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Chapter 20
“Hello Mr. Simms.
How was your trip?” “Very
nice”, I responded, “We brought the RV and will be leaving for
campaign speech venues from here so very comfortable accommodations for
us.” “Nice.
What kind of RV do you have?”
RVs are also a measure of success in the RV world just as the size
and price of your home, and as a highly successful politician I assumed he
had a very nice one too. “A
simple travel trailer really, 26 footer.
We like it being smaller and easier to handle too.
It serves us well.” I
was making excuses for our economy Travel Trailer now, as he responded,
“They are sure cheaper to insure as a trailer.
That is a good thing. My
insurance for our rig is very high. I
bought a Mercedes for our insurance agent for what he receives in
commissions for our RV insurance alone.”
Million dollar plus bus chassis, I thought.
I nailed that one for sure. He
did come back with a compliment though, as we continued.
“Sit down Mr. Simms. Can
I get you anything, coffee, water, maybe a soda water?”
“Coffee please, black. Thank
you Sir.” As he seated me in
a deep, cushiony, low sitting chair he walked around his very large desk
that was spotless in presentation with an abundance of oak, leather, and
apparently real gold appointments. Everything
on his desk was perfect in its place as if he was ready for a tour at any
given moment, no papers left out for anyone to see what he was working on.
He pushed the button on his telephone and called out, “Coffee
please, black.” “I heard
come back over the speaker phone, “Yes Mr. Noble, right away sir”, as
he pushed another button to hang it up.
He sat down in a tall leather and oak office chair with the diamond
button tuck upholstery touch, rolling and swiveling himself up to his
position of power for another of his unimaginable negotiations that he
regularly conducts. From where
I was strategically seated, I was looking up at him, another negotiating
trick. Even sitting up on the
front of this chair, it was impossible for me to get high enough to be at
level with him. At the moment
I saw it was a futile effort, I slid back into the chair and made myself
comfortable. I figured if
indeed he would be looking down on me, he would look down on a confident
person that he was lucky to meet, sitting there high in his baby chair.
I was reaching for all the right attitudes at this point as I knew
this kind of power game from meetings from my sales rep days.
I was in his element. He
had it all down. I had seen it
all. He wasn’t messing with
an idiot though, that I knew. I
started to relax a little and started the conversation to gain a starting
upper hand. He did want to see
me. “So what is it you want,
Senator Noble.” The game
playing was done now. I
recognized it all, just tricks of all trades.
I will let him lead from here.
I figured if I listened and he spoke, I couldn’t make any
mistakes. I would indeed think
before I spoke, and be careful in what I said.
“I see you are creating quite a
stir in the news lately Mr. Simms. In
fact I know all about you. I
have looked into your background a bit, as well as your recent statements
and positions. As a Senator I
have quite a bit of resources available to me as you could imagine.”
“You can call me Goldie if you like Mr. Noble”, I replied.
“Go ahead.” My mind
raced a bit, thinking about the amount of resources he is speaking of.
He could do some deep checking I am sure.
As the Senate Majority Leader, he probably had resources that far
exceeded the State of
Texas
in scope. These were national
resources. This gave me a
real, big brother watching feeling, as he continued.
“I am going to talk to you in confidence now Goldie.
Can I trust you in these next conversations to not let them go any
farther? There are times when
a politician must have confidentiality in their efforts and conversations
to get things done, and not make a spectacle of these conversations,
rather efforts for the American people.
I do work for the American people as Senate Majority Leader,
Goldie. I hold that position
in the highest of respect. What
we are about to talk about; I would need your assurance that you would
have that same level of confidence. Do
I make myself clear Mr. Simms?” “Yes
sir, Mr. Noble. You have my
word of confidence, for the American people sir.”
My breath is baited with anticipation now, nearing excitement
levels. Not showing it to my
best of ability he continues. “To
show you that I am speaking with confidence and know who I am talking to,
I have done an extensive background check on you.
Bare with me as I finish what I am about to say.
I know your drivers record, your work record, your credit record,
your income over your entire life span, who you have worked for and what
you did for a living. You made
some pretty good money in some of your past years.
