Chapter 3: An Announcement - "Yep, it's true."

---

 

It was in the Press Room's new collegial atmosphere that everyone came into that morning. They already knew a little bit about the day's biggest story - there were rumors the VP had resigned. But, with the experience of what the Press Corps now calls "Letter Day" (the day when many of them got letters regarding the cancellation of their press credentials), they didn't speculate and, rather, waited for Jamie to tell them all about it.

"Good morning," Jamie said cheerily, and had a few minutes of chit-chat and small talk with the reporters, but she soon knuckled down with the day's big news.

"So let's beegin today's announcements," Jamie began. "Vice President Howard Spencer has resigned the office of the Vice Presidency yesterday afternoon. The President received his letter of resignation shortly after twelve noon, and has regretfully accepted the VP's resignation."

"Finally!" someone exclaimed.

Several people raised their hands, and Jamie pointed at one of the people in the front row. "Yes, Pete."

"Jamie, does the VP's resignation have anything to do with the Century Savings and Loan case?"

Jamie nodded her acknowledgement of the question. "Yes, the VP did resign because of Century Savings. It was his position that, whatever happens from this point on - whether he's exonerated or not, his connection with the issue would just be detrimental to the administration, and therefore it could affect the economy and the nation as a whole. He therefore voluntarily offered his resignation so that President Walsh can continue on with running the country without this issue complicating things."

"Has the VP admitted to any culpability in the case?"

"No - he only resigned to distance the administration from this issue so that the President can continue to run the government without this... distraction."

"Has President Walsh or anyone else from his administration admitted to being part of the scandal?"

"Of course not! As far as I know, no one in the administration has anything to do with this matter, especially the president."

Someone else asked the next question - one of the older, more senior reporters. "Jamie," the reporter said, "what do you think? Is Spencer really involved?"

"Surely, Tom," she said, "whatever I think is irrelevant to the matter." Though she was very flattered. Before Letter Day, these same people would just ignore her, never mind ask her opinion.

"You must have some idea?"

"Well, everyone has an opinion," she said, "but it is inappropriate, not to mention irrelevant, for me, the White House Press Secretary, to express my personal opinion."

"Has there been any thought about appointing a new vice president?"

"I believe it's a bit too early for that," she said. "The Vice President has just resigned. But, yes, the President is already thinking about it. The VP position is an important position, after all, especially at this time.

"And, after appointment, the Senate has to confirm the appointment. It will not be a quick process, in any case."

"Come on, Jamie," Tom said. "Even if its off the record?" He smiled and winked. Everyone laughed.

Jamie sighed theatrically. "You really like to put me on the spot, Tom," Jamie replied. "And if it's off the record, I would hardly tell you in front of everyone here in the Press Room."

It was a thin joke, but everyone laughed again, including Tom.

"How about if I take you to lunch?" Tom said.

Everyone went, "oooh!" Tom Flaherty had a reputation with the women.

Jamie laughed, too. "Well, I doubt if it would be okay to have lunch with you somewhere that you probably have bugged, or Pete and some of these guys are just a couple of tables away, listening, with note pads and recorders."

"I wouldn't do that to you," Tom protested humorously. "So, what do you say? Please?"

Tom's reputation was well known in the capital's political circles. Jamie knew that Tom won't quit asking, so she had to find a way to give him his scoop, but yet not break any confidences on her part.

"Hold on a second..." She waved one of her staff over and whispered in his ear. The guy nodded, stepped out of the room and called someone. His voice could be heard through the open door as he talked to someone, but it was indistinct.

After a few moments, he came back in and gave Jamie a thumbs-up. Jamie smiled her thanks.

"Okay - if you're game for a late lunch, I just got us a table at the White House Mess, so meet me in my office at one thirty. You're welcome to try and pump me for information. Just information!" (Everyone laughed) "But I guarantee you, you won't get anything. But, regardless, you'll owe me... And even if you don't get anything, you drop it. What do you say to that?" Jamie looked at him smilingly, but with an expression that also said, "I dare you - it's your ball now."

