My Honorable Brother Page 23

  The hardest part she faced was the phone call from Dave Waller, the Democratic Committee Chairman. Someone told him that she was canvassing for support around the State, he said. So he wanted her to know how passionately the Committee felt about her staying out of the race. “We can win the governor’s seat with Singer,” he told her, “and we’re endorsing him. You’ll only take votes away from him in November if you run in the primary. You don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating him, June, and you know it. If you make things difficult for us, you’ll never see another dime in financial support from the Committee when you’re up for reelection in the House or if you run for the Senate. Think about it and do the right thing.”

  She thought about it into the early morning hours and decided it would be hypocritical for her to back off. With the media following her, she knew she’d get more publicity for minority rights during a primary campaign than in ten more years of speeches to a mostly empty House chamber that saw its members leave in droves when she took the podium to protest against gender and racial inequality.

  Bates did some meaningful research before her Friday news conference. Checking the payroll records and staff photographs for the four years that Singer occupied the lieutenant governor’s office, she discovered that every one of his aides and assistants during that time was a white male. The only females he employed were his secretary and two receptionist/clerks, one of whom was black. Characterizing Singer’s support for women and minorities as “dismal” and “disgraceful,” she castigated him for it in the speech in which she declared herself a candidate. She emphasized the need for more representation of those groups in state government, and promised that at least half her appointments within the governor’s office would be either female or “people of color.”

  “To hell with Singer and Bates,” Witts said to Cardella as he poured what was left in his bottle of Sam Adams beer into the long narrow glass in front of him. “You won’t give a damn who wins that one unless you finish first in our own primary. I just can’t believe no one else is going to run against you.”

  “I’m with you, Phil,” Cardella answered, “except I’ve thought about it and I can’t put my finger on who it’ll be. There are plenty of ambitious guys up at the Statehouse, but my contacts there tell me they don’t hear any names getting tossed around.” He turned to Lucas. “But he’s right, Jack. Wait and see. Someone’s going to come out of the woodwork one of these days with his running shoes on. I can’t see me getting a free ride through the primary.”

  Lucas lit up a cigarette. Before he inhaled once, Witts told him not to blow any smoke in his direction. “You have to be stupid to still be smoking today,” he said.

  Lucas ignored the remark, but exhaled straight up into the air. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, Richie,” he said. “How many guys do you think are out there who figure they’d stand a chance to beat you in the primary? I can’t think of more than two or three up on the Hill, and it looks to me like none of them want to get into it if we haven’t heard anything by now. No one expected there’d be a contest for governor this year, so they weren’t gearing up for a campaign. The Hardiman thing and Sacco leaving office caught them all with their pants down.” Lucas paused to take a long drag on his cigarette. This time he turned to his left and blew the smoke at the wall. “Who else has the name recognition in Rhode Island you’ve got, and who else can match the money the Party will be putting up for you?” he asked.

  Cardella didn’t answer. He knew Lucas was right but that didn’t allay his apprehension. He looked pensive and shook his head from side to side several times.

  “Wait and see,” Lucas said. He wagged his finger in the air. “Let’s ask Chi-Chi. He knows everyone in town and hears everything that’s going on.” He called to the short, dark-skinned man behind the bar.

  Chi-Chi came over to their table. Cardella introduced him to Witts who was in the bar for the first time. Chi-Chi’s broad smile revealed a small fortune in gold crowns in his mouth.

  Lucas spoke. “I’ve been telling our mutual friend here, the esteemed former attorney general, that no one’s going to run against him in the primary. We figure that if anyone knows whether I’m right or wrong, Chi-Chi, it has to be you. We come to you for guidance, oh guru of the underworld.” Everyone at the table smiled.

  Chi-Chi looked at them one by one, as if trying to decide who should be the recipient of his wisdom. He leaned over, his fingers resting lightly on the table. “Of course someone’s running,” he answered, with certainty in his voice. The smiles on the three faces watching him quickly disappeared. “And I can tell you everything you have to know about him,” he added.

  There was silence in the group. Lucas appeared hesitant, like a lawyer afraid to ask the witness one more question, the answer to which could win or lose the case for his client. Witts and Cardella looked at each other. Their eyes affirmed the correctness of what they predicted earlier.

  “Okay, Chi-Chi,” Cardella said finally, “let’s hear who it is.”

  Again, he took his time to eyeball each of them before speaking. “Here’s everything,” he said. “He’s an asshole. That’s it.” Chi-Chi laughed and walked back toward the bar.

  Lucas laughed the hardest. “Well, if Mr. Asshole does show up, we’ll kick his butt, or something like that.” Forgetting himself, he exhaled some smoke directly at Witts.

  37

  GEORGE RYDER GOT HOME early on Friday afternoon. In the negotiations that day, some grudging progress was made on a few small items. The Union committee took a two and a half hour caucus over lunch, only to announce on returning that they were quitting for the day. Brad Hanley urged them to go back to work in the plant for the remaining ninety minutes of the shift, but John Morelli rejected the request on their behalf.