I know your legal record which I am very glad to see is clean, your
income tax records, even know the very things you have spent your money
on. I know who you have paid
your money to every month and pretty much for what you are buying.
I know your failures, weaknesses, as well as your strengths through
the background checks we have done. I
know your family, your primary friends, even who you have talked to over
the phone for the last year and a half.”
My mind is blown! How
could he know all this? Of
course I can see it, but it is unbelievable!
I feel more vulnerable than anyone could feel in a lifetime of
moments, all rolled up into one. My
entire life has been opened up like a book to this guy!
He continued, “I know how your little canoe store cash flows, I
know you are not a drunk. I
know you were divorced and what dates you married.
I know you have an ex wife, and know she is now remarried.
I know you have a high school degree and your grade point average,
as well as the hours you have in college, 30 to be exact.
I see you did well there too in grade point average, and that you
took psychology, sociology and accounting courses, and that they have
evidently served you well. I
know of your strengths Mr. Simms and your weaknesses.
I know what year make and model of vehicle you drive, even the
color, and your RV is an anniversary edition, a 1997 model.
I have pictures of them. I
know who your father and mother were, and that they have passed on, God
rest their soul Goldie. Allow
me to continue. I have
pictures of the fires at your store and home, and again want to express my
grief for the fires. I also
see that you were not defeated when all that happened.
That to me too, shows your conviction to pursue this direction you
have taken. Perseverance and
tenacity is indeed what it takes to carry through what you are about to
embark on. One has to be thick
skinned to be President, and it is apparent that you know that the fires
were probably related to your political views and statements, and in spite
of that are willing to move forward. Your
wife is supportive too, and that is also a genuine requirement for anyone
to do something like this. It
is apparent that she is indeed behind you.
Am I right Mr. Simms? Goldie?”
I am speechless. Just
having myself totally revealed to this guy, never meeting him before, I
replied with a cracking voice, “Yes she is Mr. Noble.”
Before I could speak another word he continued.
“Goldie, welcome to the world of politics.
You surely knew that you would be investigated, and that any little
thing that you have done will be known.
It will be known by your friends that will help you, your enemies
that will dig deeper yet to try to hurt you, reflected and publicized in
every political smear campaign they can put together.
These sources I use to check your background information are the
same ones used by everyone in the political arena.
Your life will be opened up like a book.
The only way to keep that from happening in life today is to be
quiet and unimportant. You are
on the opposite end of the spectrum at this point.
You are now a key individual for your political enemies and you
already have those. You are
also a key focus to the press, on a national level.
They will do anything for a scoop or a juicy story.
You will even be subject to someone digging through the trash that
might have no affiliation with something that is obvious, rather than
someone that wants to sell a piece of a story for the big bucks.
Everyone has dollars in their eyes Goldie.
It is the world we live in now-a-days.
Get used to that. I dug
just like an enemy would, because I wanted to find it first.
If I found anything like that at all, I would have told you that
too. I realize it would have
felt like a slap in the face, but believe me; you would want to hear it in
this office first, rather than the 300 million American residents hearing
it first, and with the reaches beyond our borders that will increase that
audience size by the multiples. If
it were bad information, you would be slammed at every door you open,
every corner you turn, and you would never get away from it no matter
where you live. This is not
just getting ideas out there Goldie. You
are putting yourself up for scrutiny.
This will change your family’s life.
You will be owned by the public, and your life will never be the
same. The only thing I see that might come back on you is your divorce and
how mean your ex-wife will be. She
can make statements that can tear you apart.
A book deal for her now would make her rich, especially as the
ex-wife of a successful candidate that has national attention.
She will get asked when they find that out.
You can bet on it. She
doesn’t even need any writing ability.
All she has to do is be interviewed, and they will write the book
for her, and work to skew it to make it a top seller.
I am going to ask you point blank, and I want to preface this
question with the fact that I am your friend at this point; otherwise I
would not have you in my office and spent the effort I have on you, to
research your background, to invite you here.