But Tom comically nodded his head excitedly, like an old Loony Tunes cartoon character.

Jamie's lunch invitation was unusual but wasn't unprecedented. When senior White House staff needed to leak information to the public and they didn't want the White House to be the source, they'd meet people in some nondescript out-of-the-way restaurant (and there were lots of restaurants like that in DC).

This wasn't a leak, though - it was totally above-board even if it was a confidential meeting. The word oxymoron comes to mind, but that's the way it was in the capital.

Everyone groaned, wishing they were invited, too, and some laughingly called out "favoritism!" or something similar.

Though the menu of the White House Mess wasn't that fancy (the dishes were, in fact, typical navy ward room breakfast and lunch entrees), the food was cooked superbly, and elevated to cordon bleu standards, and was legendary amongst the Press Corps (the Panko Fried Chicken and the West Wing Burger were considered the press room favorites), even though only a few among them have had the opportunity to dine there, as it was by reservation, and only open to senior White House staff and their guests.

Glad that they were able to move on from the VP story, Jamie then proceeded to cover a handful of other items, and though the reporters dutifully wrote down stuff and made notes, Jamie was pretty sure those news items wouldn't make the headlines. At best these news items would be in the middle of their evening news programs or maybe used as filler articles in their papers. No, it was the VP thing that was the news of the day.

The briefing finished normally, and everyone filed out.

Gil, her assistant, came up.

"That was a smart move, Jamie," Gil said, "inviting Tom to lunch, and in the West Wing, too."

Jamie nodded. "Yes. Tom's one of the old guard from the old Press Corps. He's sort of their leader. It'd be good to get him on our side."

"Good luck on that, by the way. He has a reputation."

"Really?"

"He's made some politicians actually break down and cry. And the mayor of DC took a swing at him once. Lots of politicians try to avoid him. He's also called out other reporters for pandering to special interests. People are scared of him."

"Really? He's been nice to me so far."

He grinned at her with a humorously lecherous expression. "I think someone likes someone," he said in sing-song.

"Nahhh. Probably not."

"He was awfully insistent on the lunch thing."

"He's just after a news item."

"Well, you're probably right, but don't let him get you on the record."

"Hey, who're you talking to," she joked.

"Absolutely, Boss," he said, and they high-fived.

Later, just a little after one PM, Tom Flaherty came through security and went directly to Jamie's office. He was an old hand in this, and knew enough not to dawdle or change his direction, otherwise, security will be on his tail very quickly.

"Knock, knock!" he said as he knocked on the doorjamb of Jamie's office door.

"Tom!" Jamie said with a smile. "Right on time. Lets go!" She closed her laptop and stood up. "I heard they have chocolate pudding for dessert today."

"Sounds good."

In a few minutes, they were at the West Wing Navy Mess, or "the White House Mess."

The president has his own dining room next to the Oval Office, but for the others, there was a restaurant in the West Wing's ground floor, run by the US Navy and therefore referred to in military terms as a "mess hall," or a ward room - a navy term that refers to an officers' dining room.

The menu only had items from the regular menu in a Navy ward room. But, of course, since this was the White House, these dishes were upgraded, not perhaps to Michelin Star-level but at least to county fair blue ribbon-level.

Jamie nodded in appreciation at her assistant Gil's usual thoroughness. By scheduling their lunch at one thirty instead of noon, there were very few people in the place, and the table that they were ushered to was well away from any other diners. Not that it would be an issue, since all of these people were people from Communications (her people) or from the East Wing: the White House people she was avoiding were all absent from the Mess.

"Ahhh!" Tom said. "Thank you," he said politely to the Navy messboy dressed in a formal-looking Navy mess hall uniform who brought them their menus. "I already know what I want – can I have the Panko Fried Chicken and a Ceasar Salad, please."

