ACT TWO
INT. OPERATIONS BULLPEN, MID-AFTERNOON
Bram stared at his computer screen rereading Lou's email from that morning: "The purpose of this email is to remind all staffers of this administration's policy on leaks to the media. All media contacts and leaks MUST be approved by the Communications Director, the Press Secretary or the Chief of Staff directly. Any unapproved leaks are grounds for disciplinary action including suspension or termination. If you are confused by what constitutes a leak, please see your supervisor or the Communications Director."
"Do you think she's serious about this whole termination thing?" he asked the young man whose desk faced his. Bram didn't particularly like the guy, but he was the only one around to ask.
"Who and what termination thing?" Andrew replied without looking up from his research.
"Lou. In her email this morning about leaks."
"I have no idea. If you're confused, why don't you ask Sam or Lou?"
"Yeah," Bram muttered.
"And if you aren't going to do that, why don't you work on that vetting file you're supposed to have done by the end of the day tomorrow that you haven't even started?"
"How do you know I haven't started it yet?"
Andrew met Bram's eyes. "Because Sam gave you the assignment this morning in the deputies meeting and I have yet to see you, you know, work on it."
"Ass-kiss," Bram muttered under his breath.
CUT TO:
INT. WHITE HOUSE RESIDENCE, SAME TIME
"If you carry the one, then add one plus two you get three," Helen explained to Peter. The kids had been home from school long enough to eat a snack and start on their homework and Peter was having trouble with multiplication.
"Mrs. Santos?" Donna interrupted.
"Do as many by yourself as you can, and I'll be back to help you with the rest," Helen told Peter. She got up and ushered Donna into Matt's private study.
"What's up?" she asked.
"I've finished up my preliminary research into the HPV vaccine and it is under review by the final advisory committee right now. Everything indicates that it will be recommended for approval and that the FDA will follow that recommendation."
"You didn't come all the way up here to tell me that. What's bothering you, Donna?"
"Ma'am, I'm hearing from some of my contacts in the FDA that there's a huge political fight brewing over this. And it's not only on the Hill, although parts of it could play out there. This is going to be a media battle and I want to make sure that you know what we could be in for."
"Are you advising me not to pursue this?" Helen couldn't believe Donna would be the sort to back away from a fight.
"No, I just want to you realize that by publicly supporting the approval of this drug, we could be backing the West Wing into a corner that costs them a lot of capital in a fight they hadn't planned on or, worst case scenario, they'll have to hang us out to dry to protect other parts of their agenda. I think you need to be prepared for all the potential outcomes," Donna explained.
"I don't understand."
"If the religious right raises enough of a stink, they could put pressure on Congress to make the President pay on other issues. For instance they could say he didn't lean on the FDA enough so they're going to hold up his VP confirmation even more or his education bill or something else the President really wants passed. The President essentially has three options," Donna paused to make sure Helen was still with her. The complexities of political retribution could be difficult to understand if you'd never experienced them first hand. Fortunately, her years in the West Wing gave her volumes of experience to draw on. "One is that a successful PR campaign can be mounted and we come out the winners. Two is that we're right and Congress is wrong and he'll live with the consequences I just mentioned. Three is that he'll cave and lean on the FDA to shelve the drug and we'll face a huge public failure our first time out on a major issue. Then the questions start about why was the First Lady involved in this at all."
"Matt wouldn't do that." Helen shook her head.
"I don't think he would either and on the off chance he would try to, I don't think Josh would let him, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't advise you that it was a possibility."
"Okay. So what do you think we should do?"
"I think you need to talk to the President about what you want to do. I don't mean ask his permission, I mean advise him of your intent and ask him if you'll have his support," Donna advised. She'd spent the better part of the day thinking up a strategy to do this with the West Wing's support, but without their direct involvement. She wanted this opportunity too badly to let Josh's people into her sandbox. "Let him know you understand what a sensitive issue this is for him, but you
think it's too important to turn into a political football. This is curing cancer and nothing should be more important than that. We will need to work with them on a strategy for discussing sex education, but if you stray too far from what they want, we can always say you were expressing your personal opinions. What do you think?"
Helen considered her Chief of Staff without speaking and realized for the first time how lucky she was to have hired this extraordinarily talented and savvy woman. She hadn't really thought of being an activist First Lady until Sunday. She had seen the skill with which Donna had worked the press during the campaign, had great respect for her and figured if anyone could keep her underwear out of the paper again, it would be Donna, but she'd hadn't realized Donna knew so much about policy and strategy.
