Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt-Chapter 82 - 62: The Peacemaker
"Kod, since you’re being so direct, I won’t beat around the bush either."
Sanders’s easygoing expression vanished, his gaze turning sharp.
"This isn’t just about the bill. This is about the rules."
"We sit here in Washington talking about unity, about how to win elections. But back on the ground, in Pennsylvania, certain people are using despicable tactics to try and crush our most dynamic candidate."
Montoya frowned. "Pennsylvania? What are you talking about?"
As the House Whip, his focus was on the big picture—the vote counts. He wasn’t fully aware of specific local disputes.
"Pittsburgh," Sanders bit out the name. "A young man of mine, Leo Wallace, is running for Mayor there. A few days ago, his access to the VAN System data was cut off for no reason."
"The given reason was a so-called ’data compliance review,’ citing a new rule the Democratic National Committee passed just three months ago."
Sanders looked at Montoya, a hint of mockery in his tone.
"Kod, you and I both know that level of technical blockade isn’t something the idiot Mayor of Pittsburgh could pull off. This comes from someone inside the Democratic National Committee. Someone’s playing dirty, trying to lay down the law for the Progressives, trying to tell us this is still their turf."
Montoya was stunned for a moment.
He never imagined that a congressional revolt, one that torpedoed a five-billion-US-Dollar bill, could have been triggered by a data access issue in a city’s mayoral primary.
’This is like using a nuke to kill a mosquito.’
"All for this?" Montoya asked in disbelief. "You’d dare pull a stunt this big in the House of Representatives over a single mayoral candidate’s account?"
"Yes. All for this."
Sanders’s voice suddenly rose, filled with power.
"If our candidates are on the front lines, charging into battle, only to be stabbed in the back by our own people; if we can’t even guarantee a level playing field, then what’s all this talk about unity? About winning the mid-term elections?"
"Kod, this isn’t a small matter. It’s a signal."
"Someone wants to purge us, so we’ll bring the whole machine to a grinding halt."
Silence fell over the office.
Montoya looked at the stubborn old man before him. He knew Sanders was serious.
This breakdown of political understanding, this reckless, table-flipping behavior, gave Montoya a real headache.
As the Whip, his job was to solve problems.
"Alright." Montoya took a deep breath and sat back down in his chair. "I’ll look into it. If someone at the Democratic National Committee has overstepped, I’ll make them back off."
"Not just back off." Sanders stood up, adjusting his suit. "I want to see results."
...
「Three days later, at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters.」
A closed-door meeting of the "Rules and Bylaws Committee" was underway in a spacious conference room.
This was the most critical meeting for deciding the allocation of resources for next year’s mid-term elections.
Around the long, oval conference table sat the Democratic Party’s heavyweights: leaders of the Establishment Faction, representatives from major Unions, agents of top donors, and core members of the Progressives.
The air was thick with tension.
The recent incident in the House of Representatives hung over everyone’s heads like a dark cloud.
The Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a man with meticulously combed hair and the quintessential representative of the Establishment elite, spoke first.
He turned on his microphone. His tone was steady, but his words were barbed.
"Everyone, the situation for next year’s mid-term elections is extremely serious. To protect our majority in Congress, we need to concentrate our resources more effectively."
"We must ensure that every candidate we nominate has broad appeal. We cannot allow extreme or controversial rhetoric to scare away moderate voters."
His gaze swept over the Progressive committee members present.
"Therefore, I propose that for the allocation of primary resources in Swing States, we should favor moderate, reliable candidates. At the same time, for those radical candidates who might stir up controversy, we must conduct more stringent background checks and qualification screenings."
’He might as well have just said, "We’re going to purge all of Sanders’s people."’
A low murmur of discussion rippled through the conference room.
The members from the Establishment Faction nodded frequently in agreement.
Then it was Sanders’s turn to speak.
He wasn’t a member of this committee, but as a heavyweight in the Senate, he had the right to attend and speak. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
He slowly rose to his feet.
"Mr. Chairman, my colleagues."
Sanders’s voice was hoarse, but it carried immense power.
"Just now, the Chairman spoke of broad appeal, of being reliable. These are all very nice-sounding words."
"But I want to ask all of you, while we’re here pontificating about how to win elections, what is our party apparatus actually doing in the real world—in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania?"
He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket—a printout of the screenshot of the red warning Leo had received.
He slammed the paper down on the conference table.
"They are using the most despicable, most shameless bureaucratic tactics to try and crush the most dynamic young candidate in our own party—the one who is best able to win the support of the working class!"
"Leo Wallace, a young man who started from scratch in the Rust Belt, who brought thousands of blue-collar workers, completely disillusioned with politics, back into the Democratic Party’s fold—his data access was inexplicably cut off a few days ago!"
