Intentional Consequences

by Charles Harris

  Billings said, “Let me add some more context before we move to specifics. Single-party governance is about winning the presidency and the Senate and retaining the House in 2020 and adding structural changes that will preserve and enhance control for years. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish.

  “We’re not doing this for the party. We’re doing it for America’s future. Our political structure made sense 230 years ago. It doesn’t make sense today, when we’re competing with countries like China.”

  Bernbach said, “Mr. Franks, it’s critical you understand that to us and to America, this is much more than trying to get our preferred candidate elected.”

  Franks said, “I do understand. I get it. I’m ready to help you make it happen.”

  They spent two hours talking through various options for implementing the goals Billings had laid out. Among other things, they discussed how to put together their social media and data analytics team.

  Franks said, “I typically use several smaller social media marketing firms so I can split up the work and make things harder to trace. Do you have any preferences on where we go?”

  Billings had none. Bernbach said, “My main concern is to be sure we have the talent we need.”

  Franks said, “The best outfit in the business is a company down in Austin called ‘JPAC’. Stands for ‘Johnson Political Analytics Consultants’ or something like that. ‘PAC’ doesn’t mean Political Action Committee. It’s run by a guy named Dan Johnson, who got his start working for Obama’s social media team in 2008. He has about 100 people, more during campaigns. He’s a wizard at creating messaging infrastructure and cross-testing and refining the results of everything. Uses lots of artificial intelligence. Unlike most of these guys, he won’t give clients exclusivity. But he does use separate internal teams for his clients. I’m sure he’s already working with some of the Democratic presidential candidates.”

  Bernbach said, “I’ve heard of JPAC. Have you worked with them?”

  Franks said, “Yes, several different assignments. Strong results every time.”

  Bernbach said, “Sounds a guy we need with us.”

  By prior arrangement, Bernbach dropped off the call and left the ground-level strategies for Billings and Franks. Billings probed Franks about his experience using virtual assassination to destroy credibility and careers. They re-visited their earlier discussions about collateral damage. Franks told Billings about his initial steps to create questions about Valerie Williams’ wealth and professional reputation.

  The two men shared an early dinner Billings’ housekeeper set on the dining room table. They ate overlooking the late afternoon sun on the mountains. Spring was greening the valley. At the elevation of Billings’ house, the bare trees were heavy with buds, but only the serviceberry trees and a few early dogwoods blessed by the warming sun were blooming.

  Spring. Rebirth. The promise of things to come.

  Chapter 28

  The following day, David Bernbach’s driver dropped him off at the entrance to the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven. Light rain was drizzling from grey skies, making the whole campus monochromatic. He took the elevator to the third floor and looked through the modern and contemporary art galleries. Thirty minutes later, he walked a few blocks to the Yale Law School for a meeting with Leonard Mayer. They met in a small seminar room a friend of Mayer’s had arranged.

  Mayer was sitting in the seminar room when Bernbach arrived. Mayer was in a suit and tie. Bernbach was in a sport jacket with an open collar white shirt. “Thanks for getting here on short notice,” Mayer said. “I’m glad you were in Westport. At least you had a shorter drive than I did.”

  Bernbach said, “I hope this was worth the trip, Leonard. It sure blew my day.”

  “Mine as well, but we had to talk.”

  “So, what do we need to talk about?”

  Mayer said, “We have a young journalist who’s been working on a story that may involve you. He’s a bright young man, the kind who fancies a Pulitzer someday and just might get one.”

  Bernbach said, “Well, do what publisher’s do. Kill it. Have him use his talents on some other story.”

  “It’s not going to be easy to cut him off. His editor thinks he may be on to something and they’re both pushing to keep going. If I start making arbitrary decisions about this, it will raise questions. If we shut him down, this guy could easily take his theories somewhere else. He worked for The Washington Post for several years. Remember what they say about coverups. It’s not the act being covered up that does you in. What puts you in jail is a cover up that fails.”

  “What’s his name, anyway?”

  “Probably better if you don’t know at this point. I don’t need you doing something impulsive to divert his interest.”

  “Thanks for your confidence. Keeping me in the dark may better for you or him, but it’s not better for me.”

  Mayer glared at him through matte black eyeglasses. “Point taken. His name’s Andy Baker.”

  Bernbach said, “OK, what’s Mr. Baker on to?”

  “His basic premise is you’re using your hedge fund investments and your political connections to improperly influence the 2020 elections.”

  Bernbach said, “What’s proper and improper these days is usually in the eye of the beholder. Nothing very exciting about his premise, although I admit I wouldn’t necessarily want my hedge fund investors to think I’m investing for political returns instead of financial returns. I’m doing it for both, by the way. What does he think would be so interesting about this to your readers?”

  “Don’t patronize me, David. We’ve talked a lot about your goal of taking advantage of the bitterness and partisanship in our politics to drive radical changes in 2020 and usher in your single-party political system.”

  “Yes, we both know I’m pursuing that. So what?”