"Anything to drink?"

"Would a beer be possible?"

"Not a problem, sir." He leaned down and mock whispered. "There's an unofficial one-glass limit, however, sir. So would you like me to make it a double?"

Tom laughed. "Yes, please, sir."

"I'm a seaman, sir - I'm not an officer."

"Oh! Im sorry, seaman. Didn't mean anything by it..."

The messboy laughed and waved it away. "Aye, aye, sir. Just kidding. And you, Miss Jamie?"

"I'll have the Penne with Zucchini and Fresh Basil, please, George," Jamie said, and a big glass of ice water. And can you also get us chocolate pudding later? And be sure to give Tom the special."

"Aye, aye, miss."

"Thanks, George."

Tom returned his menu. George stopped him. "Guests are allowed to keep the menu as a souvenir, sir would you like to keep yours?"

"I can? Sure!"

George nodded, but he still took it away when he went back to the kitchen.

"I thought I could keep it..."

Jamie laughed. "Oh, you can! He's just going to put it in an envelope and everything."

"Oh... And what's the special?"

"Some people get to bring home a box of presidential M&Ms..."

"Presidential M&Ms?"

"Just regular M&Ms, but with the presidential seal printed on them instead of an 'M&M.'"

"Ahhh! So that's the special?"

"Special means you get a dozen boxes instead of just one. You can give them to friends or something."

"What? Nooo! Theyll all be for me!" They both laughed.

But in a moment, George was back with their food.

"Wow!" Tom said. "That was quick! Thank you, George."

Goerge smiled. People were rarely this polite to him and his crew. He started putting their food on the table.

"This looks good! Compliments to the chef, George."

"Thats 'cook,' Tom, not 'chef,'" Jamie said. "Cook's a navy man."

"Ahhh! I will remember."

"So," Jamie said as she started twirling some pasta onto her fork after George left, "what did you want to talk about, Tom? Tom... Tom!"

"Oh! Sorry, Jamie, I was just taken aback by this chicken. It's very good!"

Jamie giggled.

"Well," Tom said after finishing a bite, "I just wanted to see if I can get ahead of the pack, and see if you're willing to give me a sneak peek at who you guys have in mind to replace the VP."

"Tom," Jamie said sternly, "like I said earlier, there's no decision yet. Vice President Spencer just resigned yesterday!"

"Well, the writing's been on the wall for a long, long time. It was inevitable. So I'm sure the president's made plans."

"Tom..."

"I promise it'll be completely off the record. I can let you tell me when I'm supposed to pull the trigger."

"Pull the trigger?"

"When I can let the cat out of the bag. You know?"

She looked at him appraisingly. He noted the look.

"You can trust me, Jamie. But if you want, there's a form that we have, and I can sign it, guaranteeing I won't spill the beans prematurely."

She looked incredulous. "Oh, my good god! There's an actual form!"

Tom had to smile at her expression. Jamie had already been getting a reputation for her, well, unusual idioms and expressions. He, of course, won't be the one to tell that to her face. "Well, yes," Tom said, "it was developed by my paper's lawyers years ago as a tool to keep our reporters straight, and to help our sources to feel comfortable to give interviews. Totally bulletproof and one thousand percent legal."

"Do the other papers and the networks have the same kind of form?"

"Actually, I don't really know. As far as I know, its only my publication that has an actual form for this." He brought out one of them and handed it over to Jamie.

As Jamie read it, Tom dug into his chicken, and dipped it into the excellent honey mustard this time.

Jamie thought it was actually a simple form, and just made up of a couple of paragraphs.

Essentially, it said that anonymous sources would provide confidential information to the undersigned reporter, but only if the reporter commits not to release the information that would be provided to any third party, including the reporter's relatives, friends, coworkers, superiors and editors earlier than a specified date, otherwise, the reporter and his publication will be held fully liable under the law, with the appropriate penalties as deemed by a duly-recognized legal authority, such as a judge and/or jury.

