tommy o'connor. soon as i saw how you got elected, i knew you were a real comer. hell, i bet old olaf andersen voted for you.
i won't tell him you asked. chairman of gulf coast power. constituent of yours, client of mine.
pays the rent, know what i mean? say, could i host a little welcome- to-washington thing for you down at my law firm? meet some of my clients, five hundred a head -- you could pick up twenty, twenty-five grand to get you started.
oh, it doesn't come off the top. down the road, i'll bill 'em each five hundred an hour whenever i take you to lunch.
you're a gentleman, tommy. we can always do bid'ness -- i like that in a member.
listen, i'd like to do more money for you -- i just need to know your positions on a few issues. o'connor takes out a pen and leather notecard case.
for instance, where are you on sugar price supports?
shit -- makes no difference to me. if you're for 'em, i got money for you from my sugar producers in louisiana and hawaii. if you're against 'em, i got money for you from the candy manufacturers.
let's put you down as for. now what about putting limits on malpractice awards?
well, if you're for 'em, i got money from the doctors and insurance companies. if you're against 'em, i got money from the trial lawyers. tell you what, let's say against. now how about pizza?
not for lunch, shmuck, for pac money. a lot of the frozen pizzas use phony cheese. there's a law pending requiring them to disclose it on their labels. where do you stand? tommy thinks it through.
good.
excellent! and don't forget the ranchers, because they get hurt if pepperoni sales go down!
so which is it?
all right. for.
it doesn't! that's the genius of the system!
evening, mr. chairman, thanks for taking the -- tommy, you s.o.b., they let you in here? you folks finally get to press flesh! olaf, meet tommy johnson. tommy, olaf andersen. chairman of gulf coast power.
yeah -- i told him you voted for him! they all share a laugh. except for bridges, who squints at tommy.
and this is zeke bridges, ceo of pyramid insurance.
calm down, olaf, calm down, he didn't mean it that way, did you, son? alright, gentlemen. easy.
now how'd you like the people in your district to think of you as the putz who tripled their electric bill? you think they'd thank you for that on election day?
think for a minute, boychik. you hold your hearings. overnight, everyone who lives near a substation finds the value of his home in the toilet. you kill the real estate market.
you kill the school district.
oh, it's all aboveboard, we all believe deeply in the rules. it's just that the state rules are often more flexible about these things.
if that's what you want, we can always find a loophole. no one will see your fingerprints.
you're only in trouble if someone can prove a connection.
dodge double-crossed us.
i do not!