“Read the next page on the scorecard document.”
“Senator Milsap has refused to cooperate. The senator has lessened our leverage by coming clean with his wife about his transgressions and asking for her forgiveness. They wiretapped his phone and heard him tell his wife this was his last vote and he was going to retire and let the chips fall where they may. He was going to leave the state senate and focus on his family,” said Beard, encapsulating the next three pages of notes.
“The state senate vote was expected to be very close, coming down to one or two votes,” recalled Will.
“Look at the last entry,” noted Beard.
“Milsap is noted as not scheduled to vote,” read Will.
“He can’t vote when he's dead,” said Zach angrily.
“Them sons of bitches wiretapped all those senators for months,” said Will as he studied the documents closely. “The administration turned the entire national security apparatus on to defeat this referendum. Who the hell is overseeing the FISA court?”
“While you try to wrap your heads around this, let me get to the major item I found,” said Beard.
“The major item? This is getting progressively worse as we go. So far, we’ve got a Supreme Court chief justice and a Texas state senator assassinated, not to mention a dozen or so state legislators extorted to vote no,” said Zach. Physically disgusted, he stood up and began to pace back and forth. “I’m not sure I’m ready to see what’s next.”
“Take a look at this one,” Beard told them. “There is an extensive file with an extra layer of encryption that took me most of the night to break.”
Zach read the file name on the screen, “Operation Audacious?”
“Assassinating Justice Noyner wasn’t audacious enough?” Will chimed in.
“What the hell do these diagrams represent?” asked Zach as Beard pulled up schematic diagrams that detailed computer network connections.
“There are twenty-nine counties, representing forty-six polling places in eight states during the last election, overlaid against the major telecom carrier internet points of presence, or major gateways,” instructed Beard.
“Let me guess. Those polling places have CIS voting systems in place,” guessed Zach.
“You got it, Zach.”
“Look at the list of counties. All of them would be considered key swing counties in battleground states,” said Beard.
“Damnit, I have tried to tell people for years how insane it was to use a foreign-owned company for our election balloting systems,” said Zach.
“Well, we knew CIS had sold balloting systems in forty-two states last time we looked,” said Will.
“It’s now up to forty-six states,” replied Beard.
“Damn, Beard, I sure as hell don’t like where this is going,” said Zach.
“CIS operates a network operations center (NOC), in Falls Church, Virginia. All of these diagrams point to network connections established to and from that NOC to all ballot systems in the United States, in each polling place where they are using CIS voting booths, servers and software.”
“Wait, I thought many states required the connections as part of the contract award to CIS to be connected directly to each state’s secretary of state or state election headquarters,” said Will.
“That’s true; however, they offer every state a backup cloud solution to retrieve data in the event they lose a connection, lose data, or their state systems go down. This effectively gives CIS direct peering ability into the vote tallies for each polling place server, and even the balloting booths themselves,” explained Beard.
“Who in their right mind would agree to that?” asked Will.
“I’m sure it’s all done in the name of redundancy. Remember Florida during the hanging chad disaster? It makes for easy recount and provides for disaster recovery, right, Beard?” said Zach.
“Exactly, but it apparently also gives them the opportunity to intercept and change vote tallies before they hit the state systems,” said Beard.
“Damn, remember election night? Bartlett was down in many of the key swing states, then made this miraculous comeback in each of them? ‘The Comeback Kid,’ my ass!” said Zach. He stood up, took his hat off, and rubbed his closely cropped head.
“Damn it. The freakin’ election was hacked, of course!” roared Will.
“It was stolen, plain and simple, with the influence of a foreign entity. Who knows how deep this goes. Do any of these documents link this to any foreign government?” asked Zach.
“No, not directly. But what I will tell you is that CIS is entrenched on Capitol Hill just as we suspected. I did some more research on CIS and found out that one of their chief financiers is Alexander Isoltov, a Russian billionaire. And, if they can do this type of research on state legislators, imagine the dossiers they have at the highest levels of government,” Beard added.
“Including…”
“Yes,” interrupted Beard before Zach could finish his thought.
“The Oval Office,” said Zach.
Chapter 26
“The fatal attraction of government is that it allows busybodies to impose decisions on others without paying any price themselves. That enables them to act as if there were no price, even when there are ruinous prices―paid by others.”
- Thomas Sowell
(1930- ) Writer and Economist
The day arrived for the full Senate confirmation vote on Circuit Judge Shelly Ferguson-Haverton. The news media had built such a buzz about the vote that all regular network programming was pre-empted to carry it live to the world.
The gallery above the Senate floor was full of dignitaries, politicians, gay rights activists, and media.
Senator Perez strolled down the hall of his Senate office building with his chief of staff and several aides before coming to the Capitol. Most expected Perez to attempt to filibuster the vote, but McCray’s chief of staff had reached out to Perez’ office to tell them that there was no need, that McCray had the votes in line to defeat the confirmation.
“Senator, you know McCray has never failed. He’s assured us there is no need to filibuster,” claimed Perez’ chief of staff in hushed tones while strolling down the hallway.
