Chapter 2

"I know that this is unusual, but there have been complaints recently in the news about partisan meetings like this being held in the Capitol itself. I am Rep. Kara Peters of Oklahoma, the Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Sean Murphy of New York, the House Minority Whip, is here with me. He has an announcement of a serious matter for this Caucus, which is better not overhead by Republicans yet anyway. Congressman Murphy, you have the floor," the Minority Leader declared sternly to the abruptly assembled House members in the hall. She was clearly agitated about the event.

"Fellow Members of the House Democratic Caucus, I regret to offer my resignation as Minority Whip. I have been accused of major ethical conflicts regarding insider trading over the past couple of terms. Instead of dragging the party through a situation like this during a new term and contest over my post, I will retire from the House immediately. I hope to be vindicated in the future in a court of law. Nevertheless, I must save the party from distractions, divisions, and the taint of corruption. I will ask the Governor of New York to call a special election for my district. That is all that I have to say for now," Murphy informed them.

"That being the case, I propose that we elect our new Whip right now. Any nominations?" Congresswoman Peters urged the Caucus members.

"I nominate Representative Lance Panitski of Illinois for Minority Whip," Rep. Angelica Vasquez surprised herself by speaking up. Well, she knew that someone would and she wanted to go ahead and get it over with already.

Everyone present was rather stunned, but they were aware that Panitski was the only challenger to Murphy at the time of his resignation. The biggest upset was the decisive way that the New Mexico Democrat had tackled the matter. She had not drawn any public attention to herself so far in the session. The only notice that she had gotten from her colleagues had been from Sundermann and Bryce, in that order as far as she was concerned. Of course, it was still early in the year, but she had not been very outspoken until today.

"The Distinguished Gentlewoman from New Mexico has placed the name of Representative Lance Panitski of Illinois into nomination. Are there any other nominations?" Peters asked.

To the amazement of the whole Caucus, no one stood up or said a thing. The paralyzed and confused party leadership were used to having time for planning. Now, suddenly, they were on the spot and couldn't bring themselves to act until it was too late. A dozen silent minutes ticked away, finally ending with the bang of Peters' gavel.

"Without objection, it is so ordered. Representative Vasquez's motion is carried. Representative Panitski, you are now Minority Whip of the House of Representatives. Any further business? None? Without objection, this Caucus is adjourned," the Minority Leader closed the meeting.

There WAS "further business", but it involved the Commerce Committee, of which Murphy was a member too. He had to report to Congressman Bryce and resign as Ranking Minority Member of one of the Sub-Committees. He also had to find out if Bryce had anyone in mind for his replacement. Naturally, Vasquez and the other Committee members were present.

"We'll find someone, but I want to think about it first. Congresswoman Vasquez, anyone that you would prefer for THAT position? Seriously, that took guts on your part. I knew that Panitski would end up replacing Murphy here, but you had the nerve to get it out into the open early. I must urge you not to step on the leadership's toes TOO many times, though, or get too big of a head. You might need us in the future. With your brains, you could be a Ranking Member or even Chairman, if the party ever manages to regain control of the Hill," the Ranking Minority Member lectured the freshman.

"I'll consider that, but don't expect me to be a tame career member. I am here for a reason and I won't abandon that purpose merely to get re-elected or climb the party ladder. If the leadership is right on something, they can count on my support. If not, that's hard luck," Angelica warned him, before they left the building.

No matter what Mrs. Peters says, this is unprecedented. Popular or media pressure normally would NOT make the Caucus meet outside of the Capitol. The Minority Leader is becoming paranoid these days. She fears Republican spies or something like that. Then again, the fascist leanings of some Republicans would give her some cause to worry. The Majority Leader can't quite be trusted. Then there are Committee Chairmen like Jim Fuller, who play to ruthless factions within the GOP, Vasquez thought.

I still have a hard time believing that Murphy would resign like that, unless he was guilty. An innocent man would more likely fight harder to preserve his reputation. He wouldn't act penitent for something that he didn't do in the first place. It's a damn good thing that I backed Panitski for Minority Whip. We need an honest man at the helm. I would say honest PERSON, but we already have a woman as Minority Leader.

I just hope that there are more Congressmen of both parties that are like Philip. He is a fine Representative and a real leader. This is not a government for demagogues. We don't need men and women who simply, blindly follow public opinion. We have enough of those to spare lately. I'm not sure if I will agree with a Republican from Pennsylvania on everything, but I can respect him.

