Read Online Eddy's Current by Reed Sprague - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Reed Sprague
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you’ll get what I mean.”
“How, then, would you like to be addressed?”
“Mr. Criminal Bigot.”
“You want me to call you by the name, ‘Criminal’ or ‘Mr. Bigot’?”
“Why not? That’s the label I was given years ago, when I was in the business of politics.”
“You were in politics?”
“Yes.”
“Florida politics?”
“Yes. I was the head of the state of Florida Democratic Party—that is, until there was a change in leadership that didn’t include a place for me. I had twenty years of unblemished service — a spotless reputation and record of service, and one success after another — so they couldn’t just say goodbye to me and take over using an old–fashioned power play. They would have lost that battle. Too many people would have sided with me. They had to have an excuse, so they created one. They spread rumors that I was suspected of bribery and that I was a bigot, that I hated minorities. I worked my entire adult life to that point without taking even one bribe, and my record of working tirelessly to get minorities elected to office was unsurpassed. There was no question about my passion for getting minorities into the mainstream of our society.
“Anyway, they got the media on their side, and brought them on board to investigate. Of course they and the media knew that ‘investigate’ really meant ‘speculate.’ I didn’t mind an investigation because I knew that the rumors weren’t true. I welcomed the media. I believed naively that they would investigate, see that there was no basis for the rumors, track down the rumors, and expose the group who spread the lies.”
“What happened instead?”
Dominici’s eyes were glazed and empty, and he looked straight ahead, but away from Perez, as he continued, “I was shocked when I realized that the investigation I had hoped for turned out to be an outright indictment of me. True investigative reporters were nowhere to be found. Speculation ran wild; tabloid journalism at its best. Then the talking heads took over. Before I knew it, no one was talking about seeking the truth. They were talking about me resigning because of my ‘obvious ethical failings’ and my hatred for minorities. The only ‘obvious ethical failing’ on my part was the media’s own wild speculation, which they reported as news. They reported it as fact when it was nothing more than unsubstantiated rumor.
“And the media uncovered the fact that my great–great grandfather was a member of the KKK, a fact that I was not even aware of. Imagine going that far back in my family to find dirt to use to ruin me,” Dominici said.
“The members of the media and the boys who were taking over my office in Tallahassee knew the rumors of bribery and bigotry weren’t true — in fact, there was no basis whatsoever for them — but they also knew that they would get me to resign, and that then those ole boys would simply walk in and take over. Once the new group did take over, they and the media blamed the rumors on the republicans. Nobody ever answered for those awful rumors. I was left out to dry.”
“Who are ‘they’?”
“Litten and the boys. They’re brutal. And that’s who you’re up against.”
“Why the fallout with you? Why did they not want you in that position?”
“I believed in campaigns like the one you’re trying to run now. They believed in the candidate of the media. They believed either that a candidate should be created by the media or that the candidate should be sold to the media. I believed that the media should report on the candidate, and that’s it. I was morally right, but that day was the beginning of the time in this country when moral rightness and fifty cents would get you a ten–minute phone call from a pay phone, but would not get your candidate elected.”
“There were not many pay phones around then, Mr. Dominici, and there are even fewer around today.”
“You see, son; that’s my problem. I live in the past. I
“How, then, would you like to be addressed?”
“Mr. Criminal Bigot.”
“You want me to call you by the name, ‘Criminal’ or ‘Mr. Bigot’?”
“Why not? That’s the label I was given years ago, when I was in the business of politics.”
“You were in politics?”
“Yes.”
“Florida politics?”
“Yes. I was the head of the state of Florida Democratic Party—that is, until there was a change in leadership that didn’t include a place for me. I had twenty years of unblemished service — a spotless reputation and record of service, and one success after another — so they couldn’t just say goodbye to me and take over using an old–fashioned power play. They would have lost that battle. Too many people would have sided with me. They had to have an excuse, so they created one. They spread rumors that I was suspected of bribery and that I was a bigot, that I hated minorities. I worked my entire adult life to that point without taking even one bribe, and my record of working tirelessly to get minorities elected to office was unsurpassed. There was no question about my passion for getting minorities into the mainstream of our society.
“Anyway, they got the media on their side, and brought them on board to investigate. Of course they and the media knew that ‘investigate’ really meant ‘speculate.’ I didn’t mind an investigation because I knew that the rumors weren’t true. I welcomed the media. I believed naively that they would investigate, see that there was no basis for the rumors, track down the rumors, and expose the group who spread the lies.”
“What happened instead?”
Dominici’s eyes were glazed and empty, and he looked straight ahead, but away from Perez, as he continued, “I was shocked when I realized that the investigation I had hoped for turned out to be an outright indictment of me. True investigative reporters were nowhere to be found. Speculation ran wild; tabloid journalism at its best. Then the talking heads took over. Before I knew it, no one was talking about seeking the truth. They were talking about me resigning because of my ‘obvious ethical failings’ and my hatred for minorities. The only ‘obvious ethical failing’ on my part was the media’s own wild speculation, which they reported as news. They reported it as fact when it was nothing more than unsubstantiated rumor.
“And the media uncovered the fact that my great–great grandfather was a member of the KKK, a fact that I was not even aware of. Imagine going that far back in my family to find dirt to use to ruin me,” Dominici said.
“The members of the media and the boys who were taking over my office in Tallahassee knew the rumors of bribery and bigotry weren’t true — in fact, there was no basis whatsoever for them — but they also knew that they would get me to resign, and that then those ole boys would simply walk in and take over. Once the new group did take over, they and the media blamed the rumors on the republicans. Nobody ever answered for those awful rumors. I was left out to dry.”
“Who are ‘they’?”
“Litten and the boys. They’re brutal. And that’s who you’re up against.”
“Why the fallout with you? Why did they not want you in that position?”
“I believed in campaigns like the one you’re trying to run now. They believed in the candidate of the media. They believed either that a candidate should be created by the media or that the candidate should be sold to the media. I believed that the media should report on the candidate, and that’s it. I was morally right, but that day was the beginning of the time in this country when moral rightness and fifty cents would get you a ten–minute phone call from a pay phone, but would not get your candidate elected.”
“There were not many pay phones around then, Mr. Dominici, and there are even fewer around today.”
“You see, son; that’s my problem. I live in the past. I
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