Red White and Black and Blue - Stevenson Richard. Страница 3

"Thank you."

"Before we proceed, I can assure you that this office has been swept recently for listening and recording devices.

Somebody comes in every morning at six. It's Clean-Tech. We use them, and the Republicans use Hunsinger, and Louderbush uses Price. You should know that about Louderbush."

"All right."

"Since what we're about to discuss is extremely

'sensitive'"—Dunphy waggled a set of quotation marks—"and by that I mean very dicey falling-into-the-hands-of-the-media-wise. I would normally ask that you sign a confidentiality agreement. But I'm told that you can be trusted, so a handshake is going to have to do."

"Fine."

"It's your reputation for borderline-difficult, independent-minded integrity, in fact, that got you recommended for this 15

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

job. That plus, of course, the fact that you are said to be gay as a Greek sailor. That's true, am I right?"

"I've taken it up the butt more than once."

Dunphy grew even pinker. "So you're going to have an entree into gay circles, and you'll be able to gain the trust of gay people involved in this thing far more reliably than any heterosexual investigator we might have taken on."

I said, "I never heard that about Greek sailors."

"Really?" He looked as if somebody had given him bad information, and what was this going to mean?

"So, what you seem to be getting at, Tom, is that Assemblyman Louderbush is secretly gay? If that's what this is—me outing another closeted pol—I'd have to give that some thought. Louderbush is anti—gay marriage, but otherwise he's not as rabid as a lot of his supporters. He did vote against the hate crimes bill, as I recall. But he's for civil unions, and otherwise he seems to prefer to avoid gay issues altogether. I can think of elected officials far more dangerous to the cause of gay rights than Louderbush. And there are some of those virulently antigay fellows who—if it was established that they'd had a few call boys up to their hotel rooms for back rubs or for luggage-toting duties on junkets to Ibiza—then I'd be prepared to go to town on the situation.

But I don't know about Louderbush. In the hypocrisy department, he wouldn't rank high on most lists."

Dunphy looked somber. "If it was just his being gay, I might agree."

"So he is gay? What else?"

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

"Here's the deal. If it's true, it's really bad. There's no two ways about it. It is shameful and ugly. Two sources have led us to believe that Louderbush was once in a physically abusive relationship with a young gay man. Louderbush was the abuser. The young man committed suicide—driven to suicide by Louderbush, two of the young man's friends insist.

I'm not sure exactly how that would work; it sounds exaggerated. But whatever the truth of the situation, it does seem as if Louderbush was involved in a gay relationship that was messy and ugly and reflects poorly on his character. It was certainly a violation of his marriage vows, not that that alone disqualifies anybody from public office in this easygoing day and age, or should. But it's the physical and emotional cruelty to his boyfriend that—if true—is something I believe voters need to know about before deciding whether or not to cast a ballot for or against Shy McCloskey's primary election opponent."

I thought about what I'd seen and read of Louderbush. "He doesn't come across as mean."

"I agree."

"He's aggressive and noisy on behalf of what he sees as his libertarian principles. But the only people he seems nasty to are elderly people with medical problems. He wants to abolish Medicare, which at this late date has to be considered a sick joke. But that's all ideological and theoretical, and it's hard to imagine Louderbush actually beating up on any individual he's face-to-face with."

"It could be a Jekyll and Hyde type situation with him. This happens."

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

"I guess."

"If it's not true, of course, we'd pay you for your time and effort, and that would be that. Truth, justice, and the American way would prevail whatever you came up with. But if it is true, well, you'd be doing your bit to help elect a good man governor of our state, and Louderbush could slink away and enter rehab and refind Jesus and live to drive us all nuts another day."

I said, "Okay."

"Okay, what?"

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Excellent."

"I hate this stuff."

"So do I."

"Gay people should be held to the same moral standards for their behavior as other people. But anybody Louderbush's age—what is he, in his fifties?—grew up with so much homophobic crap getting heaped on them, it's a miracle most American homosexuals aren't seething and twisted deep inside. Seething or ashamed."

"Really? Are you?"

"No. I got bored with all that long ago. There's just a bit of residual melancholy."

"Before you start looking into what we've got on Louderbush," Dunphy said, "I should tell you one other thing."

"What?"

"We know that the Republicans have gotten wind of this and they don't want it to come out. They want Louderbush on 18

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

the Democratic primary ballot. The Ostwind campaign will be working overtime to discredit anything bad you come up with on Louderbush."

"Oh, great."

"They'll say it's all a smear. So you'll need to have all your ducks in a row before we leak this stuff to selected media outlets. Have I whetted your appetite, Don, for your work in the days and weeks ahead?"

I told him no, he hadn't.

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Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

Chapter Two

"What do you know about Kenyon Louderbush?" I asked Timmy. I was hiking up State Street hill, and I was one of those people who walk around on sidewalks looking as if they're trying to keep their left ears from falling off. "I mean, besides the obvious."

"You met with Dunphy?"

"Just now."

"So it's Louderbush he wants you to dig up dirt on? Or was that not it?"

"That was it. Opposition research, so-called."

"That's the euphemism."

"Did you ever hear that Louderbush is gay?"

"No, never. And if he is, what else is new? We're almost at that point."

"Not quite. But it's more than gay."

"Oh?"

"It's physical abuse. Supposedly he repeatedly beat up a young gay man he was involved with about five years ago.

Don't repeat any of this. It's a horrible thing to say about anybody."

"Of course."

"The young guy, a SUNY student, committed suicide.

Supposedly because Louderbush drove him to it. Dunphy wants me to check this out and find out if it's true. And if it is, get the goods and drive Louderbush out of the race."

"How awful."

Red White and Black and Blue

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"They're terrified that all these right-wingers are registering Democratic, and Louderbush will win the primary, and then Ostwind'll bring the Republicans back in. So Louderbush has to go."