Ballots and Blood (31 page)

The theme music for the program blared as they cut to a break. The producer turned on the intercom. “Wow, Andy. That was a perfect throw to break. You're the
best.
”

“Can you believe we actually get paid to do this?” asked Andy with a cackle.

ON MSNBC THE PRIME-TIME HOST was in the seventh minute of the opening segment, which had been extended to twenty minutes without any commercials to accommodate the full-throated, smack-down of Jay Noble and Andy Stanton. Righteous indignation oozed from every pore of the host's body. He did his best Edward R. Murrow imitation, or at least what passed for Murrow in the postmodern world of decimated news budgets, bankrupt newspapers, and cable scream-fests produced by skeletal staffs with an average age of twenty-five.

“Corruption on a grand scale. White House manipulation. Political paybacks. Blacklisting of government employees. These are just a few of the shocking allegations leveled at the Long White House by Hans von Fuggers in testimony that riveted the Senate Finance Committee and the nation today,” said the host. “Joining me now to discuss von Fuggers's explosive testimony, Dan Dorman with the
Washington Post.
Good evening, Dan.”

“Good evening,” said Dorman, appearing on a split screen from the
Post
newsroom, his gray hair matted and unkempt, glasses resting low on his nose, tie askew, eyelids drooping.

“I don't recall seeing anything quite this dramatic on Capitol Hill since John Dean appeared before the Senate Watergate Committee,” said the host. “Mr. von Fuggers was so understated, so much the opposite of theatric, that it
was
dramatic. You've covered Washington a long time, Dan. How big was today's hearing and does it spell doom for Jay Noble and perhaps Bob Long? Isn't this so damaging Long has to fire Noble if only to save himself, as Nixon did Haldeman and Ehrlichman?”

“It's a little early to tell,” said Dorman clinically. “Unless the White House can refute von Fuggers's charges, this is going to be extremely damaging. It appears—and I stress appears—that a tax-exempt organization with over $200 million in annual revenue allied with the administration got special treatment from the IRS. Recall this kind of abuse of the IRS-led Congress to impeach Richard Nixon. Whether Long can shield Jay Noble by invoking executive privilege remains to be seen. But as one prominent senator said to me today, ‘Jay Noble's not going to be able to hide behind Phil Battaglia's skirts forever.'”

The host nearly came out of his chair—Dorman had used the “I” word! “Could this scandal lead to Bob Long's impeachment? . . . I mean if the facts turn out to be as sordid and unseemly as they appear?”

“Oh, it's way too early to jump to that conclusion,” Dorman furiously backpedaled. “I'm simply making the point this is an explosive charge with precedent for major legal and political repercussions.”

“Yet the White House continues to stonewall,” said the host, growing more animated, his nostrils flaring. “Are they detached from reality, are they corrupt, or are they just plain stupid? Or is it perhaps a combination of all three?” He arched his eyebrows expectantly.

Dorman laughed. “Jay Noble can be accused of a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them,” he replied. “Detached from reality? Even some of Long's friends say yes. Corrupt? I think the jury is still out. We'll have to see where the hearings go.”

“Wrong answer, Dan,” said the host. “The correct answer is the White House is detached from reality
and
corrupt. Stupid is as stupid does. That'll have to be the last word.”

Just like that the segment was over. The television lights dimmed at the
Post
newsroom. Dorman reached for his ear, to remove his earpiece.

“Good job, Dan,” said the producer into his ear. “Fantastic segment. But next time hit 'em harder.”

Dorman just chuckled as he removed the microphone from his coat.

25

F
ederal agents swarmed into the Dallas home of Representative Matthew “Buddy” Tisdale, chairman of the powerful House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and the Crystal City, Virginia, offices of Aristotle Security Consulting (ASC), a defense contractor with extensive ties to the congressman. The firm received tens of millions of dollars in covert intelligence contracts annually from the CIA and the Defense Department and was arguably the most significant player in “black ops” in the war on terror. It retained a virtual shadow army of retired former CIA agents, Army Rangers, and Special Forces, deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq, the tribal regions of Pakistan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and a dozen other countries. Among its responsibilities were the infiltration, apprehension, assassination (though that word was sanitized in translation to “elimination”) and interrogation of terrorist suspects on the field of battle.