"That has been refined and boiled down to its most binding but simplest verbiage possible," Tom said after finishing another bite. "And you won't be mentioned at all, guaranteeing your anonymity. Feel free to have your legal people check it."

Jamie nodded.

"Okay," she said, after thinking about it for a bit. She got a pen and scribbled on the form. She handed it back to Tom, and he read what she wrote.

Jamie had filled in the blanks for the information being disclosed, specifically the plans of the Walsh Administration in replacing the vice president, who has just resigned, and the date being a two weeks from now.

Tom looked up. "Two weeks, Jamie?" he asked. "That long? Why?"

"Sign first," she said, and Tom signed. He then looked at Jamie expectantly.

"Because, Tom," Jamie explained, "I don't have any hard schedule at the moment. But how about this - if the timetable gets pushed forward in any way, I'll let you know, and I'll tear up the form, and you can publish. My word."

Tom looked at her. This girl has balls, he thought. He nodded, added his name, position and company to his signature, and returned it to the girl.

"Done!" he said. "Now, give!"

So Jamie told him, that, so far, there was only one person that the president was considering - Attorney General Freja Martina Olofsdotter Xander of Wyoming.

"You're kidding," Tom said. "Doesn't the president know Xander's transgender? I know shes a babe but..."

"Yes, he does. But I think he feels that AG Xander is the only one that he can trust that has what it takes. I think its the president's intent to find an antidote to the reputation that the VP has built - that Ms Xander has to be the good cop to the VP's bad cop. And, if that's his intention, can you think of any better person that can take out the stink that the VP left?"

Tom thought it through. "Ahhh, no," he said. "At least I can't think of anyone else at the moment, but, no offense, Jamie, she's transgender. Do you really think that wont affect the reputation of the administration?"

Jamie shrugged. "I'm sure you're correct. The president will undoubtedly consider other people, after all. Ms Xander just happens to be the first name to be suggested."

"There are no others?"

"No. Not yet. No one serious, at least."

"Surely some other names must have come up."

"Well, yes, but they aren't seriously being considered, at least not yet."

"Such as?"

"Well, there was talk about Senator Sugarbaker from Wisconsin, Congressman Hafley from Alaska, Congresswoman Arrapayo from Hawaii."

Tom nodded. "You guys are being serious, I see. Anyone else?"

"State Police Commissioner McLeesh from Vermont was also mentioned..."

Tom was incredulous. "Oh, no! Sure, he's very popular with your party now, and Vermont loves him. But he's... I don't know. I think that guy's crazy as a bat. Anyone else?"

"Al Perez from Houston."

"Huh? The surgeon general of Texas? I don't get it - what does a doctor know about running a country?"

Jamie waved him down.

"I know that, Tom! Like I said, this is just talk right now. But the president is open to suggestions."

"Well, it's not as if he has a lot of options. Truth be told, Sugarbaker, Hafley and Arrapayo are good middle-of-the-road options, if the president is just looking for a safe politician that won't rock the boat and go along with his agenda, and help him cast tiebreaker votes for his party in the Senate..."

"I can hear a 'but' lurking in that declaration..."

"But!" Tom said, accommodating her, and chuckled, "for my own taste, as a citizen, I want someone who's a cutting edge politician that thinks out of the box yet plays by the rules, and truly is a patriot - gutsy and has people's welfare really in her mind."

"I take it you know her background?"

"I was a mid-east correspondent during the Six Day War. So I know her history."