I have to admit to myself something else too: I find him VERY attractive. I will survive if things go platonic between us, but I will be happier if we continue fucking each other and possibly become even closer. Of course, that may be difficult for geographical reasons, but a girl can wish!

President Kincaid is another matter. I respect him, too, but have no physical interest in the old man. He was a progressive Governor of Maryland and certainly an effective one, which was why I supported him for President. However, I don't know how well a moderate, border-state Democrat who is on the DLC can handle the Congressional leadership of the party. The Minority Leader is an old-fashioned liberal, as is Bryce. Panitski is moderate enough, but he is one man. Can anyone in the House, aside from him, help the President fulfill his promise to stand up to the teachers' unions? I'm no conservative, but I WANT education reform for my children's sake, thank you very much!

Also, what about the Senate? Can Vice President Hume really have any effect in a body where the GOP has a solid majority and the Democrats have to resort to filibusters half of the time? The Veep is a moderate like the President, though slightly to his left on immigration issues, chiefly because his parents came from Jamaica. Hume wants "guest worker" programs for illegal immigrants from Caribbean countries. The President thinks that the Gulf of Mexico makes border control easier, due to the Coast Guard. Therefore, he reasons, concessions such as "guest worker" policies are unnecessary for them.

Well, we're back to gridlock and divided government. Maybe the American people got tired of partisanship and decided to send politicians the message to put country above party. Maybe they just thought that no one party could do too much harm if it only controlled one branch of the Federal Government. From what the Republicans did while they ruled the country, I can't blame the voters for thinking that way. 8 years of "supply-side" economics have wiped out the surplus and exploded the national debt. The electorate clearly wanted a compromise between Republican and Democratic ideas. Gridlock tends to force politicians to make unpleasant choices.

Angelica headed to the Capitol, hoping to contact Philip, who would soon learn about the Minority Whip's resignation and replacement anyway. It was a major scandal for the Democrats and one that the GOP would almost certainly use against them. After all, didn't the Democratic Party attack the Republicans as being a party of corrupt corporate interests and Wall Street values instead of Main Street ones? For a supposed "tribune of the plebs" to be caught violating the New Deal legislation he claimed to uphold would be seen as extreme hypocrisy.

The effect would likely be similar to what would happen if an ultraconservative Republican who preached "family values" and "traditional morality" was found in bed with his mistress or another man. People would shake their heads and damn him for not following his own ethics. His political future would be at risk and the GOP itself would suffer some damage. They would be right, too, since he was hoist on his own petard.

Sundermann never liked Sean Murphy, as he made clear when Vasquez met him yesterday. He thought of the New York Congressman as a crook and somebody the House would do well to remove from its leadership. What he didn't know was that he had given her extra motives to stiffen her spine and take a bold step like immediately proposing Panitski for Minority Whip.

She wanted to get rid of someone who might embarrass Congress, the House, and the Democratic Party. Murphy's bad checks were not something that she could stomach, since he wouldn't be forced to pay them back, unlike members of HER family who had been penalized by banks for overdrawn accounts. That kind of double standard enraged Angelica and was one of the reasons that she went into politics in the first place.

Another factor was her desire to impress Philip. He was an intelligent, determined, and conscientious public official who seemed to like her and the feeling was mutual. His eye for the ladies didn't bother her that much. She had been through the worst kind of infidelity from a man and lived to tell about it. At least Sundermann made no promises, so he couldn't break any, could he?

She wasn't sure that she wanted the stress of trying to satisfy ALL of any man's desires or worrying about if a man was going to betray her. She would just come to an understanding of sorts with him and enjoy his company without trying to keep him all to herself. This was much different from the jealous, hot-tempered girl that she used to be, but time had matured her to the point of accepting reality. The fact was that people were different and not everyone was "cut out for monogamy", as Philip had put it.

The truth was that they were likely to have only a short-term relationship, given the distance between their home states. Why ruin that with unpleasant arguments and accusations? They both needed some recreation and companionship during the session, so it was best to not pressure him for something that she wasn't entirely certain even mattered to her anymore.

When she got to his office, she ran into the AA, a blonde lady with not enough meat on her bones. The first impression Vasquez got was of a woman trying desperately to keep a man, evidently NOT Sundermann. Empathy, not jealousy, was the emotion that occurred to Angelica. Agreeing with herself not to obsess about exclusivity freed her to notice things that she would have overlooked in other circumstances. The Administrative Assistant was smart, but vain, and evidently somewhat older than the Congresswoman.

"Yes, you are?" she looked up from her desk.

"Representative Angelica Vasquez from New Mexico. I'm on the Commerce Committee with your boss," Vasquez told her.

