“What?”
“Recall. Why the hell didn’t I think of that?”
Jennifer was starting to get concerned. Patton was on another one of his rants.
“What are you talking about?”
“There’s over eighteen months until the election. Once these policies kick in they’re going to crash the economy worse than it is now. We can recall Asher because people will be impatient and angry.”
Jennifer chewed on this idea for a minute then realized something.
“Is a recall in the constitution?”
“I don’t know. I’ll check in the morning. If it’s not we’ll have to get it on there.”
Jennifer looked skeptical.
“Wouldn’t Asher have to sign that?”
Patton nodded.
“Yes, but ten people voted no tonight. That means we would need four people to override a veto. They’re going to be too scared to not vote for a recall.”
Jennifer was still unsure but she let it go.
“Anyway,” Patton said, yawning. “I’m tired. Let’s go to bed.”
Bao was sitting through yet another meeting. The schedule returned to normal for a time, but recently, they were back to multiple meetings per week. Bao was working on his second energy drink, but it would be his last for the day. Despite that, he still had to fight to stay awake.
There were two main agenda items in this most recent set of meetings. First was the economic package that passed months earlier. The second was a more recent development—David Asher was being recalled.
A surprisingly happy Michael Varner led the meeting.
“What we got economically?” Varner asked Dr. Edmunds, the head economist.
Edmunds pulled a report from a folder and cleared his throat.
“To be frank, the policies have been an utter disaster for the economy. They’re so bad you could almost say that someone is purposely trying to make the economy tank.”
Bao laughed out loud at this, but quickly stifled it. Most at the table turned to look at him, but he took a sip from his drink, embarrassed at his outburst. He reacted this way because this was exactly what Patton Larsen claimed during the debate over the policy package. Larsen continued to make the claim on his blogsite, but he’d largely been ignored.
“Something to add Bao?” Michael Varner asked, a somewhat playful look on his face.
Bao stifled another laugh and said, “No sir. My report speaks for itself.”
He’d recently submitted a long, detailed report on this exact topic. Most of it was taken word for word from discussions he’d had with Patton.
“What do you think Dr. Edmunds?” Varner asked.
Edmunds tapped his pen mindlessly on the report. He was obviously debating how to answer.
“I used to laugh at Larsen’s claims, but now I have to wonder. I mean, these policies, especially when taken together, are absolutely horrible. Growth is stagnant at best. Consumer confidence is almost nil. Prices are high, wages are low. Unemployment is growing because the business tax burden is so high and people aren’t spending much right now.”
“What about the economic stimulus?” asked one of the political scientists, who was obviously supportive of what the Asher government was trying to accomplish.
Edmunds rolled his at the question.
“That did nothing but cause consumer prices to go up. Yes, they printed and gave money to people that were hurting, but businesses had to increase prices because the value of the currency decreased. It had zero effect overall.”
Bao could tell the woman wanted to respond, but she had no facts to retort with. Edmunds continued, predicting further economic problems for Blue Creek. Someone asked Dr. Edmunds when things would improve.
“When David Asher is out of power,” was all he said.
Michael Varner turned the conversation to the recall of Governor David Asher. Bao figured there were over a hundred years of experience in politics. After a half hour of discussion, though, Bao realized that no one had a clue how the recall had come about. Bao knew that it began and ended with Patton Larsen, but no one else wanted to acknowledge this fact for some reason. He must have reacted because Varner asked for his opinion.
“Again, my report speaks for itself. I submitted it a couple weeks ago.”
Several researchers pushed back against Bao’s conclusions, but he didn’t back down. He watched Patton put the movement together. He’d even tried to recruit Bao to spread the word, but Bao was able to reject the offer without revealing himself as spy for Insight Resources. Despite his reticence to participate directly, Bao was able to see how it all unfolded. Once everyone agreed to disagree they moved on to the election itself.
The vote would take place on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Like the original election, if none of the candidates won a majority it would go to a runoff between the top two candidates. Recent polling showed Asher’s positives to be low and his negatives high. Voters were engaged in the process, which didn’t bode well for Asher’s survival. Bao left the meeting certain of two things. First, David Asher would not survive the recall. Second, it was possible that Blue Creek might not survive the removal of David Asher.
David Asher finally came to terms with the fact that he was facing recall. There were a lot of reasons and a lot of blame to go around, but no matter the cause, David Asher blamed Charlie. Furious, he pulled his phone from his pocket and called Anna. She hesitated to answer, but she knew she would have to deal with him sooner or later.
“Hello David.”
There was a pause, but Anna could hear him breathing.
“David?”
“He said those policies would be fine.”
Anna paused and took in a deep breath. She was tired of dealing with prima donnas and she had them in both ears. If Asher did something wrong, she’d hear about it from Charlie. If Charlie did something wrong, she’d hear about it from Asher. She was starting to think it was time to pare their partnership down to two… or maybe just one.
“Yes, he did,” she finally answered. She was trying to keep her cool, but she knew it was going to be difficult.
“And he was wrong. Again.”
“Yeah. What am I supposed to do about it at this point?” she asked, her voice raising in intensity.
Asher didn’t answer. He knew it was too late for them to do anything. They would just have to weather the storm. The only question was whether they would hang together or go their own ways.
“Have you talked to Charlie?” Asher asked, calmer now.
“Yes. He’s… in shock. He guesses he underestimated Patton Larsen.”
“Yeah. No shit,” Asher scoffed.
Anna laughed, but quickly stopped herself. She realized that Asher was technically the only person affected by the recall. A long, awkward silence fell between them.
“What now?” Asher asked, sounding almost desperate.
“I don’t know,” Anna replied, frankly. “We can’t give up, though.”
Asher sighed loudly, annoyed with the obviousness of the comment. He steeled himself for what he was about to say next, knowing she would protest.
“Tell Charlie I’m done with his advice. He obviously doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. I’m going to have to save this myself.”
Asher paused, but Anna remained silent.
“The only question is, are you going to help me?”
Another pause. Anna felt trapped and wasn’t ready to make this important of a decision.
“Well?” Asher asked.
“I don’t know, David. I’m going to have to think about it.”
“You mean, you’re going to have to talk to Charlie.”