  “No way,” he said. His voice was hardly able to contain the anger he felt. “The Union’s paying them for the day and they’re all done.”

  Ryder opened the liquor cabinet in his den, hesitated, and took out a bottle of vodka. He returned to the kitchen and added some tonic water to the glass that was filled halfway. After several sips, he telephoned Amos Woodrow, president of Woodrow Associates, a financial investment firm in West Warwick. Ryder attended a free seminar given by Woodrow a number of years earlier, and the two men became friendly. Occasionally, Woodrow called to see if he was interested in some new public offering coming on the market.

  “Amos, is your brother still in the private investigator business?” Ryder asked. He had successfully represented the younger Woodrow in a discriminatory discharge case referred to him by Amos. The back pay Ellison Woodrow received in the settlement was large enough to encourage him to open his own office.

  “He sure is, George. And he’s got another investigator working for him full time. Business is great.”

  Ryder got the address in North Providence and the telephone number. He called Ellison Woodrow, chatted for a few minutes and arranged to meet with him the following morning. Satisfied, he continued working on the glass of vodka.

  38

  THE TELEPHONE CALL FROM Cyril Berman came just minutes after Federal Express dropped off the package at his home. Fiore was eating a late breakfast and reading the Herald’s Saturday sports page when the front door bell rang. He brought the package inside, looked at the return address on the small bubble envelope that was sent by overnight delivery and put it down on the dining room table. When he answered the phone and heard Cyril’s voice, he had a mental picture of the Fed Ex driver returning to his truck, dialing Berman’s number in Washington and saying, “Okay, he’s got it.”

  Fiore’s campaign manager was just short of ecstatic. “Everything I’m hearing is terrific, Doug. Those ‘pillars’ of ours loved what you had to say and how you said it. Lester will follow up soon with phone calls to all of them, and I’m sure the money will start rolling in. We’ll ask everyone you met to give us lists of friends who can be counted on to make a contribution, and we’ll invite the
m to small parties to hear you speak. But none of that will start until after you’re officially in the race. In the meantime, we’ll do what’s necessary right now with some of the funds coming through you know who.”

  Berman explained that Fiore’s name would begin to leak out as a possible candidate for governor in about a week. He reminded him to keep his answers to the press and other media short when they began contacting him. It was best, Berman said, to stay with the line that he was tremendously interested in serving Rhode Island but still evaluating the extent of those promoting his candidacy.

  “Someone will probably ask what makes you think you’re qualified to start at the top since you’ve never held political office before. Don’t let a question like that rattle you. Just tell them the same thing is happening all over the country. Stress the fact that Reagan’s first political campaign was for Governor of California. Point out that if you’re elected, you can come in with a clean slate. You won’t owe anything to anyone, especially other politicians in the Statehouse.

  “Later on, once you’re officially in the race, you can say that your Republican opponent didn’t serve in the legislature either. By the way, never mention Cardella’s name if you don’t have to. Tell them that whatever experience he picked up as attorney general means nothing as far as having the vision Rhode Islanders want to see in their next governor. You got that?”

  Fiore assured him that he did, and Berman continued talking. “I don’t know whether the Republican State Committee will try to put any pressure on you to stay out of the race. They’re definitely going to have to endorse Cardella. But they may think it’s better for him to get his feet wet in a fight with you instead of just sitting around waiting for the democrats to choose their candidate.

  “Not only that,” Berman went on, “but who’s going to pay attention to what Cardella has to say between now and September if he can’t tell the voters his opponent is full of crap? The Committee has to worry about that. I’m guessing they’ll decide it’s better to have you around, even if they think you may land a few punches before the primary. I’ve already spoken to Russ Walsh about it, Doug. He agrees with me, but he’s going to stay tuned in to what those folks have to say. And just in case anyone on the Committee calls you a traitor to the Party or tries to buy you off, you get hold of Russ right away. He knows all the players over there and he’s the best one to handle it, okay?”

  Fiore was just swallowing some coffee and had to wait for it to go down.

  “Okay, Doug?” Berman asked again.

  “Yes, I heard you, Cyril,” he replied. His curiosity suddenly was aroused. “What’s in the package you sent me?”

  “My next point,” Berman said. “Unless there’s some good reason to change it, I’m planning on your making the big announcement three weeks from today. I want to let some suspense build up after the public first hears about you. We’ll milk that for what it’s worth. Then I want your picture on the front page of the Sunday Herald. Decide where you want to give the speech and we’ll book the room. The Holiday Inn is the only place off limits. It’s non-union. Not that we’d expect much support from labor, but there’s no sense starting off with enemies. Let Lester know by Tuesday at the latest and he’ll do the rest. Still okay so far?”

  “I’m with you, Cyril.”

  “The package has a tape in it, Doug. It’s a draft of the speech I want you to make. In this case, draft doesn’t mean rough draft. A few people worked on it before we were all satisfied. I recorded it so you could hear how it sounds. There’s a transcript there too. It’s important for you to be comfortable with the whole thing. You can reword anything you see there—say it the way you like—but don’t change the substance. That’s going to be your basic speech all through the campaign. A lot of hard work went into it and we think we’ve got it right. For the time being, at least, your views on the issues are written in stone. So, you got any questions?”

