Chapter 44

With my family around me everything was easier, even when I traveled to funerals, and all the frustrations were more tolerable. When I had to attend the funeral services for the agents, secretaries, housekeepers, and agents killed when the White house was attacked, I took the big plane and a small entourage. The ladies stayed in my private quarters with the babies and no one came forward of the first galley, so no one saw them other than the staff that was accustomed to seeing with my girls.

It wasn't perfect but they were MY family,

Colleen and Jim moved in and took over as co-counsels and went to work clearing the road of obstacles to a better operating federal branch. With budgets being cut, departments disappearing, and raises not forthcoming, there were far too many complaints, and court challenges, trying to stifle government reform.

With help from the Judge, I got the goods on the IRS Director. Then I had my newly appointed Deputy Director of Intelligence at the FBI share the goods with him and offer him one-hour to resign and leave government property.

Once he vacated his office, I appointed his replacement and asked for a speedy confirmation.

When that was over, a battalion of not-so honest IRS auditors were given the same opportunity to resign and leave immediately, or be indicted. We cleaned out thousands of dishonest operatives, and hundreds more resigned on their own, not waiting for the hammer to drop.

Federal judges were another problem.

The Judge brought us incontrovertible evidence of wrongdoing that included everything from case fixing to bribe taking. Once confronted with their coming trials, hundreds and hundreds of federal judges chose to retire early.

Even with paying for retirements, that process saved the taxpayers billions by the time our people got finished making the first pass through government departments.

Through it all I kept Ken Stanton away from Camp David and away from me.

In October of my first year as President, Rick informed me that the White House would be ready for occupancy by Christmas. That presented the problem of what to do about my family. We wrestled with it for days and days. I was not willing to send them away to keep from 'offending' people who hated me to begin with, and I wasn't going to stand for re-election, unless the Ken thing was still a problem. That meant I needed a real, working, solution.

Beth Ann came through with it on the tenth day of November.

"Marry one of us, introduce the rest of us as sisters-wives from a previous marriage to Carl, and tell anyone you wish that we wanted to be together and you respect your wife enough to want her to be happy."

She had a point...

"I think you should marry one of us, and let us all stay out here in the lodge. It's wonderful here, and you don't need to sleep in the White House. You just have to go to work there."

Regina was a genius!

"Jim and Millie are above suspicion because they're married. I get a pass because I'm your lawyer and work with you every day and night, lately. Rebecca gets a pass because every President takes along his personal doctor, so all you really need to do is marry Beth Ann and introduce Regina the way Beth Ann suggested."

Colleen made a very compelling argument.

"Of course getting married as the campaign starts would go far to distract everyone from lots of things, and Regina's mother will never show up to recognize her, since she died last year from an overdose..."

Rebecca looked stricken for saying something so thoughtless, but Regina smiled, though it was a very sad smile, "and she has no other family who has seen her since she was a child." Rebecca wasn't letting go of that one till she made her point.

We all decided not to decide and talk about it some more before Christmas.

Our hackers broke the code a few days before Thanksgiving. We were leaving for the Branson house in the early evening, and Jack got a call necessitating a sudden meeting. Rick, Steve, Shane, the Judge, and Yosef led me through it.

"It looks like someone – somebody connected to the Vice President – has agreed to plant a bomb on Air Force One. On top of that, Stanton has gotten someone else to rig the duty rosters of both your plane and his. Air Force Two will be chock full of his agents, his pilots, his crew, and his assistants. Somehow, Steve, your orders have been flip flopped, and Stanton got his entire cabal of crooks and creeps back together, right under your nose." That came from Jack. He was nearing the point of violence, and when it bubbled out, someone was going to regret every bad thing they ever did.