I need to know Goldie. What
is it? What is the ghost in
your closet Goldie? What has
little Golden Simms done as a child that will come back on him.
What did you do in those couple of college years that will haunt
you? What is it Goldie?
Like hookers do you? Are
you a closet druggie? Have you
had any affairs? Any crooked
deal gone sour? Do you have
any sexual perversions that you committed with anyone?
Did you treat children in a not so respectable manner Goldie?
Are you an internet pervert, stalking children?
Did you ever even think about it?
For God’s Sakes man, tell me now and save yourself from a
lifetime of agony! Many
politicians are successful lawyers Goldie.
I am one, and some of my colleagues would eat you alive!”
The ringing in my ears is profound
now. The room is nearly in a
spin. This guy is ruthless!
He could tear someone’s head off in a courtroom.
I could sure see that. For
this moment I feel very small in that little chair, like I was in the
principal’s office getting chewed out, remembering the moments when my
father lectured me until I could barely stand it.
I felt like a criminal! This
was not just a negotiation, a sweet walk in the park.
The scary thing, he was right, and that was indeed the very scary
part! I had no idea where he
would take this from here, but it didn’t matter.
There are a lot of lawyers out there that would do the same thing,
so no matter what I told him, it would come out or someone else would run
with the bad news. He was
right too. It could be a
neighbor with their own agenda of money, knowing I had a phone bill in the
trash and finding calls that my wife made to a female friend and could
make everyone think I was having a regular affair!
They will be after me, good, bad, and indifferent, just for
stories. Made up ones too!
My mind switched to Margie. Marge
Simms, my beautiful wife. I
now am seeing this might not have been a good idea with a genuine concern
for her well being, safety, quality of life.
Then I again remembered what she said.
Be careful what you say, think before you speak.
As I gathered my thoughts, Ben Noble spoke again, seeing I was at a
loss for words. “Relax for
the moment Mr. Simms. Can I
get you another cup of coffee? I
am going out to see if there are any messages for me.
I’ll give you a few minutes.
I know this was hard but I made it so for a reason.
These are realities of politics Golden.
I once had someone criticize me for having something on my boots
after being out on our cattle ranch that morning and coming into the
office. I didn’t even make
it in to my office and it was in the local papers that I had stepped in to
something; you got it, dog manure. Yes
it smelled. I had a week with
my name and an affiliation with dog manure, a photograph and all.
It was a slow news week. That’s
what you get when you are a politician.
I am not scared of what they make up.
I would only be scared of them finding something that was real,
that could really hurt you. Take
it easy and I will get you some coffee.
We have some fine tasting Danish rolls this morning too, so I will
get you one.” With that, he
stepped out. My mind is
relaxing a little after that initial assault.
This guy is good, in every way.
If he represents my potential political enemies, I might indeed be
out of my league. After
everything that has happened in our small world, this is starting to
broaden my view a bit, some of which I didn’t like very much.
No matter how nice you are, no matter if all you want to do is
help, it doesn’t matter. There
is someone out there that wants to burn your house down.
They will also burn your business down, and now try to deface you
and reduce your life to rubbles, and possibly my wife’s too.
This made the fires seem small in scope.
Then my mind started racing about what folks could find out about
me. What was it that could be
held against me? I really
can’t think of anything at all really.
I have been hard working, not late pay, honest, think, think…
Senator Ben Noble walks back into the
room. At that point I am
feeling more sick than relaxed, he set the coffee and rolls down on the
table by my chair from which I had not moved.
Then he spoke once again. “Goldie,
now I can tell you the reason you are here.
I have been honest with you; once again appreciate your
confidentiality, as I will hold the same for you.
The Republican Party is ailing right now.
There is not one person I can think of, including myself, which I
believe could turn the party around with enough change that the American
people want that will win the election.
With these elections coming up, I am not even sure I will be the
Senate Majority Leader anymore. I
will probably lose that post to a Democrat.
It saddens me, and with the Presidential elections coming up I feel
we will lose it altogether. You
have three options. You could
run as Democrat, and good luck with that.