"I'll let him know it's you. He will probably have time for a colleague. Frankly, I'm pleasantly surprised that he wanted me to work today. I needed to get out of the house for a while, so a half-day beats cabin fever. My husband is out of town right now and my friends have errands. Sticking around a Georgetown residence with a couple of maids isn't my idea of passing time. I'm Molly Jansen, by the way," the AA replied.

"Thank you, Molly," Angelica said, inwardly cringing at the "maids" remark. Apparently, there was a snobbish side to Mrs. Jansen. Since Sundermann wasn't that way, it probably irritated him as well. She hoped that the woman had some virtues worth overlooking that flaw.

"Hey, Angelica, good to see you again. Molly, the Congresswoman and I need some privacy. I'm almost done for the day, so go ahead and clock out until Monday morning. You've been a good girl today, but I can take it from here for now. Have a great weekend and see you next week. I'll make sure that you get paid overtime for extra work," Philip told his AA, who promptly followed his instructions, no doubt guessing as to what business the Latina politician from the Southwest had with HER Congressman.

When they were alone again, Sundermann caught Vasquez off-guard by giving her a VERY hot French kiss. She didn't hesitate to respond with some passion of her own. It was a better welcome than she had actually expected, and she made sure that he KNEW appreciated it.

"That was QUITE a shock, dear! I mean, I knew that you liked me, but I didn't dare hope for a kiss like that. That showed some feeling," Angelica exclaimed.

"Good, because I'm very attached to you. I can't promise anything long-term for now and I doubt that I'll ever be a one-woman man, but I would be lying if I said that the attraction was only physical. Think of this as a fantastic love affair that BOTH of us will reminisce about and neither of us will regret in our old age. Maybe something more permanent will happen later, but we shouldn't set our hearts on it. We'll just enjoy what we have at the moment. There is no reason that should be considered unhealthy or wrong. We care about each other and want to please each other. Those are the circumstances for now, so we need to embrace it, at the risk of sounding too Stoic," he suggested.

"As a matter of fact, that is exactly how I think about it. Glad that we're on the same wavelength, since that saves both of us some heartache. I doubt that I could have been so cool and logical about it when I was younger, but I'm almost 40. I am too grown up to mistake irrational hopes for cold, hard facts," she agreed.

"Now that we've accepted that we want each other, but can't stay together in a long-term sense, we should discuss your OFFICIAL reason for coming here. It has something to do with that phone call this morning, doesn't it? Something about the leadership of your party?" Sundermann probed.

"Yes. In a nutshell, Congressman Murphy has resigned as Minority Whip and retired from the House altogether. He is under investigation for insider trading. There was a vacancy in the House leadership that yours truly helped fill by instantly nominating Panitski for the post. After all, he was Murphy's leading opponent for the job before his resignation, so he was the obvious guy to take over. No one else was proposed for the position, so after 12 minutes or so Congresswoman Peters declared him the new Whip. I believe that 'without objection' was her choice of words," Vasquez informed him.

"I assume that someone DEFINITELY approached you as soon as the Caucus was dismissed. You have now pulled a coup of sorts, honey. Even a 'new-school' fellow like Panitski will know that he owes you a favor. That gives you some power, whether you realize it or not. Besides, you have basically joined a faction now. You're labeled a 'reformer' and a 'rebel' by the Old Guard and they will remember your name. Now you have to learn how to use your new leverage.

"I'll bet that old prick Bryce will keep his eyes on you as a possible troublemaker. You're involved in a power struggle for leadership of the Caucus, whether or not you choose to admit it. There will be attempts to bribe or intimidate you, if there haven't been already. Congatulations, my love. You are now officially a rising star in the Democratic Party," Philip warned her.

"It's THAT big of a deal? I didn't realize it until just now. Well, I guess that I'll have to live with the sudden attention. To tell the truth, Bryce DID approach me to imply that I should co-operate with the top men and women in the party. I shouldn't rock the boat, that sort of thing. The Establishment knows best. I won't budge, of course, and I told him so," Angelica reacted to the news.

"Well, you have your path to the top and I have mine. I am going to challenge Fuller for the Committee Chairmanship. The Caucus is still deciding things like that and I intend to make a big deal of it. I doubt that I will win, but I HAVE to do it. That sanctimonious SOB needs to be taken a whole row of pegs. I will try to become the first freshman to unseat an incumbent Chairman from his own party. I will probably be hated for it, but to quote the old saying 'let them hate, so long as they fear'," Philip announced.