The surprise raids were part of an ongoing investigation by a federal multiagency task force that included the U.S. attorney's office in Dallas, the FBI, IRS, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. Even more troubling for Tisdale, the FBI raided the home of his twenty-eight-year-old daughter, who managed his campaigns and ran his leadership PAC.

At ASC headquarters, federal agents carted off personal computers, laptops, smart phones, and file cabinets filled with documents. They seemed to know exactly what they were looking for in every office and at every cubicle. Clearly someone had been wearing a wire, probably for months. Police tape surrounded the building, shielding the agents from interaction with network camera crews who showed up to film the carnage, along with a few curious onlookers.

“We have no comment at this time,” said an ASC spokesperson when contacted by the
Dallas Morning News.

“This is an outrageous abuse of power and prosecutorial discretion,” said Tisdale's attorney, a prominent criminal defense lawyer. “Buddy Tisdale has done nothing wrong. He has fully cooperated with this investigation, and when all is said and done, he will be fully vindicated.

Far from the raids in Dallas and DC, an opposition researcher with the Dolph Lightfoot campaign's radar went up. He remembered Don Jefferson was a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Might he have a connection to ASC? A quick search of the Federal Election Commission database, the ASC Web site, and Google revealed Jefferson received a total of $40,500 in contributions from ASC employees, family members, and its PAC. Even more promising, Jefferson's former chief of staff was hired by ASC as a lobbyist to help the company pursue government contracts.

Within three hours of the raiding of ASC's headquarters, an influential blogger with close ties to Lightfoot's campaign (in fact, he was secretly being paid $5,000 a month in addition to the ads Lightfoot ran on his Web site), posted a blistering attack on Jefferson. “Does Don Jefferson, the baby Jesus of Florida politics, have a Buddy Tisdale problem?” screamed the post. “More to the point, does he have an Aristotle Security Consulting problem? It sure looks like it. ASC's offices were raided today by federal agents wielding a search warrant in what is a rapidly moving investigation into corruption charges relating to ASC and Congressman Tisdale. Agents have not raided Jefferson's offices—yet.” The post continued: “The federal grand jury investigating this scandal will no doubt ask Jefferson some very pointed questions, such as:

1. What did he do in exchange for the $40,500 in contributions he received from ASC and its employees?
   
2. Did Terry Camp, his former chief of staff, have any contacts with him, his office, or his staff after he was hired as a lobbyist by ASC to drum up even more defense contracts from Jefferson's subcommittee?
   
3. Did he ever participate in a congressional junket overseas in which ASC staff, consultants, or officers or board members were present?
   
4. Did he ever submit an earmark request that benefited ASC?
   
5. Did he ever contact anyone at the Department of Defense, CIA, or any other government agency requesting ASC receive a covert contract?
   

The blogger ended his post by hurling this brick: “I have not endorsed a candidate for U.S. Senate. That is for the voters to decide. But I have said repeatedly for months that Don Jefferson is a charlatan and a fraud, a huckster, and a career politician posturing as a Tea Party candidate and a right-wing caped crusader. In truth he is a just another blow-dried (or in his case, hair dyed), self-aggrandizing, phony politician who pretends to be whatever he must to win an election. Now the mask is being pulled away. What do you think? Please let me hear your comments.”

Within an hour forty-eight comments from supporters of Lightfoot and Jefferson were posted on the Web site, hurling invective and spewing venom. One typical (and anonymous) comment dripped with sarcasm: “It's only a matter of time before that crook Jefferson is doing a perp walk. When does the House Ethics Committee start looking into this can of worms? Don't hold your breath.” The U.S. Senate primary pitting Jefferson against Lightfoot was about to get a lot more interesting, and bloody.

DON JEFFERSON SLUMPED IN A government-issue black leather wing chair in his office in the Longworth House Office Building, huddling on a conference call with his legal counsel, his chief of staff, and several campaign aides.