They are lining up deep for that spot already so would be an uphill
battle for sure. There is a
lot of competition in that party. Everyone
wants to be the next President, some for maybe the wrong reasons.
Then there is an independent ticket.
No independent has ever won. You
will indeed get your ideas noticed and possibly affect policy, but that is
only for a short time. The
personal agendas come back into play as all politicians have, then your
ideas will all be diluted. Then
there is of course the Republican ticket.
As the current Senate Majority Leader I have a lot of influence,
and right now, I am the only potential candidate within the party that has
a fighting chance. I have no
real dirty laundry. The
elections are not won by the people, Goldie.
The elections are won by the Electoral College, of which we are the
members. The people elect us,
we elect the President. You
need us. You must have a
majority of those votes to win. This
is why the independents will never make it.
They are just idea generators.
You need friends in the Senate as well as House of Representatives.
Lastly with all this, I need for you to think through the things I
talked about and I need a commitment from you that if I get behind you,
you will not embarrass me. I
am going out on a limb here Goldie, this being the reason I had to do the
background check. You look
pretty clean Goldie; otherwise I would have never called you into my
office. I had a couple of
colleagues here and we discussed you at great detail.
It actually got heated, but they all said, what have we got to
loose. The people really seem
to like you Goldie. The press,
for whatever reason is on your side. We
also agreed that you might actually have a chance with a real political
party behind you. I don’t
know how this is happening, but you really might have a real shot at being
the next President of the
United States
with the proper support. People
are clamoring for you. You
have had more press than most independents.
It is all good press too. No
one seems to be taking a shot at your ideas in a negative way, and that is
real good Goldie. It takes a
talent to come out like that. Many
would be a laughing stock to someone at this point, but not you.
We do like your ideas, and obviously we need someone with some
fresh ideas, change for the better, someone that speaks from truth and
from the heart. You are doing
that Goldie. But remember,
don’t stick me! If I get
behind you with my constituents and colleges and you mess me up it could
ruin my career. If you are
hiding something, if you quit, if you do anything really stupid, I will be
the first one to come after you, if I have any career left.
I would indeed love to become President of the
United States
, but our party has been such an embarrassment of late with the actions of
a few. Unless we do something
entirely different, we are toast. I
know this. I believe in our
Republican Party Golden. I
believe in the reason I am here, and I believe in serving the American
People. Maybe I am a rare
politician Goldie but I am the first to think that we do need that Golden
Boy as you are called, and Mr. Simms, and you just might be it.
I am indeed asking you if you want to be our chosen leading
Republican Presidential Candidate.”
Silence
broke. Time stood still for
the moment, as I reeled in all the conversation that he presented to me.
Without having any idea how much time passed he spoke again.
“I have a lunch meeting Goldie and will leave you to your
thoughts. We have your phone
number, and here is my private cell number.”
He scratches something on a small piece of paper and hands it to
me. “Give it a couple of
days and talk to your wife. You
have a lot to think about, and search yourself Goldie.
Are you a real possible candidate?
You see what you are up against a little bit, so maybe with the
right thought processes, you can step up to the real plate and join us.
You will get coaching, as well as support.
I don’t think you will have to worry about money.
We are a group of fundraisers and you will now have all that on
your side. You can go
independent and run with those ideas of yours, and we might even adopt one
or two, just to get your votes. Democrats
will indeed look to see what they are throwing votes your way for, and
work to exploit those ideas, with no intention of implementing them.
It is the way of the world now.
Or you can join us in the Republican Party and get support, and
actually have a shot at it. That
is if you are ready. Are you
ready Golden? That is the
question. Are you really ready
to be President of the
United States
? Go back to your RV and be
with your wife. Take the day
and enjoy yourself.
Austin
is a beautiful city. We
welcome you as our guest to our State and our Capitol city.”
At that moment he hit the button on his phone and called out, Mr.
Simms will be leaving now.” “Yes
Mr. Noble, Sir”, she answered back.
With that, the door opens and the receptionist walks in to escort
me out. Right now, I just want
to go home to Margie.
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