Chip shrugged. “From what I’ve seen, he’s a decent enough cop, but he’s also a political cop. I don’t see him ever becoming Commissioner, but he’ll definitely end up as the guy who whispers in the Commissioner’s ear.”
“Well, I’ll just have to keep my sins away from here. No use looking for trouble, is there,” I said, smiling.
Chip nodded again, and we headed back inside. “Forewarned, forearmed,” he repeated.
We made it out of Government House without causing an international incident and fomenting a war in the Caribbean. Sunday we goofed off and Monday we flew home. On the plane home, while Marilyn took a nap, I had a quiet conversation with Joe and Marie in the back of the plane. We could always look into checking for bugs another time.
It was time to start becoming a Congressman. God help America!
Chapter 106: Orientation
Things began getting hectic for me as soon as we got back. We packed Granny and Gramps back to Utica, and went back to being Mom and Dad for a week. Tuesday, at the office, I had to begin making things official. I called the brain trust into the office, and went over the plans we had worked out, and then we called everybody into our biggest conference room. It was tight, but we made it. Then I stood up and I made the following announcements:
Starting in January I was going to have a whole new job. I was going to leave the company. As if anybody could have possibly not known this!
The Buckman Group was not ending. We had a great thing going here, and we were going to keep going.
Effective December 31, I would resign my position as President and CEO. I was keeping all my stock, so keep working hard! Meanwhile, I had to start getting out of here.
Effective December 31, John was becoming Chairman Emeritus. Jake Senior was staying as Treasurer. They were still the grownups.
Effective December 31, Jake Junior was becoming Chairman and Missy was becoming President. They were effectively running the place now anyway, so let’s make it official.
I’m not going to disappear! Expect to see my smiling face every once in a while. Besides, the voters might catch on, sooner or later, that I was clueless and throw me out!
This outfit was just about the best thing I had ever built in my life, short of my kids, and I was immensely proud of the work they had done. Thank you!
After the meeting, I shooed everybody back out, but I asked one of the secretaries to stay behind. She was Cheryl Dedrick, and the closest thing I had to a personal secretary-assistant. She had also been one of my earliest supporters, and had been a very useful queen bee during the campaign. She would be perfect for what I had in mind. I led her over to the coffee table and said, “Cheryl, have a seat. I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Of course, Mister Buckman, er, Congressman Buckman,” she said, smiling. She sat down in an armchair and I sat down in a chair facing her.
“Cheryl, let me ask you, have you enjoyed working with the Buckman Group? With me?”
“Yes, sir.” She looked confused. “Mister Buckman, is there a problem? Have I done something wrong?!”
My eyes popped open at that, but then I realized I had started this out all wrong! I waved my hands and quickly answered, “No, no, it’s nothing like that! No, you’re doing just fine here. I have a job proposition for you.”
“Oh! For a second there you had me going. Is this something new, here? I mean, now that you won’t be here, who will I be working with?”
I smiled. “Yes, that’s the problem, isn’t it? Here’s my idea. Mister Buckman won’t be here, but Congressman Buckman is going to need somebody manning the office in Westminster. Cheryl, would you be interested in working for me at my local office?”
Now it was her chance to open her eyes wide. “Wow! I never expected that!”
“I wasn’t doing a very good job of asking about this when we started. I apologize for that. No, I am going to need somebody I know and trust back here. I plan on getting back here a lot, since we’re so close, but I am going to be using the campaign offices as my local office. You were part of the team that got me there, so how about coming to work for me as my local rep? You live in Westminster, right? It would actually be a much shorter drive, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, sir. Westminster would actually be closer,” she agreed.
“Okay. Here’s the deal. I don’t know what the pay would be, but you’ll be a government employee of some sort. If things don’t work out, we’ll keep a place available here, including accruing for seniority, pension vesting, and such. Personnel will write a letter stating you can come back at any time if it doesn’t work out, you know, like when the voters catch on I don’t know what I’m doing.” That earned me a laugh. “We’re going to have to make some phone calls to figure this out. Now, do you want to talk it over with your husband?”
She shook her head. “No, he won’t have a problem with this. I’m your gal for this! This is great! When do I start?”
“I don’t know yet, but let’s tell the others.” I stuck out my hand and we shook on it. Then I led her down the hall and we told the new Chairman and President. They both gave us a thumbs up. Then I sent her off to find a note pad and a pen, and we started making some plans.
Talk to Brew McRiley.
Talk to Andrea Greene about leasing the campaign offices.
Talk to Andrea about buying a home in D.C.
Arrange for accommodations in Washington for the Orientation week. Talk to Taylor Hannity about a hotel room for the week, maybe longer.
Get the final details for the Orientation week,
and finally
Talk to Brew McRiley!
I really needed to talk to Brewster. He needed to give me some last minute instruction on how Congress worked before I got there. Sure, we had Orientation coming up, but I didn’t even know what I needed to know before I got that far! Behind the scenes in Congress are thousands of people who never make the evening news, but if you don’t do it right, you will be history.
Back when I was in the Army, they had long experience with new people coming into new commands, and they had developed schools and introductory courses so a new officer, no matter how bad he was, didn’t seem like an idiot when he got somewhere. The reverse had been the case with the Buckman Group, but we had the benefit of not actually knowing what we were doing anyway. We made it up as we went along. I had a feeling that Congress might be closer to a shark tank, and I would need to at least know how to dog paddle before I got there.
I had debated asking Brewster if he might be interested in a position as my Chief of Staff, but I shot that idea down almost as quickly as I came up with it. McRiley wasn’t interested in politics as a means to get anything accomplished. He saw it as a game, and liked to play the game. He was a mercenary and simply moved from campaign to campaign, playing the game, and winning or losing. For him, winning simply meant an opportunity to move to a bigger campaign. No, while I would get a lot of information from him, he wouldn’t be part of my team, at least not until I was running again.
I cornered McRiley and got him into my office after lunch on Wednesday. “So, Brew, tell me how to be a Congressman!” I asked.
Brew laughed loudly at that. “Oh, Carl, you’re such a babe in the woods! Nobody cares about being a Congressman! They only care about being reelected!”
I rolled my eyes, but smiled. This was pretty much in line with what he had told me all through the campaign. “Humor me, Brewster. Imagine that I actually gave a shit about being a Congressman. I know it’s a stretch, but try to imagine it.”