Chapter 6

“I would say that you’re mistaken, Congressman. Yes, your constituents voted for a Republican over a Democrat, but your oath of office is a higher obligation than any sense of fair play or whatever. Your duty is to do your job as a Congressman, and then let the voters express their feelings in less than two years, in the normal course of things. They don’t deserve to be without a representative for their district in the House, just because of any crises of conscience. Let the electors decide in the normal election cycle. By then, you’ll have the voting record and stature to prove to them your merits as their representative in Congress.

“So, there you are. A Democrat in Congress. You’re in a swing district, anyway. There’s a strong chance that you’ll be able to hang onto your seat and there’s no reason to believe that they only backed you for your affiliation,” House Minority Leader Kara Peters encouraged Congressman Philip Sundermann as he sat in her office, shortly after informing her of his decision to switch parties and resign as a result.

“Odds are, they probably liked that you were a moderate, regardless of party affiliation, I dare say,” Angelica pointed out, having sat in on the conversation and had a “eureka” moment of inspiration.

“Okay, so you’re saying that my duty to keep my oath of office outweighs any obligation to give the voters a chance to express their thoughts on my change of party registration, since my oath is not partisan and my duties would be the same regardless of party. Fair enough. I guess that they will have a chance to punish me in less than two years, anyway. Also, yes, I wasn’t exactly a conservative when I ran and got elected. Even in the primary, I didn’t run to the right to try to beat my opponent. I ran as a centrist. That I won was probably to the nature of my district,” Sundermann admitted that they had solid points.

“And now, of course, having taken a stronger stand against the more conservative wing of your party, they’d probably be more antagonistic and unite against you in the primary, whereas before you seemed to be moderate, sure, but with no clear liberal positions that they could use against you. Now you’re labeled a maverick, a RINO, etc.,” the House Minority Leader observed.

“Which means that you would be primaried for sure as a Republican, but at least have a good chance as a Democrat. Especially in a swing district,” Molly pointed out.

“Very much so. Philip needs to stay in the House, at least for now. Until something better comes along for him,” Angelica teased, humming, “Hail to the Chief,” which made everyone present laugh a bit.

“Well, that’s unless you become President yourself,” Philip teased back, “You’ve made a good start on it already, getting the eyes and ears of the press glued on you. It’s a nice story. Hard-working mom, school teacher, progressive, etc. Liberal, but independent enough to take a stand against corruption. How much PAC money do you take? My opponent in the primaries got a lot of that, but he needed it, because he had little of substance to offer but conservative platitudes. Most of the megachurch pastors were with him, of course. They weren’t with me. He had the pro-lifers, the anti-gay groups, the ‘family’ organizations all behind him. And every right-wing think tank that wants to gut unions and turn Pennsylvania into a ‘right to work’ state. And the NRA, because I didn’t specifically refuse a ‘zero tolerance’ view on gun control and he did,” Philip scoffed.

“If you really want payback on the NRA, we could introduce an expanded background check bill, you know,” Angelica suggested.

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea on the merits, anyway. But I have another question for you. Just a quick, if intrusive one. Sorry to pry, but I have to know ... I’ve been observing your body language. You two are more than friends, aren’t you? You’re lovers. I don’t mind, but keep it on the downlow, okay? We don’t need accusations that you’re trading votes for sexual favors or something crazy like that, or even using your romance to influence each other, alright?” Kara told them, “don’t worry, I have secrets of my own. Between you and me, I don’t exactly date men. At all, if you catch my drift.”