Patriots Versus Bureaucrats

by Thomas Temple

  Jacob Moshe Wasserman came from a much different background. He was one of five children of a dry cleaner from the Bronx. Jacob attended night school to earn his law degree from Brooklyn School of Law. Standing five foot six inches he was vivid contrast to his mentor, Nelson Pike. Jake Wasserman was a dapper man who usually favored a bow tie and always wore a fedora. Working on a large civil case that his small New York law firm had represented jointly with the Pike Law Firm had brought him into contact with Nelson Pike. During the litigation the young Jake Wasserman impressed the famous Mr. Pike and soon was recruited to join the Pike Law Firm in Chicago. Nelson Pike’s eye for legal talent was legendary and Jake Wasserman proved to be the best of a great group of attorneys hired, developed, and promoted by the Pike Law Firm. Now only forty-eight years old Jake was selected by Nelson to be Nelson’s successor and made a name partner four years ago. The Pike Law Firm had become Pike and Wasserman. Both men had tremendous respect for the other’s talents, liked each other and, more importantly, trusted each other.

  The Gulfstream 450 touched down at the ranch at 7:03 pm and Pete jumped into his pickup and was home at 7:20. Josie had left a chicken casserole that only needed a few minutes in the microwave to be table ready. As usual she had fed the animals before leaving and as usual the three amigos met Pete happily and tried to con him out of an extra feeding. “Nice try assholes, but Josie left a note saying she has already fed your lazy asses,” Pete admonished his companions. A couple of beers and a cigar constituted the rest of his evening and it was off to bed by 10 pm. It had been a long day and tomorrow would be even longer. Pete would entertain his guests at the stone cabin further up the mountain and away from prying eyes.

  Tuesday, October 22, 2013

  Snyder Security Services’ corporate jet touched down on the tarmac of the Mountain and Meadow ranch at 6:30am. Two men exited the plane silently, carrying only briefcases. They exchanged a brief nod to Pete and climbed in his pickup truck. It was five minutes to Pete’s house, but they did not stop. Instead they drove up a winding mountain road for another twenty-five minutes.

  Not a single word passed between the three men on this short drive. As soon as they were inside the stone cabin, the man named Hawkins opened his unusual looking briefcase and removed a square box and a circular antenna. The device hummed to life and a series of green LED lights lit up. Hawkins nodded and everybody exchanged greetings and handshakes. The device would insure their complete privacy as it automatically searched for any electronic pulse that could be detected within a five mile radius and jam any electronic communication within that radius also.

  From a small duffle bag Pete unpacked three large thermos bottles that contained coffee and opened a cooler that held their breakfast. After a minute in the microwave venison sausage, scrambled eggs, and fresh biscuits were served by Pete to his two hungry guests. As they finished their breakfast the host started up a comforting fire in the stone cabin’s massive fireplace in order to take away the morning chill of an October day in the Wyoming mountains.

  As Snyder and Hawkins listened intently their host told them about the tragedy at the Ross farm, his retention of Pike and Wasserman, and the bigger picture of the abuse that US citizens were experiencing from the very government that was supposed to protect them. Then he gave them the list. Neither Snyder nor Hawkins spoke or showed any emotion. Pete then excused himself for an hour’s walk so that his guests might discuss privately what he had just presented to them.

  When Pete returned to the stone cabin he did not know what type of reaction he would receive. He would not have been surprised if Snyder said the whole idea was crazy and that they would have to decline.

  “Pete, are you willing to take the risks, both financially and legally, in pursuing this endeavor?” asked Harry Snyder.

  “Absolutely,” replied Peter Wallis.

  “Well then, let’s get to work,” replied the chief of Snyder Security Services, Inc. Harry Snyder and Mr. Hawkins were in and totally committed to the project.

  The three men worked continuously with only short breaks for food until 3 am the next morning. By then they had agreed upon plans for three operations: Taxpayer, Indigestion, and Falling Star. Hawkins had committed Pete’s list and all operational details to memory and burnt the list and all notes in the fireplace. Pete’s technologies that had been developed at the Mole Works would be deployed. This included the Total Automated Mission Execution System (TAMES) and the Modular Attack Independent Missile System (MAIMS). The MAIMS missiles were also known by the nickname “Broomsticks.” Hawkins would employ his “collection of friends,” also known as the “Collective” to execute the three operations.