“We talked about this,” scowled the senator. “There is too much riding on this vote. I can’t take the chance.”
“Senator, the press will excoriate you,” the chief of staff shot back.
“Of course they will… so what’s new about that?” chuckled Perez.
“I just don’t see the need, sir. McCray never fails to have his votes pre-determined. He will think you are simply grandstanding,” was the chief of staff’s reply.
As they entered the Capitol, the small Perez contingent approached the Hall of Statues just south of the Capitol rotunda where the bright lights from news cameras were everywhere. Standing in the center of the Hall was McCray with a large gaggle of live media staff from almost every major network, focused on McCray’s every word. The Perez group had no choice but to walk through it or wait until McCray was done holding court.
McCray noticed Perez as he got closer, as did the press.
“Mr. Leader, some say Senator Perez from Texas plans to filibuster this vote,” said an MSNBC reporter who was fully aware Senator Perez was in earshot distance.
“He certainly has that right; however, we don’t think it serves the greater good and this nominee deserves to have an up-or-down vote,” McCray answered, making sure he pointed his response directly to Perez.
“Does the nominee have the votes to pass?” asked another reporter.
“We don’t know for sure but, even if this nominee does not pass, she will have had her day in the Senate and gone through the formal nominating process as has happened throughout our history,” replied McCray in his notable monotone.
Several of the media left the large circle of reporters surrounding McCray and immediately put microphones into Senator Perez’ face.
“Senator, do you plan
to filibuster this nominee's confirmation vote?” asked CNN.
“Let’s just say this nominee absolutely does not have the judicial credentials to have made it out of the Judiciary Committee. She is the most overturned nominee in U.S. history and for her to have gotten this far in the process is unfortunate. It has nothing to do with her sexual orientation. She is simply unqualified to sit on the nation’s highest court,” replied Perez, finishing his sentence by looking across the Hall directly at McCray.
“So, you will filibuster?” pressed the CNN reporter.
“I will do whatever is necessary to make sure this nominee doesn’t get confirmed. If the majority leader presses with a vote, I will have no choice. My constituents in Texas expect me to fight this confirmation and I will do that.”
Across the hall, a Politico reporter, hearing Perez’ response, turned to McCray and asked, “Mr. Leader, it appears as though the senator from Texas plans to filibuster this vote. Will you counter this filibuster in some way?”
“The senator can filibuster all he wants. All he would be doing is delaying a vote that is going to happen anyway. This is his modus operandi. He just wants to obstruct. This has been his history with the Tea Party and his single accomplishment during his short tenure in the Senate,” answered McCray. “He must get some type of demented satisfaction in keeping his fellow senators up into the wee hours of the morning so he can read us all a Dr. Seuss children’s book.”
Reporters chuckled.
The time for the vote was at hand as the Senate sergeant-at-arms began corralling all the senators in the Hall to make their way into the full Senate chambers.
As McCray was leaving, he made a special point to walk in front of Perez and give him a wry wink.
“What the hell was that all about?” asked an aide to Perez.
“I guess he’s trying to reassure me he has the votes to deny the confirmation,” Perez surmised.
“I’m going now to talk to his staff. I’ll be right back,” announced his chief of staff. “Senator, if he really does have the votes, do we really need this filibuster?”
“I wish I could say no. I just don’t know. It is very, very risky,” lamented Perez.
The full Senate began debating the confirmation from the floor, with particularly impassioned speeches from the Democrats about Haverton’s double minority status and noting that America had finally elected a woman for president and it was time to have a lesbian on the Supreme Court. The pleas and justifications were as if those facts alone made it imperative to confirm her.
The Republicans who came out against the confirmation focused on her record of being overturned. Not a single senator offered objections to her stance on the 2nd Amendment. McCray had successfully leaned on fellow Republicans not to yield any time to Perez. Even the Texas senior senator, Kevin Simpson, did not yield to Perez and offered little objection to the confirmation. It was as if the GOP senators, knowing the outcome, wanted to manage any damage control over attacking this nominee and being perceived as homophobic or anti-LGBT.
McCray had one wild card that he knew he must deal with. Perez’ lone buddy in the Senate was Senator Mike Broussard from Louisiana. If Broussard got the floor, he would certainly yield part of his time to Perez, thus giving him the opportunity to filibuster. McCray had leaned on his Senate colleagues hard to try to prevent either senator from reaching the floor. In his view, a filibuster on the confirmation vote, followed by the double-whammy of rejecting her confirmation, would show the GOP in a very bad light. The media had successfully labeled the GOP as anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and anti-minority, and this was likely to be another hit on their image. He was determined not to let that happen.
“Damn, Broussard’s got the floor!” a staff member whispered in the ear of McCray while he was in a sidebar with three other senators.
“I need to call the rules vote now!” said McCray.
As Senator Broussard was making his way to the podium on the floor, McCray stood up to the lectern at the head of the Senate and banged his gavel.
Senators and staff who were strewn across the floor in private conversations immediately took notice. This call to order was particularly unusual while the debate was still taking place and this special call to order would mean most of the senators opposed to the confirmation would not be heard.