"Well, I think you're going to have to go over that again before I understand it," Helen said with a self-depreciating grin. "Possibly two or three times and use small words. But it sounded great."
Donna smiled and looked down at her hands before meeting Helen's eyes. "There are two ways to broach the topic. You can talk to the President when he comes upstairs tonight or you can call Ronna and ask her to schedule you five minutes with him in the Oval."
"What do you suggest?"
"Call Ronna. If you want him to take you as seriously as you're taking the issue, you need to keep it out of the Residence. You talk to the President and I'll talk to Josh. Just remember, we're advising them of our intentions and keeping them in the loop, not asking their permission."
CUT TO:
INT. SAM'S OFFICE, LATE AFTERNOON
"Hey, do you..." Lou started to knock on Sam's open door only to find him staring out his window at the South Lawn. "You know the snow's not going to melt any faster if you watch it, right?"
Sam spun around in his chair. "I'm not watching the snow melt."
"Okay," Lou said, not believing him.
"What can I do for you?"
Lou looked out into the hallway and then sat down, speaking quickly and quietly. "Here's the deal. I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me and Lester with something."
"What?" Sam couldn't help being wary. Lou's body language made him nervous.
"We've got a meeting later with the President to discuss the Josh and Donna situation. To see if maybe he'll lean on them, or even order them to do an interview and get this thing off the radar."
Sam leaned back stunned. "Do you like working here? Because if Josh finds out about this, he's going to fire you."
"Not if the President agrees with us. I work for President Santos, not Josh Lyman."
"I'll think about it," Sam replied flatly.
"It's at 5:30, right before his last meeting with Josh. You know this thing will go away if they just sit down and give somebody a damn interview. I need your help on this, Sam. If we want to get anything done, we have to move past the press's unnatural obsession with the 'Joint Chiefs of Staff' before somebody digs into their past and finds a scandal," Lou said, getting up.
"Is that what you think is going to happen?" Sam turned his chair to face the chalkboard that for so long had been Josh's. In his mind's eye, he could still see the vote breakdowns and schedules mixed with innocent and inane notes to Josh from Donna.
"It's what I'm hoping doesn't happen," Lou said. "I'll see you at 5:30."
Once Lou was gone, Sam kicked his chair around until he faced the window again and put his feet up on the sill. There was no way he would go into the Oval Office today and advocate the President ordering Josh to discuss his and Donna's relationship with a reporter. Not after what Josh had said to him this morning, because Josh had a very good point. They had never spoken to the press outside of their professional capacities. The only reason the pictures and story were out there at all was because Lester had been showing off to a childhood friend. Maybe Lester ought to stand up in the press room and say some of that stuff, Sam mused. Maybe he'd go to that meeting of Lou's and suggest it. His meeting with Ainsley shouldn't last that long. He looked down at his watch. It was nearing 5:00 now, so if he was going to make both meetings, he should get going down to the Counsel's office. Sam grabbed his jacket and looked out the window one last time.
"Figures," he muttered as he saw the person he'd been watching for and hustled out of his office for the South entrance.
"Are you stalking me?" It somehow didn't surprise Amy Gardner that Sam was waiting for her as she returned from the Hill. It had been a long, boring day of listening to senators and representatives ramble on about what they really needed was a shorter school year and how this bill was going to mean increasing teacher pay. Who was going pay for that, they wanted to know. All she could, other than make the occasional comment, was nod and take notes.
"No," Sam stammered, because he had been and could tell that this encounter with Amy was going be as difficult as every other encounter he'd ever had with her. She was the reason he'd been staring out his window when. Baker's confirmation had been giving him a headache, so he'd decided to ponder the education bill. Which meant waiting for Amy to get back from the Hill.
"Right," the legislative director drawled.
"I wasn't stalking you," Sam repeated, following Amy as she headed into the West Wing proper. "I do need to know how your meetings on the Hill went, though, and happened to look out my window and saw you walking through the gate, so I thought I'd meet you at the door."
"You just happened to look out your window and saw me walking through the gate?"
"Yes."
"Sam, your desk doesn't face the window."
"Does it matter? How did your meetings go?" Sam vowed to remain calm. He knew getting upset with Amy would be counterproductive.
"Why do you want to know?"
Sam debated throwing out the 'because I'm your boss' line, but wisely let it go. "I have a meeting with Josh in a few minutes and he's going ask me how your meetings went. I need to give him an answer."
"I'm perfectly capable of telling Josh how my meetings went myself," Amy snapped. "I'm a big girl, Sam."