  At 3 am the three men left the stone cabin for the short ride to the Mountain and Meadow ranch airport. In addition to their briefcases Snyder and Hawkins both carried a duffle bag, each of which contained 5 million in cash. No one spoke on the return trip.

  The corporate jet rolled down the runway, became airborne, and disappeared into the dark sky at 3:37am.

  Pete returned to the house, wrote a note to Josie asking that she not disturb him until 10 am and flopped into bed, exhausted, at 3:50 am. Sleep came easily despite having set plans in motion that could result in his receiving the death penalty from the US Government. Well, maybe they could succeed in hanging his ass, but the bastards were going to pay a heavy, very heavy, price.

  Wednesday, October 23, 2013

  Dressed and showered, Wallis made his way into the kitchen and plopped down at the table only an arm’s length away from that giver of life, the coffee pot. Three cups of the magical elixir later he dialed Jake Wasserman in Chicago. To his surprise Jake told him that he and a team of seven other attorneys would be at the Ross farm tomorrow sometime around 10 am. Wasserman briefly explained what they intended to do and also filled him in on what Nelson Pike had been doing. Pete was impressed with the speed of the activities unfolding. At the end of their conversation, Pete would contact Betty, William, and Peter Ross and let them know that they would be having visitors tomorrow morning. Saying goodbye to Jake, Pete dialed the Ross number in Iowa.

  Betty Ross was a bit apprehensive about having so many visitors on such short notice but Pete reassured her that her visitors were just the people needed to stop the government in its tracks. After hanging up with Wallis, Betty Ross called both of her sons and asked them to organize all of the paperwork from the government. She then spent the rest of the day baking bread, biscuits, and other homemade pastries for her expected guests. This was rural Iowa and people fed their guests well.

  Nelson Pike said goodbye to his chauffer at 5:45 pm, exchanged greetings with the doorman, and pressed the code for the private elevator that would take him to his penthouse apartment on Michigan Avenue. As usual the elegant Diana Pike, his wife of fifty two years was there to greet him with a fresh shaker of dirty vodka martinis. Diana Pike was a statuesque and attractive woman who could pass for fifty even though she was seventy-four. She was one of the most socially important and best dressed women in Chicago. She and Nelson had enjoyed a marriage of fifty-two years, three children, and eleven bright and healthy grandchildren. Diana was the epitome of good manners, grace, and class. That was the public and truthful image of Diana. What her children and the public didn’t know was that in private she had a vocabulary that would make a longshoreman blush.

  Handing Nelson a martini she took one look at her husband face and said, “Nelson, I know that look. You either want to get into my pants or you are about crush somebody’s balls in a vise.”

  Nelson feigned shock, “Such language dear. Who said it was an either or situation. After all, I’m always ready to get in your pants.”

  Diana giggled, “Glad to hear that you stallion. Sounds like a great evening in store for me. Meanwhile out with it, whose balls are you going to bust?”

  “Uncle fucking Sam, that’s who,” rejoined Nelson. He went on to explain Pete Wallis’ visit, the Ross family problems, and what he and Jake we
re planning to do about it.

  “What a sorry bunch of cocksuckers these OSHA pricks are. Who in the fuck do they think are that they can ignore Congress and write their own goddamn fucking laws? You and Jake give them the fucking of their piss ant lives, Nelson,” responded the elegant lady who was now very angry.

  Nelson went on to explain the calls he had made in the last two days to eight Congressmen, six US Senators, three Governors, the Executive Director of the Farm Bureau, and the Undersecretary of Agriculture for Farm Programs. To his surprise most of the powerful people he called were unaware of OSHA’s overreaching its authority and at least expressed outrage, whether or not sincere. Nelson’s informal contacts in Washington, DC, had reported back to him that some real shit had started to hit the fan over at OSHA, caused mainly by US Senators from farming states.

  “I take it those G-men have never locked assholes with Jake Wasserman,” laughed Diana.