Senator Broussard and his staff were incensed. Broussard still made his way to the floor podium and began his debate.
“Mr. Leader, I have not been given the time that was just yielded to me. I ask that the president of the Senate allow me to continue,” said Broussard from the mic forcefully.
“My distinguished Senator from Louisiana, I have closed the debate. There will be no more debate as we move on to the next order of business.” McCray slapped the gavel three more times loudly.
“Mr. Leader, I demand my time!”
“Sergeant-At-Arms, cut that microphone,” said McCray quietly as he leaned from the lectern to shut down Broussard’s requests, but the senator could still be heard on all the audio systems and was captured by the media.
The entire senate floor was abuzz, as was the gallery.
Once order had been restored, McCray stated, “I move this confirmation hearing return to regular order.”
A senator from New York moved to second the motion.
“We will vote in ten minutes on the motion to move to regular order,” announced McCray with another slap of his gavel.
It took a few minutes for fellow senators, the gallery and the press to realize what just happened. Throughout American history, a Senate confirmation of a Supreme Court justice needed two-thirds of the votes but this was eventually changed to sixty votes. When the Senate moves to regular order, all that is needed to pass is a simple majority of fifty-one votes.
The motion and vote on regular order passed easily. The drama intensified on the floor.
“My God, McCray better have whipped all the votes. This would be the wrong time in history to miscalculate his power in the Senate,” Perez said to several senators standing near him.
Seeing their opportunity right before them, the Senate Democrats asked for a short recess, and the leadership, again trying to foster an image of inclusiveness, granted them an hour. Senator McCray would only agree to this delay if he were supremely confident he had enough votes with a few to spare.
“Look at those guys,” Perez said to his staff while standing outside the Senate hall. “The Senate majority whip is being interviewed by the media instead of doing his job! He should be making the rounds with any undecided votes or those senators from blue states. What the hell is he doing?”
“Senator, McCray’s staff is telling us they have sixty-one votes, maybe sixty-three. They told us not to worry,” whispered Perez’ chief of staff into his ear, but loud enough for the rest of the staff to hear.
“Then why the hell did he move to regular order if he had sixty-one votes to begin with?” shot back Perez.
“They were not going to give you the opportunity to filibuster, sir. It’s as simple as that,” said the staffer. “He would have to lose 11-13 votes in a one-hour recess. Is that even possible?”
“Look at the Dems. They are in full action mode.” Perez pointed to Democratic senate staffers running through the halls with a sense of excitement and purpose.
MSNBC reported that President Bartlett, who was sitting in the Oval Office with staff watching the vote on television, immediately instructed her staff to take her directly to the Capitol. Once there, the President and her entourage went to individual senators’ offices to lobby for Haverton.
Suddenly, this recess hour became a frenzy of activity.
Not since Ulysses S. Grant had a sitting U.S. president come to the Capitol during a Supreme Court confirmation vote. Grant was making sure a Reconstructionist nominatee made it to the Court, and he was successful.
“Senator, the sergeant-at-arms is calling us back in. Time for the full vote,” said a female intern. “Senator?”<
br />
Perez, whose eyes were closed for a few seconds, opened them and looked at the intern, “I always say a prayer before I vote.”
It took longer than usual for the full Senate to return to the floor. It seemed every senator wanted his chance in front of the media right before this vote and, coupled with the president in the building, this caused a forty-minute delay.
The vice-president hit the gavel, closed the debate formally, and called the vote for the Supreme Court nominee, Circuit Judge Shelly Ferguson-Haverton.
The move to regular order and the president’s last-minute lobbying made for abundant fodder for the network television pundits. None of the analysts, however, were predicting the nominee would be confirmed, but there was quite a bit of speculation surrounding McCray’s move, with some believing he didn’t have sixty votes and others believing he wasn’t going to let Senator Perez grab the spotlight with a filibuster.
The votes began to come in.
Alabama Senator Nix – “Nay”
Alabama Senator Crosston – “Nay”
Alaska Senator Hersey – “Yay”
Alaska Senator Norton – “Nay”
The votes were falling where most expected; however, Arizona Senator Hammock voted “Yay” in something of a surprise.
All votes were falling along party lines, except the lone Arizona senator until Florida.
Florida Senator Tilley – “Yay”
Florida Senator Merryman – “Yay”
“What the hell was that?” Perez stood, looking back at a few of his Senate colleagues on the floor.
“Oh, my goodness, two Republican senators from Florida who were expected to be Nay votes have flipped! We will have to keep our eye on this closely and relook at projections,” exclaimed a CNN moderator.
Suddenly the vote slowed. Murmurs shot through the chamber.
“Georgia Senator Barnes? Georgia Senator Barnes, your vote please?” asked the vote tabulator from the podium.
A few seconds passed.
“Senator Barnes is an aye,” came the voice of the eighty-one-year-old senator with a deep Georgia accent.
“What the hell is happening?” asked Senator Broussard as he came over to where Perez was standing.
Purge on the Potomac Page 13