"Except that Josh specifically asked me to find out how your meetings went and give him the update during the sit-down he and I have later this afternoon," Sam explained, continuing to keep his cool.
"First of all, you don't have to talk to me like I'm three years old and secondly, if Josh can't communicate directly with me about education reform, he shouldn't have given it to me."
"Josh didn't give you education reform, Amy. He sent you up to the Hill to feel a few people out and refocus the news cycle," Sam said, his patience finally starting to wear thin.
"And I'll take care of telling Josh what went on up on the Hill myself," Amy said, turning the corner into her office and brushing Sam off by closing the door in his face.
"That went about as well as could be expected," Sam muttered. Heaving a sigh and not for the first time wondering what on earth possessed President Santos to hire Amy Gardner, Sam threaded his way through the corridors to the Counsel's office.
"Hi, I'm Sam Seaborn," Sam introduced himself to the woman sitting at the desk outside Ainsley's office. "I'm here to see Ainsley Hayes."
"Do you have an appointment?" the gray-haired woman in her late 50's asked. She'd come to the White House with Ms. Hayes from the Heritage Foundation and was under whelmed by the young liberals who occupied the West Wing.
"Do I have an appointment?" Sam repeated, surprised by the question. "No, I don't."
"Then I'm sorry, Ms. Hayes has a full schedule today. I can schedule you an appointment for..." the woman flipped the pages of the schedule book in front of her until she found an opening. "Next Wednesday."
"Perhaps you could check with Ms. Hayes and let her know I'm here. Please." Sam continued to smile, but he put his hands on his hips and stood before her desk expectantly.
With a small huff, Ainsley's executive assistant picked up the phone and dialed her boss's extension. "Ms. Hayes, there's a Mr. Seaborn here to see you. He doesn't have an appointment and says he needs fifteen minutes of your time... Yes, ma'am." She hung up the receiver and said to Sam. "She'll be right out."
The words no more than left the woman's mouth than the door to Ainsley's office swung open and Ainsley stepped out with a big smile. "Sam Seaborn. As I live and breathe! Come in here!"
"Ainsley, how are you?" He asked returning her smile. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed his southern Republican adversary until the sight of her filled his eyes.
"I'm good. Really good. Better than really good now that I'm not stuck at that blowhard foundation anymore. Have you ever heard the phrase 'circle jerk'?" Ainsley rambled barely waiting for Sam to nod before continuing. "Because that's what it was. Groupthink at its finest. No debate, no consideration of other opinions, even if they came from other conservatives. Ugh!" She stopped and looked at him. "I couldn't do it, Sam! I'd rather work with Democrats. At least you people consider alternative points of view."
"Glad to hear us people have some redeeming qualities. Nice office by the way."
"Thank you. I admit, it's no steam pipe distribution venue, but it is home."
"It could use some Gilbert and Sullivan, though. And what's with the appointment woman?"
Ainsley smiled at the shared memory. "Yeah, she's a little obsessive, but she's the most amazing researcher I've ever met. I had to steal her. Anyway, what can I do for you, Sam?"
"Josh wants me to work with you on the Superfund lawsuit. He thinks there are some political landmines involved."
"Have you read through it yet?" Ainsley asked with enough sarcasm to let Sam know she had and she agreed with Josh.
"I haven't. My fiancée is with the firm representing the plaintiffs and I figured it would be a conflict of interest for me to be involved, so when I got served with the lawsuit, I had it delivered to your office."
"Your fiancée served you with the papers?" Ainsley raised her eyebrows and gave him a sympathetic look. "That had to hurt."
"Yeah, well, believe it or not things actually got worse from there, but let's not talk about Lauren. Tell me about this lawsuit."
"The Superfund site involved is an Army depot outside
"Why do I have a sinking feeling I know where this is going?" Sam asked.
"Because you're a liberal Democrat and a lawyer who believes the worst about corporations and in this case you might be justified. There's an industrial company that wants to buy a huge tract of the land and build a biodiesel refinery there. The local residents are claiming the EPA is about to issue something called a 'no further action' certificate on the land even though there's still groundwater contamination that's polluting their rural water supply."
"Do you think there's any merit to it?" Sam asked.
"I have no idea."
"How do you want to start?"
"Well, the EPA project manager was reassigned to
"Sounds like a plan," Sam looked at Ainsley for a minute. "What are you doing now?"
"I thought I'd go tell Josh we had a plan for dealing with this lawsuit and then I'm wrapping things up and heading home. Why?" Ainsley felt her heart beat just a little faster under the intensity of Sam's stare.