  “None on that,” Fiore said. “At least not until I hear the speech myself. But when are you coming to Providence and when do you plan to get involved full time?”

  “Good point,” Berman answered. “I meant to tell you that. I’ll be there two days before you announce, on Thursday of that week. We’ll spend some time together, you, me, Russ and Lester. The four of us can polish up the speech if it needs it. Between now and then, I’ll find a place for a campaign headquarters in Providence and put down some deposits on locations in a few other towns around the State.

  “We’ve already ordered the signs and buttons from a union printer we can trust to keep his mouth shut. We’re going with blue and green, by the way, the same shades that BayBank uses. I like those colors together. The phone company promised to install all the lines we need on one week’s notice. We’ll handle that on a tight schedule, even if we have to go without for a day or two.

  “I’m taking a look at some old computer printouts to see who gave money to John Sacco two years ago. We ought to know something about every republican and independent in the State. I’ve contacted a PR firm that will start setting up some focus groups in about a week. We’ll see how they react to the different issues once you and Cardella start hitting the stump. There’s a bunch of other things to get done that I won’t even bother telling you about. The short answer to your question is that I’ve been involved full time for a while already.”

  “Will Walsh or Karp know where you’ll be staying when you get here?” Doug asked.

  “Oh, that’s already arranged,” Berman replied. “I’ve rented a room by the month at the Biltmore.”

  39

  THE PLAYER’S CORNER PUB on Washington Street was always Terry Reardon’s restaurant of first choice. The food was simple, blue collar American cooking, large portions on large plates, just the way it always was when he grew up in Narragansett. He never trusted restaurants that spent a lot of money on atmosphere, and no one would ever accuse Player’s of doing that. Besides, for someone who liked kidding around with waitresses who knew how to dish it out themselves, Reardon was right at home. He often felt that the women who worked there were hired for having that special quality.

  Terry was looking forward to spending some time at Richardson’s place that Monday night, but Jenna suddenly begged off. She told him she devoted almost the entire weekend to research in the Herald library after Jane Bates’s announcement of her candidacy on Friday. Her time was spent reviewing a lot of the political history involving both Bates and Bruce Singer. Now that there was a contest for governor among the Democrats, she wanted to learn as much as she could about the backgrounds of both candidates. Monday was another hectic day for her, Jenna told him, and she figured she’d be worn out by the time she got home.

  Reardon didn’t press her to change her mind. He said she was probably doing the right thing, but that she ought to join him for an early dinner in town. That way, she could avoid shopping and cooking and just fall into bed when she returned to her apartment. Jenna accepted the invitation. She was pleased that he wanted to spend some time with her without sex being on the menu.

  They sat opposite each other in a booth along the wall farthest from the entrance. When the cocktail waitress brought their drinks, they reached out and clicked glasses.

  “To sleeping alone,” Terry said. He smiled.

  “But not too often,” Jenna replied, and nudged his leg with her foot under the table.

  “So what do you know today that you didn’t know before you locked yourself in the library?” he asked.

  “If I tell you now, you won’t have to buy a paper every day, and I’m supposed to help sell them.” She was being coy. “At least that’s what McMurphy keeps banging into my head.”

  “But I’ll send whatever I save to a charity of your choice,” he told her. “Swear to God.”

  “Okay, I’ll hold you to that. I don’t even have to think about it. Make the check out to Jenna Richardson.” She paused for only a second, cutting into his laugh. “Seriously, Terry, this whole election camp
aign is beginning to show some promise. I’m getting excited about it.”

  “You haven’t started drafting an acceptance speech for the Pulitzer Prize yet, have you?”

  “Of course not.” She hesitated just a beat. “My PR agency is handling that.”

  “Touché,” he said, tipping his invisible cap to her. “So tell me what’s happening out there.”

  Jenna took a deep breath before answering. “First of all, I think the Bates-Singer fight will be a beauty. He is not going to just walk away with it. That woman is one terrific legislator who hasn’t been wasting her time in the House. Most of the civil rights statutes that have been passed in the last ten years or so have her name on them. She’s a hell of a street fighter when it comes to getting what she wants.

  “I’m really looking forward to whatever debates she has with Singer. He’s Harvard Law and she took five years to get through New England Law at night after she won her House seat. But she’s a heavyweight in my opinion. Just look at what she did to Singer in her speech on Friday. If he’s got any brains, he’d better take her seriously from day one.”

  “Are you on the women’s bandwagon on this one, Jenna?”

  “Nope. I’ll just call ’em as I see ’em. Bruce Singer has a pretty good record and he feels strongly about a commitment to public service. That comes through loud and clear in the speeches he made over the years. But he’s had an easy life and may not be in touch with the average guy in the street. He won going away in both his campaigns for lieutenant governor, but look what happened to him in the primary for governor two years ago. He got whipped by a nobody, a real nobody. Maybe there’s a message there. Still, despite what Bates says about him, the statistics show he’s always been popular with the women voters.”