  “I guess it depends on how you’re doing it and who you’re doing it with. Let me tell you some of the things our Mr. Baker has got in his file box so far. He’s created a detailed matrix of your company investments and political ties starting with the 2008 presidential election. He’s aware of your investment in PaprW8. That news is already public, of course. He sees PaprW8 as a vehicle for using social media to target ads and influence voter behavior. He’s aware your fund is an investor in your friend Jason Chen’s China partnership fund, and he’s identified several of their portfolio companies in China he thinks could improve the effectiveness of PaprW8’s political advertising. He’s read a blogpost by Valerie Williams, which suggests the Chinese, having learned from the Russians, may be working to influence the 2020 elections. He’s compiled a long list of data breaches in the U.S. that have been attributed to the Chinese. He thinks the Chinese could be supplying or using stolen data on American voters to target ads or manipulate voter opinions., He’s trying to find a way to connect that to you or one of your companies. PaprW8 is at the top of his list. He has more, but you get the idea.”

  Mayer added, “Incidentally, our journalist is going to Austin this weekend, supposedly for a wedding but maybe for other things as well. Besides Professor Williams at the University of Texas, there are a lot of people and companies down there he could find interesting, from Dell to CloudStrike to JPAC, the political analytics firm Rakesh Jain invested in. JPAC just may be the best political analytics firm in the business.”

  “Is your man from Austin?”

  “No, but he graduated from UT-Austin. He grew up in New York City. His dad’s a global M&A lawyer there.”

  “And why would the Chinese decide to influence our 2020 elections?”

  Mayer said, “Lots of reasons: to get rid of Trump and bring on a Democrat who’ll be more interested in spreading socialism than leveling tariffs and defending America’s interests in Asia; to stop Trump from trying to destroy Huawei’s global leadership in 5G technology; and to elect somebody like Elizabeth Warren, who’s intent on breaking up the big U.S. tech companies—which would assure Chinese
dominance. As Valerie Williams said in her blogpost, the Chinese saw the huge return the Russians achieved in their rudimentary social media efforts in the 2016 elections. You know the Chinese business model for everything. Find it, copy it, make it better and scale the hell out of it. Why should influencing U.S. presidential elections be any different?”

  “So, would the Chinese want a centrist like Biden or a progressive like Sanders?”

  “I don’t think that’s the issue at this stage. They don’t want Trump. They want a U.S. partner who can put together a machine that can beat Trump. In the short term, the Chinese benefit from a machine that just makes Trump look like he can be defeated. If Trump looks beatable, the Chinese will slow walk the tariff negotiations, hoping he’ll compromise on easier terms to have a win ahead of the election. And if he loses, they’ll just wait for his predecessor to restore normal trade relations.”

  “Is there more?”

  Yes. What triggered this meeting today was a call I received yesterday from our mutual friend, Tung-Yen Lee, the social sciences professor at Berkeley. He was quite agitated. Said our journalist had tried to reach him and had left a voicemail message saying he was working on an article and wanted to ask him some questions. When Lee called him back, his first questions were about you.”

  “About me?”

  “Yes, and they were very pointed.”

  “Fuck, Leonard. Why would your journalist do that? Why would he think a leading Chinese-American social science professor like T.Y. would know anything about me?”

  “That was my question. He could have received a tip. Or he could have been fishing. You don’t need to dig far on the internet to find Lee’s reputation for being close to the Chinese government. You also don’t have to dig to find your father’s roles as an international banker and an adviser to Beijing in the eighties.

  “Regardless of why Baker called him, here’s the important part. Lee told me very clearly your name cannot be publicly linked to anything suggesting the Chinese may be trying to influence American elections. If it is, he said his colleagues will cut you and your companies off. He said this would mean no data, no technology, no deals. I assume you know what he means.”

  “I do.”

  Mayer said, “I don’t understand the details of what you’re doing, and I don’t want to. No need to know. No desire to know. But I introduced you to Lee and I did it knowing you wanted an intermediary who could help you cut deals at the highest levels of the Chinese government. Based on what Lee said to me, I assume he’s helped you do this, or he’s in the process of helping you. Am I correct?”

  Bernbach said, “You’re right, you don’t need to know. But you were good to tell me about Lee. We both understand T.Y.’s roles with the Chinese government and the party. I just hope your reporter’s dumb-assed questions don’t make him overreact. I have a lot riding on the relationships he’s helped me create. I’ll reach out to him.”

  Bernbach paused, staring at the rain falling outside the window. Then he added, “Leonard, you need to do whatever it takes to kill this story. It’s not just my ass on the line. You’ve cut your own deals through Lee. You’ve used their data to help build your subscriber base. You’ve published misleading stories he’s supplied to you. You’ve helped the Chinese destroy the reputations of Chinese American activists. If your Mr. Baker keeps pulling strings, one of them may lead to you.”

  “I’m aware of that, David. You and I go back a long way and we work well together. I can assure you of two things. I’ll do everything I can to keep this story from running. But if it does run, you need to understand I don’t plan to be in it.”

  After getting back to Westport that afternoon, Bernbach called Ward, who stepped out of a meeting to talk with him. Bernbach said, “I need a quick favor. I just learned a Sentinel Observer reporter is researching a story on my political activities that may not be complimentary. Can you run a report on him using your CnEyeco test system and get it to me this afternoon?”

