Stamos’s political aspirations. But how you volunteer your time after hours is completely up to you. There will be job assignments posted on Monday. Of course you will want to phone your friends and relatives back in Indiana to encourage their support. The Congresswoman is heading back to Indiana on Friday, presumably there will be high level party meetings and there will be a candidacy announcement on Monday. You want to fly with the eagle, make sure you’re on the launching pad.

“That’s all. Get to work.” The staff scattered to get the stalled bill moving again. Nina stepped into her office and closed the door. Reaching in her desk she removed a cell phone. This was a very special cell phone. She bought the SIM card from an independent, international vendor and prepaid the calls on it. Her calls were routed through Lichtenstein, but it was a small price to pay for the privacy she needed. There was no paper trail for calls made on this phone and she was not interested in having a record of the call she was about to make. She pressed the memorized number and listened as the phone hung up then rang back to her. In a moment a voice answered.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“Marvin, dear, this is Nina. What have you been up to?” She sat in her chair and faced the window. From where she sat she could just see the tip of the Washington Memorial. Someday, she thought, I’ll have a view of the White House lawn.

“Nina! What are you doing calling from country number 42, what ever that code is? I thought you weren’t speaking to me any more.” Marvin Jackson didn’t sound as surprised as his words said.

“Oh, just traveling. And I never said I wouldn’t speak to you again.” Nina had to play her cards right on this one.

“No, as I remember it you said you hoped I rotted in hell after a long syphilis-induced insanity. But you didn’t say you’d never speak to me again.” Marvin chuckled. “So to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“Did you know that I’m working for Representative Stamos now? I’ve been her chief of staff for a year now but I just haven’t had time to call up my old friends and brag about it.” She was not going to go straight at this. Marvin was way to slippery for a frontal assault.

“I heard you had moved out of Rep. Anderson’s office. Wasn’t sure where you landed though. Congratulations.” She wanted something and he knew it probably had to do with the bill he’d managed to get moved to Commerce. But he wasn’t giving anything away. As far as she was to be concerned he was completely ignorant.

“I’ve got a little proposition for you, Marvin.”

“Hey, the last time I heard those words from you we spent a week in Jamaica. When would you like to go?” Marvin remembered the time they spent at the all-inclusive nude Negril Beach resort very well. It had made such an impression on him that he’d taken two other beautiful women there on other occasions.

“Oh, nothing so dramatic this time,” Nina cooed. She remembered the impetuous vacation as well. “I’m looking for a new press manager for the Congresswoman. You just popped into my head. It’s a great job and right up your alley. I remember you saying how much you regretted not being able to really use your journalism degree in your current job.”

“Sounds like the Congresswoman is going to make a run for the Senate,” Marvin fished.

“You know we don’t talk about future campaigns, Marvin,” Nina repeated the stock response that the entire staff was directed to use to all questions regarding Pol Stamos’s political future. “But I would say that the job would put you in a good position for the future.”

“Sure,” Marvin said, “if she wins.” “Oh, she’ll win if you are managing the press office. Besides, what have you got to do that’s better?” Now was the time to make the stab.

“You know I work as a lobbyist. Spend most of my time in the Senate offices and have a budget that suits my personal lifestyle. I have a job that is on the other side of the fence from the Congresswoman’s.”

“A job? Doing what? Torpedoing her bills?” Nina attacked. “Me? I haven’t had anything to do with her bill. My information is that it doesn’t stand a chance, so why throw money to the opposition?” Marvin was determined to keep this issue at bay.

“Come on, Marvin. The move from Environment to Commerce has your stamp all over it. Anyone else would have tried to kill it in the committee it was in. I don’t know who you got to, but I’m sure you got to someone.” Nina was beginning to get a little edgy.

“I had nothing to do with it.”

“Really??”

“Would I lie to you?”

“This from the man who cheated on me with four other women in six months? Of course you’d lie to me.” It was time to soften this approach Nina realized just before she became shrill. It wouldn’t have been that bad if two of the women hadn’t been working in the same office. But, you had to admit, there were some things that you ultimately just had to accept about a man like Marvin. She’d never be “his girl” again, but she might use him for her own purposes. It would be nice in any case to be his boss for a while. “Look,” she continued, “I wasn’t calling about the bill, really. I’d like you to consider coming to work for the Congresswoman.”

“Come on, Nina. I work for the opposition.” “If I thought that meant something to you, I’d never ask you to change. But I know that you had to weigh offers from several opposing camps before you became the closer for the steel industry. Ideals have never been a strong suit for either of us. All I’m asking is that you give it some thought. We won’t have anything official until next week.” Nina paused slightly before playing her last card. “Not predicting the future, Marvin, but I remember Negril, too. This is a job that could have its own side benefits. Occasionally.”

“You are very persuasive, Ms. Patterson,” Marvin couldn’t believe he was actually considering this offer. The only mistake he’d made in this relationship the last time around was in pretending they were “a couple.” Friends with benefits had a much more appealing sound to it.

“Well, think about it Marvin. We’ll talk next week.”

“Okay. And Nina… for the record, I didn’t get to anybody on the committee. Someone else beat me to it. Bye.” He hung up the phone. That was probably more than he should have said, but he’d felt a right fool showing up with a pocketful of campaign fund donations to find that the deal was already closed. Serve them right to get on the wrong end of Nina Patterson. He really just wished that he could tell her who it was.

Nina sat looking at the disconnected phone for several minutes. That last wasn’t just a ruse to throw her off his trail. In the end she felt confident that she’d nailed Marvin and he was ready to play ball, so to speak. But who beat him to the punch?

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