The iCongressman (16 page)

MICHAEL

I am not sure if it is because today is the eve of a
month-long recess or if it’s the uncomfortable subject of my dismissal, but
everyone is eager to get on with the show. Floor speeches kicked off at nine
a.m. and have dragged on for the last four hours. I tuned C-SPAN on the TV in
the office and watched as the battle lines were drawn. What has transpired is
not your typical Republican–Democrat partisan fight. Representatives from both
sides called for my ouster while others came to my defense. It was surreal to
see a split having nothing to do with ideology.

With only a half hour until the scheduled vote, Kylie
accompanies me down to the Capitol. My staff is already hanging out in the
gallery, since getting seats will be harder than scoring something on the
fifty-yard line at the Super Bowl. As we reach the doors of the House chamber,
I share a moment with my beautiful girlfriend.

“Would you have ever predicted a year and a half ago that it
would come down to this?”

“Honestly, no,” she answers, “but I wouldn’t trade the
journey for anything.”

“Speak for yourself. If I could do it again, I would have
taken the blue pill.”

“The matrix isn’t real, Neo,” she says with a laugh. “You
know you wouldn’t change a thing. Whatever happens in there, Michael Bennit, I
will always love you.”

“I love you too. You know, this reminds me of the time
during the Constitutional
Conven
―”

“No time for a history lesson right now, dear,” she says
playfully.

“I know. Catch you on the flip side,” I say with a wink and
enter the chamber for what will probably be the last time.

* * *

“The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas for five
minutes,” I hear Speaker Albright say as I enter the chamber.

Cisco stands at the small podium in the Well and greets the
other members in the chamber. It’s a full house this close to the vote, so I
grab a seat toward the back and wait for the party to start.

“A lot has been made of my testimony on Monday,” Cisco says
in preamble, “and I have come to understand that there are members of this
House that are basing their votes solely on my remarks to the Ethics Committee.
Bearing that in mind, I wanted to clear a few things up about my relationship
with Congressman Bennit.”

Most of the representatives in the room are paying scant
attention. Even the Speaker, who is serving as Chair for this session, looks
bored. Well, they are about to get the shock of a lifetime as Cisco spends a
minute or two outlining how we met and became friends.

“So when I testified at the hearing, it was the hardest
thing I had to do. Not because it was about my friend, but because I had to
lie
during the whole thing.”

The Speaker’s head shoots up, questioning whether he just
heard what Congressman Reyes just uttered. I would pay money to see the looks
on my staff’s faces up in the gallery right now. Chelsea verbally berated him
outside of the committee room following his testimony and wondered why I
stopped her. Now she knows, although will be pissed I kept it from her.

“You see, I was approached by the majority whip with a
proposition, one I can only assume was on the behalf of all the leadership in
this body. I was offered millions of dollars in earmarks for my district and
even several plum committee assignments in return for false testimony against
Michael Bennit.”

There is a collective gasp in the room and Speaker Albright
has to bang his gavel several times to bring the room into order. Guess they
didn’t see that coming.

“I waited until today to come forward with this, mostly
because I wanted to see if the promises were upheld. They were. If you check
House Resolution 871, you will see an earmark for eleven million dollars for my
district. Also, yesterday I was named to a coveted seat on the House Banking
Committee. Now, I would love to say I earned those, but ask
yourselves
a question. How do I, an independent, get granted such rewards when the other
independent here is systematically ignored?

“I suspect most of you won’t take my word for this. It may
be because I’m new, or an independent without party affiliation. Maybe you just
hate Hispanics and think I should be cleaning your pool instead of making
laws.” Of course he had to get that line in.

“But for those of you who are curious, I can let you listen
to the whole thing because I recorded it.” He holds his smartphone in the air
as a prop for all to see. I would surmise the representatives in the room are
divided as to whether he should hit play. I know the media want to hear it,
knowing they are always yearning for a good show.

