Power of Love Ch. 02

"Over the weekend," continued the Sheriff, "State Senator Cain Mitchell blew it all up. He insisted upon a 'clean' bill, no pork for anyone, just the COLAs. The Leadership of both Parties worked their asses off to get that accepted, and it looked like they were going to get it done. Getting McKinney's blessing was a near-miracle, but they got it, and he worked with them to get everyone to go along."

"And then," Griswold said, "yesterday, Tasheeka Harris forced through an Amendment, stripping Police of the COLA money. Not even defunding them any further, but just denying COLA adjustments to the State money that goes to the Police. The Amendment passed by a strictly Party-line vote in the House, and every single Democrat voted for it."

"That bill, with the Amendment," said Griswold, "was put up for a vote in the State Senate. They didn't try to strip the Amendment in the Senate version; the Senate Republicans as well as some moderate Democrats in tenuous districts just shot HB 1 down as if it were hit by a Cobra missile. So yeah, it's over."

Teresa said "Todd heard from his lobbyists that there was a backroom agreement between Tasheeka Harris, Cain Mitchell, and others in both Parties to do that. Harris gets her 'defund the Police' message, Cain Mitchell denies the Governor anything... though it's no skin off Jared's nose... and both sides can now run on having to have a Budget next year. Word is... that Cerone and Molinari are furious, and feel like they were lied to and stabbed in the back."

"And McKinney?" asked Tanya. "He voted for the Amendment, which scuttled it all?"

The Sheriff replied: "Elijah McKinney is black, so he was pretty much forced to vote for the Amendment... or he'd have been replaced on the Ways And Means Committee by Tasheeka Harris within the hour."

"And yes, Cerone and Molinari are pissed." I said. "And I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't want to piss off two men that were once the most powerful Mob men in this State and even Region. You gotta carry a big crowbar to do that and think you can get away with it."

"Speaking of large crowbars," said Cindy Ross with a considerable twinkle in her ice-blue eyes, "are you going to the Council meeting tonight?"

"I dunno, should I?" I asked.

"It might be a good idea if you did, sir." said Teresa Croyle. "I'm hearing it's going to be well-attended by residents in the County High system... the Heritage Cloisters residents and others. They got their tax assessments last week."

"Ooooo-wee, I wouldn't want to miss that." I said with considerable sarcasm in my voice.

"As the author of the new Char-terrrrrr," drawled Chief Moynahan, "maybe you should skip this one."

"Uh oh, he's got that gleam in his eye." said Tanya Perlman, with a gleam in her eye.

"Har." barked the Sheriff, looking over his shoulder at me. "You are about to be a handful of trouble, aren't you Crowbar?"

"Must be the Irish in me coming out, Sheriff." I replied...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

7:30pm, Tuesday, March 17th. I was wearing a brown sportscoat, khaki pants, and a green pullover mock turtleneck shirt. My badge was on its leather holder, affixed to the pocket of the sportscoat over my heart, so that it was easily visible. Teresa was wearing a green dress, with her badge on its holder hanging from a chain around her neck, like the badge I put on Carole.

The main audience chamber was absolutely full. They were mostly white people wearing nice clothing, a few in suits and ties and 'dressed up' dresses, but most in what would be described as 'business casual'. There was a good contingent of armed and armored Deputy Sheriffs, with strong augmentation from the TCPD ready and waiting just outside.

At 7:30pm sharp, the Mayor and Council walked into the chamber and took their places behind the long, curved bench. Mayor Daniel Allgood gaveled the session into order. To the Clerk of the County, Trudy Morton, he asked "How many lawsuits are there?"

"Two hundred and fifty-one, Mr. Mayor." said Trudy. The audience burst into sustained applause. The Mayor tapped his gavel until order was restored.

"Anyone want to make a motion to dispense with the verbal reading," asked Allgood, "and have the Clerk revise and extend the Council Minutes of the Meeting to include the lawsuits at a later time?" The audience began booing, but quickly hushed up when Teresa and I rose to our feet out of our chairs.

"I so move." said Edward R. Steele.

"I second." said Ian McGhillie.

"Point of order!" yelled Kelly Carnes. "I want every one of those lawsuits read into the Minutes verbally, at this meeting, right now. I want you to hear the complaints of the Citizens of this County in the form of these lawsuits!"