- - - - -

Over the years, AG Xander had won several awards and accolades but among the most important awards: she had won the Nobel, UNESCO Human Rights and Magsaysay Awards for her "Magna Carta for Non-Cisgender Citizens," a Pulitzer for her article as a contributing writer for the Wyoming Gazette entitled "Defining the Human Condition," the American Bar Association Medal for her tenure as Wyoming's Attorney General, A Bronze Star, an honorary OBE, a Star of Palestine and The Order of The Nile for her exploits as a young marine helicopter pilot (when she was still a "he") in the so-called Six Day War in the Sinai (not the Six Day War that happened in 1967, but the new one that happened a little over a decade ago), for rescuing two downed pilots - one British and one Egyptian (the British flyer she rescued actually made her his Best Man during his wedding, but she was a "she" by then), the Times Woman of the Year, and the BFFs Award which she received from the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards a few years ago - an award that she shared with her sister Kelly-Ann, or Kat.

- - - - -

"So," Jamie said, "if you know her backgound, then you know how awesome she is."

"Indeed I do. In fact, I had an editorial in my paper several years ago when she was appointed Wyoming's Attoney General - my position was that Xander's the most qualified politician in the history of our country, but is unfortunately doomed to oblivion given the fact that she's transgender."

Jamie looked at Tom. "You don't like transgender...?"

Tom vigorously shook his head no. "Absolutely not! I have nothing against LGBTQ people. I was just making a point that LGBTQ people have less of a chance winning public office than cisgender people."

"What about all the LGBTQ people who've become congressmen or mayors or...?"

"Yes, yes," Tom said, "but these are exceptions rather than business as usual."

"Then..."

Tom waved Jamie down. "Don't get me wrong, kid," he said, "I'm all for diversity. I was just making a point that, given the choice, the common registered voter is more likely to vote for a cisgender candidate than an LGBTQ candidate."

Jamie was about to argue the point, but Tom waved her down again.

"I'm not against transgender or LGBTQ people running for office. I'm not even expressing an opinon. Statistics and surveys are what's saying it. I can unearth the docs I used for my article, and give you the link. But I'm sure there would be more up-to-date stats out there, and if my info is out-of-date, I'll be happy to eat my words."

Jamie grinned at that. "Well... let me ask you a personal question - would you vote for Ms Xander if she ever ran for office?"

"In a second. I'm already on record saying that AG Xander is totally qualified. Over the years, she's been instrumental in reducing crime rates in Wyoming by about eighty percent, boosted their economy to the tune of about half a billion a year, has been instrumental in increasing job rates by about forty pecent, and has added about one hundred miles of new roadways and bridges and five new schools to the state's civil infrastructure, and sponsored five scholars to Columbia, her alma mater. And she's just the AG!

"Thing is, Jamie - above and beyond all that, for me, one's sexual orientation should be immaterial. What counts are a person's qualifications, skills and character."

"That's unusually enlightened of you," she giggled.

"Not at all. I guess my point of view comes from the fact that I grew up with a little sister that's transgender."

"You're close?"

"Yes. we were close even when she was still a he, and things didn't change when she came out when she turned twelve. I was her big brother, and would always defend her against bullies, and it only got worse when she transitioned. It makes me sad when I think about it. Many people don't see the great kid underneath, and just get stuck with labels."

"How's your sister now?"

He brought out his phone and swiped at the screen to show pictures of a pleasant-looking girl in a doctor's coat. In one picture, she was with a man, his arm around her waist, both of them smiling broadly. The girl was about half a foot taller, but they didn't seem to mind. He showed them to Jamie. His pride in his sister was fairly obvious.

"She's doing great. She's a doctor now, and got married a couple of years ago. Her husband's a good sort of fella. But I think she could have done better. Sorry. Stereotype big brother. That's the guy with his arm around her, by the way. They're looking into adopting a baby within the year."

Jamie giggled. "Yep - spoken like a stereotypical older brother."

He smiled wanly. "I guess."

He showed Jamie a few more pictures, one with him standing beside his sister. That picture seemed to be his favorite.

"So...," he continued, "yes, I'd vote for Ms Xander if ever she ran for a national public office, or if she ran in my district."

Jamie nodded.

"And besides, she's also pretty hot."

Jamie made a face.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.