“The men and women Americans entrust with the reins of
leadership should be of impeccable character and of the highest moral order,”
Cisco continues after replacing the phone in his inside suit jacket pocket. “To
root out the ones who aren’t, we have to put them on display for the entire
country to see. I believe this is the best way to accomplish that. I yield the
balance of my time to the Chair.”

Quoting the line he used at the end of his committee
testimony is a nice touch. The House erupts in chaos as Cisco departs the
podium. I get up, since I am the next to speak as the gavel crashes down
repeatedly in a vain attempt to quiet the chamber.

“Glad that’s over. I’ve missed hanging out with you, man,”
Cisco says with a pat on the arm.

“Me too.
I’m sorry you had to perjure
yourself in the process.”

“I dare them to go after me,” Cisco says, probably hoping
they do. He is itching to give that testimony.

“We’ll catch up when this is all over and I’m done
explaining this to my staff.”

“Yeah, good luck with that!”

“The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Connecticut for
five minutes.”

With the bomb Cisco just dropped, the Democrats have to be
smelling blood in the water. Partisan politics runs deep these days, and although
they may have conspired to oust me from Congress, there is no way they will
pass up the opportunity to unseat the majority whip come Election Day. Since
the whips in both parties are the enforcers who ensure discipline among their
members, they make juicy targets.

“Thank you, Mister Speaker.” The House quiets as I assume my
place at the podium. I am thinking about exploiting the rift Cisco just caused,
and every person in this room is looking forward to a good five-minute show as
I lay out my final defense. Sorry to disappoint them, but it’s time for them to
make their decision with no time to think about it and live with the
consequences.

“I yield my time back to the Chair,” I state to the shock of
the entire room.

“Are you sure, Mister Bennit? I took the liberty of bolting
all the desks and chairs down,” the Speaker says to a smattering of laughter.

“Mister Speaker, if I wanted to hit you with a chair, a
couple of bolts aren’t going to stop me,” I say with a smile as I leave the
podium and wander up the center aisle.

The Speaker gets the vote under way, and I go cast mine. The
House votes utilizing an electronic system that requires a plastic card with a
photo ID be inserted into a terminal. The red button on the systems is to vote
“nay,” a green button for “aye,” and a yellow button for “present” which is
basically an abstention. I insert my card, punch the red button and remove my
card, placing it in the breast pocket of my suit jacket.

For anyone who has ever been bored enough to watch C-SPAN,
votes in the House are usually allotted fifteen minutes. In reality, the
outcome is usually determined in a third of the time. There is no assigned
seating on the House Floor, so I choose a spot along the center aisle with a
good view of the voting board in the upper gallery behind the rostrum to watch
my imminent demise.

Members’ names are displayed on a blue, backlit panel above
the Speaker’s dais, and when a member votes, a red, green, or yellow light
appears adjacent to his or her name. Showing both the votes of individual
members and a running total of “yeas” and “nays,” I watch as the total of “aye”
votes climbs toward the magic mark of two hundred eighteen.

Even with indisputable evidence and the admission of Cisco
about lying to prove his own point, it’s a tie six minutes into the vote. I
managed to sway enough members over to my side to make this interesting, but it
doesn’t look like it will be enough. Maybe I underestimated just how badly they
want me out of here.

Thomas Parker takes the adjacent chair and watches the same
unchanging screen I am. There is only one vote in the entire chamber that still
needs to be cast, and it belongs to the man now sitting next to me. No doubt
what he wants.

“Losing by one vote is a painful way to end your political career,
Congressman. Of course, it doesn’t need to be that way. You did a favor for me
once, and now I want to offer to return it.”

“I told you, sir, there was no quid pro quo with me helping
your niece. That is just as true now as it was then.”

“Yes, so you said. But real truth is that
was
then, and this
is
now. There are certain political realities you have to face,
especially while sitting here and watching the clock on your political career
tick down.” And ticking down it is, now under eight minutes to go. “I am
willing to vote ‘present’ to leave the vote as a tie if you ask me to.”