"You can vote on the motion on the floor." said Allgood. "So the point of order is denied. Any debate on the motion?" There was not. The vote was 8-2, with Kelly Carnes voting against... and J.P. Goldman also voting against. Upon being asked, he declined to give his reasons for his 'nay' vote, leaving everyone else to wonder why he and Carnes had voted the same way.

"Okay, we have a lot of people that want to speak tonight." said Mayor Allgood. "Speakers will be given one minute each to speak. Any further remarks will have to be made on the comment forms in the hallway outside."

One by one, people came up, all of them complaining bitterly about the tax assessments on their homes. They were all from within the County High School system's districts. For the most part, no one said anything, except Mayor Allgood calling out "Time!" when someone's minute was up.

But about halfway through, Kelly Carnes stood up and said "I agree with what you are saying! And I want you to know that that man right there..." she pointed at me as she finished: "... is the man who wrote the Charter to tax you more and give you less! When you read your property assessments, blame Donald Troy for it!"

As everyone looked over at me, I smiled brightly and waved at everyone... then began tapping my red crowbar in my hand. My message was clear: I would not be intimidated by Kelly Carnes's 'shaming' (actually 'threatening') tactics, and I was ready and quite willing to hit back...

...and I don't necessarily fight fair.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Teresa rode back to Police HQ with me in my Police SUV after the Council meeting. We went in and sat down in my office, and ended this St. Patrick's Day with shots of Irish Whisky from my 'medicine' drawer.

"Good stuff." Teresa said as she downed her shot and I poured her another, which she sipped at a reasonably slow pace.

"Yes, it is." I said. "Tell me, did your property assessment go up?"

Teresa replied: "On our home next to The Cabin? No. But some of the people that I still talk to in the Heritage Cloisters subdivision said their assessments shot up a lot. Some of it is their own fault: when tax assessors came by, they let them into their homes."

I said "And they didn't realize they can refuse to let the assessors in? They came to The Cabin, and I asked for their warrant to enter my home, which they did not have. That ended that."

"Well, you do carry a crowbar to back you up." Teresa replied.

"True." I said. "And the newly elected County Tax Commissioner is a Democrat, and I got word that she instructed her assessors to, quote, 'stick it to those rich white people', unquote."

I did not mention to Teresa that my source was the Intendent, Adele Peabody, who had told me that while we were cuddling after sex, and my semen was seeping out of her well-fucked pussy.

Teresa replied: "And according to them, the residents are supposed to apply for arbitration if they have a problem with their assessments. And you wrote it into the Charter that the Inspector General's Office would be the Arbiter, not the Tax Office's hand-picked arbiter. However, the residents are suing the County in Superior Court. They're angry and they're going to fight like hell."

"A part of me can't blame them." I replied. "I just wonder why J.P. Goldman voted with Carnes to force reading every one of those lawsuits into the record."

"Maybe he's just being ornery, too." Teresa said. "Mr. Goldman has really changed since that ipecac attack that hospitalized him. He is a lot more bitter at Council meetings now." (Author's note: 'Casting Aspersions', Ch. 02.)

"Yep." I replied. "And how did you like the way Carnes singled me out like that?"

Teresa exhibited a 'Teresa Cunt' face, and said "I'm starting to understand what you were saying about 'shaming' really being 'threatening'. That was wrong of her, and she'd better watch herself..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Wednesday, March 18th, from the roof of the building at Riverside and College, with City Hall in the background. "Citizens's anger has boiled over!"

Bettina began: "At last night's Council meeting, over two hundred and fifty lawsuits were filed by the County's wealthiest citizens, protesting the property assessments of their homes. The large majority of the lawsuits were by wealthy white homeowners in the gated subdivisions north of Town."

Bettina: "County law requires that citizens submit their protests to a binding arbitration process. Before the new Charter passed, the Tax Office would name the Arbiter, but the new Charter gives that to the Inspector General's Office. However, this process is being bypassed as people file lawsuits against the County in Superior Court. Experts are divided over whether these lawsuits will be thrown out, combined into one class-action lawsuit, or allowed to proceed separately."