  “Sure, if he’s in the database. What’s his name?”

  “Andy Baker. I don’t have a photo yet, but there may be one on LinkedIn or someplace online. He lives and works in Boston. Used to be with The Washington Post.”

  An hour later, Bernbach had the report, which ran 56 pages. It included information about Baker’s background, parents, education and employment history, along with a few photographs and copies of his bylined media articles.

  After he’d scanned the report, Bernbach called Billings to have Franks set up surveillance on Baker, both in Boston and in Austin over the weekend when he’d be there for the wedding. Bernbach sent three photos from the report to Billings to help with the surveillance. He also called one of his best researchers, who promised Bernbach a credit report, a criminal records check, a lifestyle report and a lot more photographs no later than Monday. Fair Credit Reporting Act and other laws notwithstanding, hedge funds are good at finding information.

  ◆◆◆

  That evening, two students were arrested for throwing blue paint on Professor Valerie Williams car at the University of Texas at Austin earlier in the day. Neither student was in any of her classes.

  Chapter 29

  “Ilove this one,” the elegant-looking woman said as she pointed to a large framed print of one of Eva’s digital flower designs. “The colors are so vibrant. The geometries are so aggressive. Was this produced from real flowers?”

  Eva smiled. “Thank you. Yes, but in an unusual way. The print you see was created with a computer using artificial intelligence, or ‘AI’ as we call it.” Eva explained her collaborative process with her AI.

  “That’s amazing,” the woman said. “Bill,” she called to her husband. “We have to have this. This one.”

  They were at an evening reception for the opening of a sole showing of Eva’s work at a trendy gallery in downtown San Francisco, not far from Union Square. The turnout was strong, and the gallery was packed. The gallery owner had done a good job of promoting the opening and Eva’s work.

  Eva had flown out alone the day before. The business trip was her first since the home invasion, and she was glad to have the distraction. Dan had volunteered to come along, but she knew she needed to go by herself to bring some normalcy back to her life.

  She was in her element at the reception, surrounded by art patrons and artists, talking about her work. She was also selling her work at a good pace, which was the one objective measure of art appreciation Eva believed in. Looking the part she wanted to play, she was wearing a yellow silk jersey jumpsuit with long sleeves and cropped legs. The collar was turned up and the top unbuttoned just enough to reveal a gold rope necklace that dangled a single piece of orange coral between her tanned braless breasts.

  In the second hour of the show, she noticed an attractive woman watching her from across the room. Later, the woman moved closer, waiting for an opportunity to talk. “Hi,” she said. “I’ve been enjoying your work and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Susan Ward. I’m COO of PaprW8 in Menlo Park.”

  Eva said, “Thank you for coming. Where did you hear about my work?”

  Ward said, “I’ve bought some things from this gallery and noticed you had a show coming up. I was interested in how you use AI in your digital work.”

  “That’s great. Is there anything I can tell you?”

  “I’ve seen your website. You’ve been in digital art since you graduated. Carnegie Mellon, I think. How long have you been using AI in your work?”

  They spent a few minutes talking. As Eva sought to break away to mingle with some other guests, Ward said, “I see you live in Austin. Are you any relation to Dan Johnson, who runs JPAC?”

  Eva said, “Yes, we’re married. Do you know Dan?”

  “No, but I know we do a lot of political marketing for JPAC’s clients. He has quite a following.”

  As the reception was ending around 9:00 p.m., Eva noticed Ward was still there, talking with the gallery owner in the back of the main room. The own
er caught Eva’s eye and motioned her to join them. They were standing in front of a row of large black and white photographs Eva had created. In the middle, the line was broken by an 80” diagonal flat screen display hung vertically, like the one in Eva’s bathroom. The owner flashed through several photos on the screen until she came to a black and white version of Eva’s topless in New York shot. As several of the remaining guests looked on, the owner said, “I was showing this sequence to Susan and trying to explain how you do this amazing editing.”

  Eva said, “I created this set using a digital editing program I designed with a classmate when I was at CMU. We’ve made a lot of progress since those days.”

  Looking closely at the pixels on the display, Ward said, “This photo is really remarkable. It absolutely looks like you were there. Do you do all this manually or do you use AI in this too?”

  “Oh, the software uses AI. We could never get this level of speed and accuracy manually.”

  “Have you thought about commercializing this for other applications?”

  “Yes, we started a software company some years ago. My former classmate runs it.”

  “Is it also in Austin?”

  “No, Pittsburgh.”

  “What’s the name of the company?”

  “It’s called Daneva Technologies.”

  “I was really amazed by the way the photo of you in New York matched the angle of the light. Where was the topless photo of you taken?”

  Eva said, “In my studio in Austin.”

  “Did you take it before or after the photo in New York was taken?”

  “It was after. The New York photo is a stock photo we licensed.”

  “So, do you have some way of matching things like light angles and shadows?”

  Eva laughed and said, “We have some sophisticated algorithms, but we tend not to disclose the details.”