“Congressman, a tie is a loss because the Speaker will
simply break it with his vote.”

“You know, I could be persuaded to bring along a friend or
two to ensure that doesn’t happen, but favors like that don’t come cheap.”

“I’m sure they don’t.”

“Look, Michael, let me reason with you. I may be an
ultra-right wing conservative, but I’m a Christian. The people of my district
may think you’re a liberal Yankee, but they also think you’re a good man. I can
sell this to my constituents back home.” I wouldn’t consider myself liberal,
but I can see how the people in his district might view me that way.

The offer is a tempting one. While my staff and I already
decided that we can lead the icandidates from the sidelines should I lose this
vote, it’s preferable for me to lead them from the front. Of course, I need to
be here to do that. The prospect of my political survival is looking less
likely by the second.

“So what do you say?” Parker asks, looking to strike the
deal.

“Have you read Christopher Marlowe’s
Doctor
Faustus
,
Congressman?”

“I have. You think you’re selling your soul to the devil?
I’m uncomfortable with the thought of how making a deal with an old preacher
like
myself
compares to dealing with Mephistopheles.”
I close my eyes and grin.

“No, sir, I’m not comparing you to the devil or his
messenger. But you need to realize that I’m definitely not Faustus either. My
ex-fiancée was an English teacher, and she brought me to that play. I learned a
valuable lesson from it.”

“Which was?”

“Some deals, no matter how great they sound in the present,
aren’t worth the final price.”

Congressman Parker shifts in his seat, somewhat stunned that
I rebuffed his offer. It is very un-Washington like, especially given the
stakes. It amazes me how being honest in this town really throws people off
their game.

“I see,” is all he manages to utter.

“Excellent. Now go vote your conscience, Congressman. It’s
what the good people of Alabama elected you to do.”

I don’t bother watching him move off, instead settling my
eyes back on the vote board. It only takes forty-five seconds for the small
globe light next to his name to switch to green. From his dais, the Speaker is
grinning from ear to ear in a way you only see in graduation pictures and
weddings.

The vote count reads two eighteen to two seventeen and I
know it’s over. I can’t help but think about what my former students are
thinking. Vanessa will be livid, decrying an unfair system. Xavier will be
upset. Amanda and Emilee will be dejected. Vince will want to off someone and
Brian will think about finding a way to steal their identities. Chelsea has
always been the emotional one, and tears will be pouring down her face.

I will not hang my head. I refuse to let them see me
defeated. When the results of this vote are read, I will stand in the Well of
the House to hear my expulsion, turn, and exit with the same dignity I came
here with. I’m not giving the people in this room the satisfaction of seeing me
leave in shame.

It’s hard not to feel demoralized though. I have never been
one to deal with failure well, and this is no exception. In the spirit of
sportsmanship, I understand the need to be gracious in defeat on the playing
field. Losing always led me to work that much harder. But this is life, not
sports. Just like when I was Green Beret, the thought of failing is wearing on
my soul, despite the face I’m putting on it.

I wasn’t able to do what the people elected me to. I can
blame the system, or the people toiling under it, but in the end, it is my
responsibility. The people of my district deserve better than what I was able
to deliver. Maybe, in the end, this expulsion is the best thing for them.
Perhaps they need someone who can navigate the political waters of Washington,
something I was warned time and again I don’t have the proper disposition to
do.

With just under two minutes remaining, I can feel a set of
eyes studying me. I have been watched for my reactions as this has played out
from everyone in this room including the media, members, and visitors in the
gallery. I can even feel the beautiful, yet weary eyes of Kylie set upon me.
But this is different.

Searching for the origin of this feeling, I see Congressman
Parker standing in the Well of the House Floor. When he notices me watching
him, he does the most unexpected thing this legislative body has seen in
decades.