"Leo."

Sanders’s voice came through the line.

"I heard everything John just said. You’ve painted a beautiful picture, a very ambitious blueprint."

"But anyone can make empty promises."

"I have two very specific questions for you right now, and I need satisfactory answers."

Sanders paused, his tone turning severe.

"How do you plan to clean up this mess?"

"First, you just mobilized every lawyer in the city to sue the municipal government. The claims have piled up into a mountain. Now that you have the money, what are you going to do about these lawsuits? Are you going to hand over all five hundred million US dollars to those lawyers?"

"Second, the city council, specifically its president, Moretti. He blocked your twenty-million-dollar budget before. Faced with five hundred million, he’s only going to stonewall you harder. He holds legislative power and the authority to approve the budget. If he refuses to sign off on it, the money will never even materialize, because you won’t have the legal authority to issue the bonds."

"Tell me, how do you plan to deal with these two roadblocks?" 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"If you can’t solve them, we’ll all become targets for the Republican Party."

These were, indeed, the two most critical problems.

One was a legal dead end, the other a political one.

"Senator, they’re actually two sides of the same problem."

Leo began to speak, his voice steady and without a hint of hesitation.

"As for the lawyers, you know them better than I do."

"Those personal injury lawyers... they aren’t suing the government for justice. They’re just in it for the money."

"The situation right now is that they’re holding thousands of claim forms, theoretically worth fifty million or even more. But they also know that getting that money requires a long, drawn-out legal process."

"Discovery, hearings, first trial, second trial, appeals, counter-appeals..."

"A class-action lawsuit against a government agency, without any intervention, could drag on for three, five, or even ten years."

"During this process, the city’s legal department will use every procedural trick in the book to delay. The salaried government lawyers can afford to wait, but the contingency-fee lawyers can’t."

"They have to front the high costs of investigation and invest immense manpower, and the final outcome is uncertain. The government has its legal team and various immunity clauses to work with."

"Without me, without a Mayor who is actively willing to pay out and push this forward, most of their cases would turn into bad debt they can’t cash in on."

"Time is their greatest enemy."

"For these law firms, a one-million-dollar check that might be cashable in ten years is far less attractive than six hundred thousand in cash, in hand, today."

Leo laid out his solution.

"Once the five-hundred-million-dollar bond issue is successful and the funds are in our account..."

"I will immediately establish a ’Public Infrastructure Injury Rapid Claims Committee’ at City Hall."

"I will make a proposal to all the plaintiff’s attorneys."

"If they are willing to drop their lawsuits and sign settlement agreements, we can pay them out in cash within two weeks at a rate of thirty percent of the claimed amount."

"Wait."

On the other end of the line, Sanders cut him off, his voice laced with clear displeasure.

"Pay them directly? Leo, are you out of your mind?"

"We’re issuing bonds and mobilizing funds from Progressives across the country to build infrastructure and create jobs, not to feed a bunch of greedy personal injury lawyers."

"If the public sees tens of millions of US Dollars from the bonds flowing directly into the pockets of citizens and lawyers instead of being turned into steel and concrete, our narrative will collapse."

"The Republicans will seize on this and attack us relentlessly. They’ll say we’re using taxpayer debt to pay for your previous political stunt."

"They’ll call it a waste, a handout to special interests. And to some extent, they’d be right."

Faced with Sanders’s rebuke, Leo remained completely unfazed.

"Senator, with all due respect, you’re looking at this with the mindset of a twentieth-century legislator."

"You’re staring at the balance sheet. I’m staring at the screen."

Leo leaned forward. Even though Sanders wasn’t there in front of him, the gesture infused his tone with confidence.

"Have you forgotten how I made my name? Have you forgotten how I managed to oust Carter Wright even when he controlled the entire administrative machine?"

"Pittsburgh Heart."

"We live in a media age, Senator. In this era, the truth is whatever’s trending tonight on TikTok and YouTube."

"I’m not just going to quietly mail them checks."

Leo’s fingers tapped lightly on the desk.

"I’m going to turn it into a show. A reality show about justice being served."

"Every single compensation payment will be turned into a viral video. We will transform a massive financial liability into an unparalleled political asset."

"We will use this money to buy the people’s hearts and minds, to seize the absolute high ground of public opinion."

"This is our new division of roles, Senator."

"John is responsible for bringing the money in. He’ll stand at the podium, fighting for resources for the Rust Belt. He will become the guardian of Pennsylvania."

"And I’ll be responsible for spending it. I’ll fix the roads, pay the medical bills, and rebuild trust. Together, John and I will remake this city."