  “No they haven’t dear,” grinned Nelson. “Should be a nice surprise for them.”

  “Yeah, just like finding that somebody shit in your punchbowl,” chuckled Diana as she rose to refill their martinis.

  Thursday, October 24, 2013

  The corporate jet landed at 8:45 am in Sioux City, Iowa. Deplaning were eight attorneys from the firm of Pike and Wasserman. Soon they retrieved the two rented Lincoln Town Cars and began the forty minute drive to the Ross farm in Plymouth County. Jake Wasserman rode in one car driven by one of the associates and Harold Conners, Pike and Wasserman’s chief litigation partner, rode in the other vehicle. Jake reflected upon the team that he, Nelson Pike, and Harold, “Hal,” Conners had assembled for this litigation. Two other senior partners who specialties were agriculture law and administrative law, respectively, were on the team. Also included were four associates that had been handpicked by Jake, Nelson, and Hal for the assignment. The legal talent riding in the two vehicles would normally bill at a combined rate of twenty thousand dollars per hour. Pete Wallis’ retainer of three million would more than cover the costs. Between the eight attorneys at least one of them was licensed to practice law in the State Courts of Iowa, the Iowa Supreme Court, all Federal District Courts in Iowa, the Seventh Circuit Court, and the US Supreme Court. Pike and Wasserman LLC had brought sixteen inch guns to a knife fight.

  Betty Ross watched the two black Lincolns drive down the dusty driveway from the county road to her house. Eight men and women, dressed in expensive looking suits, exited the vehicles. She was very nervous. Her nervousness evaporated when a dapper little man wearing a bowtie and a fedora introduced himself.

  “Mrs. Ross, I am Jacob Moshe Wasserman of the firm of Pike and Wasserman. I have been sent by my good friend, Pete Wallis. We are not here to attempt to save your farm; we are here to save your farm.”

  There was something about the confidence of the little man and the kindness of his eyes that instantly put Betty at ease. They were invited in and immediately taken to the kitchen for coffee and pastries. Jake introduced his team and their qualifications. Pete Ross thought to himself, “Now those fuckers at OSHA are gonna get it.”

  Soon the farmhouse became a war room. The large dining room table was pressed into service. Betty, William, and Peter Ross were interviewed and statements recorded. All the OSHA correspondence was reviewed. Associates began drafting motions on their computers at the direction of the partners. Calls were made to Chicago and cases and statutes were emailed to the team in Iowa. The network of lawyers at Pike and Wasserman was deployed and by 4 pm twelve motions had been approved by the partners and would be filed the next day in state and federal courts ranging from Iowa to Chicago. Also, two lawsuits were prepared for the local state court in Plymouth County, Iowa, and would be filed the next day. One suit was a wrongful death suit filed against OSHA, Albert Jones, and William Masten, the two OSHA agents involved in harassing the Ross family, thus causing the premature death of John Ross. The other suit was filed against OSHA, Jones, and Masten for violating the Iowa “Interference of the Swine Trade” law. This was an 1880’s statute that was passed during the “swine wars” in Iowa during that period. The statue had been invoked only occasionally since the 1880’s, usually in a dispute between pork processors and only in a civil court. However, the statute did provide a criminal sanction against “any individual, organization, or group of individuals who act so as to interfere with the lawful commerce of producing and trading hogs, boars, sows, piglets, or shoats within State of Iowa.” The Ross family farm raised and sold pigs.

  Betty, William, and Peter had kept the lawyers fueled with sandwiches, fruit, coffee, and soft drinks throughout the day. They were amazed at how quickly the eight attorneys were able to write up motions and even draft lawsuits. At 5:30 pm the Pike and Wasserman team was packing up their documents and computers. Jake had called the airport and the corporate jet was waiting for them at Sioux City. The team, minus the one associate who would file the lawsuits in Plymouth County the next day, would be back in Chicago by 8:00 that evening. Jake Wasserman advised the Ross’s that he would return in approximately a week to brief them on the progress. He would be coming either by himself or possibly with one assistant. In any event, they were to call him immediately if they had any questions or concerns.

