Lady Liberty by Vicki Hinze Read Free Book Online Page B

She lifted the phone and waited for Cramer to move out of earshot. “Hello, Martin. What can I do for you?”
    She listened attentively, her head angled, her eyes focused on the briefcase. She asked several pointed questions and then listened again.
    Stiffening, she set her glass down. The metal cuff at her wrist scraped against the tabletop. “I see.” Her voice remained soft and steady, but she clearly didn’t like what she was hearing; her fingers clenched her chair arm and her knuckles raised up like knobs. “I’d be delighted to support your bill, provided you’re willing to include one minor addition. Since you’re a father and grandfather now yourself, I’m sure you won’t find it objectionable.”
    Here it came, Jonathan thought. Her classic setup. Bait and hook. Praise then shame. Liberty was about to dig in her heels for something that really mattered to her. The signs were all there: the setup, the clenched fingers, the set jaw and fixed stare. Oh yes, he knew how her mind worked.
    Falling back into old habits, he settled on 70 percent odds that she would reel in Senator Martin Wade. If she toed her right pump, Jonathan would up the odds to 95 percent. She saved toeing the pump for issues near and dear to her heart, and few failed not to knuckle under to it.
    “Child support.” She disclosed the concern. “The current recovery program requires that all sums collected through government intervention from deadbeat parents be split fifty-fifty. Half goes to the child. The other half goes to the federal government.”
    She paused to listen. Wade was no doubt reminding her of the government’s considerable costs in recovering delinquent support payments.
    Undaunted, she persisted. “Martin, listen. We’ve got a stable budget with a sizable surplus, a strong economy with minimal risks of inflation, Social Security is secure, and we’ve finally got a good grip on healthcare. There is no reasonable justification for the most prosperous country in the world to take money from these kids.” A skipped beat, then a second volley. “What if you were broke and Sarah’s ex had skipped out on support payments for Beth? What if Sarah was struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs? I know your daughter has a great education and a promising career, but what if she didn’t? What if that fifty percent going to the government meant Beth and Sarah didn’t have grocery money? Your daughter and granddaughter would go hungry today. How would you feel about the current policy then?” A missed moment response, then she added, “But that’s how we have to look at it. Most of these kids are borderline poverty and, Martin, they’re all
someone’s
grandchild.”
    Jonathan leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.
Down and dirty tactic, Liberty.
Senator Wade had one daughter and one granddaughter. Beth had been born just two weeks ago, and Wade was still acting appropriately dotty. Amazing how a six-pound kid could take down a giant. While extremely vocal and strongly opposed to tobacco remaining legal, Wade had been so thrilled about Beth’s birth he had passed around enough cigars to fund the tobacco industry’s lobbying costs for the next six months.
    Liberty again paused for Wade’s response, and then it happened. The right pump came off and thumped against the carpet. “I’m a little fuzzy on a rationale that would substantiate that position, Martin. Our courts established these funds as money due to the children—for their maintenance and support. So it’s their money, not the deadbeat parent’s. Do we agree on that?” She waited for his response, and then went on. “Okay, fine. So if the money already belongs to the child—let’s say, to Beth—and the government recovers it for her, then isn’t the government withholding half of Beth’s money from her clearly a crime? We are depriving her of the use and benefit of her own assets.”
    The senator said