“We have two parallel issues here,” said Jefferson's attorney and campaign advisor. “The first is the criminal issue. As far as I can surmise, Don, you don't have anything to worry about in that respect. You didn't do anything wrong vis-à-vis your relationship with Aristotle.”

“Not at all,” agreed Jefferson. “I never lifted a finger to help them.”

“Unfortunately in these situations, that is not always enough. The second issue is political. Lightfoot is making hay out of this, the bloggers are mainlining crack, and the Florida media will go into overdrive to cover it. That's baked in the cake. We've got to figure out a way to push it down and insulate you from the larger story involving Tisdale and Aristotle. If you get sucked into the national story, it really gets difficult.”

“How do we do that?” asked Jefferson. “Look, let's face it: I've had a great few weeks. I've led a charmed existence. The long knives are out.”

“Agreed. There are certain guiding principles,” his attorney said, waxing strategically. “First, whatever you say, tell the truth. I know it sounds obvious, but if I've seen it once, I've seen it a thousand times; what kills people in a situation like this is the perception they're trying to hide something. Second, I would quickly return contributions from ASC or its employees. All of it. I'd do that today or tomorrow.”

“Do we give it back or donate it to charity?” asked Jefferson.

“Either way is fine. Give it to a charity providing assistance to the families of wounded soldiers. Finally, insofar as you can do it without compromising the criminal investigation, get in front of it, do a document dump to the media and be done with it. Cut off the scab.”

Jefferson listened impassively. “The press is asking about contacts between us and Terry,” he said. “We need to get our arms around it, and to your point we need to get it right—assuming we can tell the truth about it publicly, that is.”

“Please tell me he didn't violate the one-year lobbying ban,” said the attorney. “That's a felony count.” Federal ethics laws forbade a former Hill staffer from having any direct contact with members of Congress or their staffs for one year after leaving government service.

Jefferson looked at his chief of staff, who shook his head. “No, we were both careful,” said the chief of staff. “If he needed to communicate with us, he would have someone else call. Once the year was up, we did talk to him.”

“When was that?” asked the attorney.

“January of this year,” said the chief of staff.

“How often did you communicate with him?”

“Not that often,” replied the chief of staff. “I'm sure he dealt with Tisdale more than us. I'd have to check, but probably once or twice a month.”

“Do a quick e-mail search and make sure there's nothing problematic,” said Jefferson. “We don't want to be flying blind. Run all those by the attorneys.”

“We'll review every document before it goes to either the federal task force or we release it to the press,” said the attorney. “Did anyone accept anything of value from Terry or any other Aristotle employee?”

“I didn't,” said the chief of staff. “If Don or I meet anyone for dinner or drinks, it goes on the campaign credit card. Most of the time we just go to the Capitol Hill Club. They can't pay for it there anyway unless they're a member.”

“Make sure nobody got a free meal, concert, or Nats tickets,” said Jefferson. He thought a moment. “What do we do if someone did?”

“Reimburse it right away. If we're contacted by the FBI, tell them about it up front so no one thinks you're hiding anything,” said the lawyer.

“Do we send a check over to Aristotle's offices?” asked Jefferson, incredulous.

“Absolutely,” replied the attorney. “Who cares if anyone's there to open the mail or deposit the check? You did your part.”

“Gang, we've got an immediate issue,” interjected Jefferson's campaign manager, who was on the phone from the headquarters in Ocala. “The press is asking for a statement or interviews with Don. They're writing their stories as we speak. We need to get a statement up on the Web site and e-mail it to the media ASAP.”

“Work up a draft and run it by me and the lawyers,” said Jefferson.

“What about you appearing for the cameras and taking questions? I think we're going to have to do that at some point,” said the campaign manager, his disembodied voice coming through the speakerphone.

Jefferson glanced at his chief of staff, his eyes inquiring.

“We'll have to do that eventually,” said the chief of staff. “I'd let things cool down first. But if we don't get Don in front of the cameras by next week, the affiliates will fly reporters and a camera crew up here and chase you down the street, yelling out questions, airing footage of you ducking into elevators or cars.”