Bettina: "The highlight of the meeting was when Council Member Kelly Carnes, who is the elected representative on the Council for the majority of the affected citizens, stood up and pointed out that Donald Troy, who was present at the meeting, had been the Charter Commission Chairman, and was responsible for the tax assessments under the new Charter. Commander Troy actually waved to the crowd when he was announced, which deeply offended and angered many of the those in the gallery. Donald Troy has not responded to Channel Two News's repeated requests for comment..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Oooooh, you've angered them, Commander." quipped Tanya Perlman as we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room.

"Don't laugh or make jokes about it." Teresa Croyle said darkly. "What Commander Troy has been saying is true: Kelly Carnes was trying to 'shame' him by pointing him out at the Council meeting, but what she really was doing was subtly threatening him. And Bettina is all but ginning it up, saying how 'angry' and 'offended' people are at him."

"She's right, you know." said Sheriff Griswold.

"My apologies." said Tanya, looking shocked. "I didn't realize it was so serious. You guys really think they're trying to bring Don to harm?"

"Ask Ross G. Edmunds about his burnt-down home." I replied. "And when Teresa came up against the Heritage Cloisters HOA, her house was set on fire." (Author's note: 'Schoolhouse Rock', Ch. 03-04.) "So yes, I'm taking the potential threats very, very seriously..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The next day, Thursday, March 19th, Sheriff Griswold, Edward R. Steele, and I were invited to Mayor Daniel Allgood's office. At 10:00am we arrived. Already there was City Attorney Dennis Garland.

"Thanks for coming, guys." said Mayor Allgood, who had us sit down in the chairs brought in and set in front of his desk. "I called Don and Edward in as Charter Commission participants, and Sheriff Griswold in as our unofficial County Historian. I need your opinions on these tax assessments."

"Before I say anything," I said, "I'd like Mr. Garland to give us his legal opinion of the matter."

Dennis Garland said "We have three options. First, we can ask the Superior Court judge that gets the cases to dismiss them, citing that none of the plaintiffs have followed County Law in first using the arbitration process to resolve the disputes. Second, we can ask that the lawsuits be combined into one class-action suit for the purpose of addressing any legal concerns beyond the actual assessments, then asking the judge to force the plaintiffs to use the binding arbitration process for the actual assessments. And third, we can countersue, and ask for Court costs as well as finding all the assessments in the County's favor."

I asked: "What are the issues beyond the actual assessments?"

Mayor Allgood said "J.P. Goldman called me. He's heard that the Tax Commissioner made statements that were racist in ordering that the County High system citizens be assessed at an unfairly high rate. Also, the rates themselves are supposed to be uniform throughout the County, the same millage rate for all... but that definitely has not happened. About half of the complaints are over that different millage rate."

Allgood: "The other half are at the correct rate, and we think they're suing because they don't like the way school tax revenues are distributed."

"Sheriff, what happened in the past over the arbitrations?" I asked. "Did people who lose take it to Court?"

"Some tried." said the Sheriff. "The very vast majority of those lawsuits were dismissed with prejudice, citing that the plaintiffs had agreed to the arbitration. It's kind of a dirty circle there... go through arbitration, and you might give up your rights to redress your wrongs through the Court system. Bypass the biased arbitration system, and the judge might dismiss the case because you bypassed the arbitration system. In other words, Crowbar, it was a rigged game all the way. You and Edward broke through that by naming the I.G.'s Office as the arbiter, but it's still a problem."

I said "So why don't those who are being charged the wrong millage rate have their problem addressed and corrected, and the others forced to go to arbitration?"

Mayor Allgood: "I spoke with the Tax Commissioner this morning, and asked her to do that. She outright refused, and all but attached the word 'racist' to the end of every sentence she spoke. She said they would have to go through arbitration to challenge the rates, and she expected the Courts to give way and force the arbitration process to happen. She's elected, so I have no power over her to force her to do the right thing."

Edward Steele asked: "Can the Council pass a resolution forcing the Tax Office to go back and apply the correct millage rate?"

Dennis Garland said "The Tax Commissioner can and very likely will take you to Court over it. It could drag on for months, and they might take her side that your resolution would be invalid; -or- they might say the Council has no standing, as the Town & County Assembly sets all tax rates."