  As the lawyers waved goodbye and got in the Lincolns, Betty looked at the diminutive figure of Jake Wasserman and suddenly he looked about seven feet tall. It is often said that standing between justice and injustice is just one good lawyer. In this case it was eight of them.

  Thursday, October 24, 2013

  A farm just outside St. Louis

  Snyder and Hawkins had been very busy since their trip to Wyoming on Tuesday. Arriving at St Louis in the early morning hours of Wednesday they immediately went to the “farm.” The farm was an ultra-secure facility where they stashed the ten million in cash that Wallis had provided them. Snyder returned to his office in St Louis and Hawkins remained at the farm to organize the assets that would be needed to execute operations Taxpayer, Indigestion, and Falling Star.

  Hawkins ran a group that he and Snyder referred to as the “collection of friends’ or just simply as the “collective.” The collective was loosely organized into several functional groups that were highly compartmentalized and unknown to each other. The main groups were:

  The Drama Club. This was a group of impersonators, disguise specialists, and make-up artists.

  Blockers. These people were involved in making the payments and cash disbursements that utilized cutouts, shell organizations, and anything that would stifle any tracing of funds.

  Intruders. These were some of the best hackers in the world and other computer specialists.

  Travel Agents. The logistics of moving people and equipment from location to location was this group’s special expertise, especially if it involved international movements.

  Environmental Control Officers. These were assassins. Some specialized in poison, blades, or sniping.

  Chemical Support. The chemists involved in this group produced items that one could not normally walk into a store and purchase.

  Information and Verification Group. Enhanced interrogation, torture, and information gathering were the main functions of this group.

  Dogcatchers. These were abduction specialists who were well trained in snatching people at any time or place.

  Hawkins began to put together the team needed for operation Taxpayer and within three days had assembled all of the moving parts. Indigestion and Falling Star would take a little longer and require far more resources.

  CHAPTER 5 - THE TRIAL

  Friday, October 25, 2013

  Mountain and Meadow Ranch

  Pete Wallis awoke early, cleaned up, and went downstairs to a hearty breakfast of homemade muffins, eggs over easy, bacon, orange juice, and of course the obligatory strong coffee.

  “Busy day today boss?” queried Josie and she fed the three amigos.

  “Yeah it looks like it, today is all ranch business,” responded the owne
r of the Mountain and Meadow Ranch. He would meet with Bob Miller, his general manager, to go over the quarterly profit and loss, expected expenditures, and other financial issues that come with operating a thirty million dollar a year enterprise.

  Before heading out to meet Bob at the ranch offices, Pete called to advise his flight crew that he would be heading to Kansas the next day. He needed to visit the Mole Works and attend to some business. The return trip would be Sunday evening.

  Pete and Bob finished their meeting by lunch and Pete was very pleased with the overall operations. This was normal since Bob Miller had proved to be a superb manager in all aspects of the Mountain and Meadow operations.

  Pete returned to the house and began packing for the next morning’s trip to Kansas. As usual he advised Josie of his plans and asked if she could come in a little early tomorrow because he was going to get an early start. Since Josie and her husband, Earle, lived on the ranch and she was an early riser, it was no problem. “Sure thing, no problem for me but the amigos might be a bit surly for having their beauty sleep interrupted,” laughed Josie. Pete muttered something about them having to live with it.

  Chicago

  Jake Wasserman, as was his habit, was in his office at 7:30 am busily reviewing the motions and lawsuits that his legal team had filed only hours before. It was going to be a very interesting few weeks ahead.

  Jake and the other lawyers were already starting to draft replies to refute the expected responses to the lawsuits and various other motions they filed yesterday. He smiled to think of the response that OSHA must have had once they were served. Naturally they would at first laugh them off as a minor inconvenience until they reviewed them more closely. Then panic would set in as someone at OSHA would recognize both the law firm of Pike and Wasserman as well as the competence of the legal filings. They would also begin to feel the heat that Nelson Pike’s phone calls had generated. As matters progressed up the chain of command, avoidance of responsibility and career preservation motives would gain primacy. Such was the bureaucratic mind set. The higher the position, the more the management philosophy of Pontius Pilate took hold. Everyone would be looking to wash their hands of the matter.