"What do you want to do, Mr. Garland?" I asked. "If it were totally your decision right now, what would you do?"

Garland did not like being put on the spot, I could tell. When the Mayor said "Dennis?", prompting him, he finally spoke:

"I would do what I outlined a few minutes ago, and in that order." he said. "I'd ask for the lawsuits to be dismissed with prejudice, and demand that the citizens use the binding arbitration process... and I would make it very clear to them that by going to arbitration, they give up all future lawsuit rights."

"I like the idea of combining all the lawsuits into a class-action," said Edward Steele, "then getting one ruling on all the legalities so that we have something, some precedent, going forward."

"Who's the lawyer for the plaintiffs?" I asked.

"There's a bunch of 'em." said Mayor Allgood. "Andrew Cardigan has about fifty of them."

"I can almost guarantee that the judge will get a ton of Motions to Sever." I said. "I suspect that one of the purposes of all this, especially for the people who are being taxed at the correct rate, is to clog up the Courts and force the County to spend money defending all of them."

"And if they get stays, and don't have to pay the taxes until the cases are resolved," said Edward Steele, "that will hurt our schools tremendously. I smell the NEA in all this." He was referring to the powerful Teachers Union, who had fought vigorously, and sometimes violently, to get their way on the school tax issues.

I nodded, then said "Sheriff, we are no longer needed here. Let's go bust some perps."

"You have no advice for us?" Allgood said, his voice connoting his surprise.

I said "Sheriff, why don't you ask the Inspector General to formally investigate the Tax Commissioner over the incorrect rates. And especially her refusal to correct them. When she starts crying 'racism!', we can say that the law applies equally to all persons in the County, and for her to put the race card back in her pocket. If you or the Mayor don't want to do that, I'll get in front of Lester Holder and do it myself."

Mayor Allgood said "Joint request from you and me, Sheriff?" Griswold nodded vigorously in agreement.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Mayor, Sheriff, and Inspector General held a joint news conference at 12:00 high noon, announcing a formal investigation of the Tax Commissioner for incorrect application of tax rates, and worse, for refusing to address and correct the issue.

At 2:00pm, the Tax Commissioner gave Lester Holder of KXTC an exclusive interview, which would be prominently featured during the 6:00pm newscast. She would accuse the Mayor of being racist and illegitimate, and saying that the arbitration process was the proper way for people who think they were incorrectly assessed to get it corrected. She said that if the I.G. investigated her, it was because he was a racist.

With her was Bruce Finneran, who told Holder that cases like these were exactly why he was running for I.G., and that under him, the I.G.'s Office would not be used by rich whites to exercise racism against the Tax Commissioner because she was black...

Part 11 - On The Move

I love my office. It feels like home, it's always had that 'vibe' of being the right place for me to be. I've also been amazed at the level of the people have come to my office to see me, rather than the other way around. Heck, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had come to my office to talk with me! (Author's note: 'Unresolved', Ch. 05.)

So it didn't really surprise me when FBI EAD Owen Lange came to my office at 10:00am, Friday, March 20th. I poured us cups of coffee as he sat down in a 'hot chair'.

"I've got two pieces of information to give you." EAD Lange said. "First, the OPR's Supervisory Special Agent, Nate Grimes, wants to interview Commander Teresa Croyle sometime next week."

"What's it about?" I asked.

"All I know," said Lange, "is that it's about her sister's death. Grimes has been cooperative with me in the past, but I can't force him to discuss OPR cases, and he'll only say to me that it's something the Washington OPR office wants him to do. I think we all know it's about Jack Muscone, but I just don't understand Ms. Croyle's involvement."

"I'm not sure there is one." I said. "So where will this interview take place? Here, at Police Headquarters? Because I'm not letting Teresa go to the Federal Building unless she has half the TCPD as an armed escort."

"If you're good with here, so am I." said Lange. "I get why you're skeptical of going to the Federal Building. But Grimes is not one of the bad guys, so I don't think you guys have anything to fear."

"Who's coming from Washington to interview Teresa with Grimes?" I asked.

"I don't know." said Lange. "I didn't even think about that. I just assumed someone from the City office would come with him. I'll check and see what I can find out."