"I have to go to a meeting in the Oval Office, and I think it would be a good idea for you to come along. We can stop in to see Josh afterwards."
CUT TO:
INT. OVAL OFFICE FOYER, SAME TIME
"Hi, Ronna," Helen greeted her husband's executive assistant.
"Hello, ma'am." Ronna returned the First Lady's smile.
"How long have we known each other, Ronna?"
"Since the President was the mayor of
"Can you at least call me Mrs. Santos?" Helen hated the formality of the White House, especially when it came from people like Ronna who had been with Matt for years.
"I'll work on it, ma'am," Ronna laughed. "He's actually on schedule, you can go right in."
"Thank you," she said, letting herself into the Oval Office.
Matt looked up from his briefing material at the sound of the door opening. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I'm here on business," said Helen, squaring her shoulders. She and Donna had spent the afternoon rehearsing this. 'Stay calm and professional,' she told herself.
"Business?" Matt asked.
"Yes."
"Okay. Why don't you sit down then?" Matt gestured at one of the loveseats. The idea of doing business with his wife put him more than a little off balance. "Do I need Josh?"
"Donna's going to brief Josh a little later," Helen said, sitting on the loveseat and waiting until Matt was seated as well. "You know I've been trying to decide on an agenda to pursue as First Lady. I've
found an issue that's very important to me and I think very important to women of all ages, but especially young women."
"Okay." The little hairs on the back of Matt's neck pricked up. He had an idea where this might be going, and he didn't like it.
"Do you remember yesterday we had a brief conversation about HPV and the new vaccine that's making its way through the FDA approval process?"
"I do indeed," Matt said, his suspicions confirmed. He thought she'd let go of that conversation a little too easily yesterday.
"I want to make shepherding this drug through its final approval my first issue as First Lady. The reason I'm here is because I know this is a very touchy subject politically, and I want to make sure if I do this, you're willing to support me regardless of the political cost."
"Helen..." Matt leaned back in his chair and studied his wife. He had no idea what had gotten into her. In all the years he'd been in office, she had never once expressed any interest in anything political. "Are you sure this is where you want to start? I thought you were more interested in children's issues or helping us with education reform. The HPV vaccine? Do you realize what you could be setting yourself up for?"
"I said I knew this was a touchy political issue for you, Matt, that's why I'm here."
"I'm not even talking about for me. I'm talking about for you. Do you remember how worked up you got when that picture of you and your underwear was in all the papers during the campaign?"
"It was my underwear. I'm not likely to forget it was splashed all over the tabloids."
"The people who oppose this vaccine are going to make that look like a feature story on your baking skills. Helen, they are experts at this type of thing."
"What type of thing?" Helen's resolve to remain calm and professional was slipping.
"Political hardball."
"Donna thinks she has a strategy..." Helen began only to be interrupted by Matt.
"What's your response when the press starts asking why you advocate 11-year-old girls having sex?"
"My first response is that if you don't want your 11-year-old having sex then perhaps you ought to be doing a better job of parenting your children and my second response is why is it that only girls having sex at 11 seems to be a problem? Where exactly do you think girls get STDs from? The tooth fairy? Women of all ages should have the right to protect themselves from diseases. We have the opportunity to vaccinate women against a virus that causes cancer! Cancer, Matt! And we're going to quibble about how old someone is when they're allowed to get that protection? How about as soon as possible!?" Helen demanded, her face flushed.
Matt sat quietly, awed by her tirade and almost convinced that she could, with Donna Moss's help, handle whatever her opponents threw at her. He did need to talk it over with Josh before he committed, though. "When do you need an answer?"
"I'd like to walk out of here today knowing I have your support." Helen silently thanked God that Donna had warned her this would likely be his answer.
"My gut answer is yes, you'd have our support no matter what, but I have no idea where this drug is at in the approval process and I need to talk to Josh. I promise I'll have an answer of some sort tonight."
"There's no good reason we shouldn't be curing cancer," Helen repeated her position, standing up to leave.
Matt walked her to the portico door and gave her a departing kiss. After she disappeared from sight, he buzzed Ronna to let her know he was ready for Lou and Lester.
"Mr. President." His Communications Director and Press Secretary looked way too serious for the five minutes of his time they'd requested.
"What's up, Lou?"
"I'd like to wait for..."
"Mr. President," Sam said, breezing into the Oval Office with Ainsley Hayes right behind him. "I apologize if we're late. Our last meeting ran a bit long."
"No, we were just getting started. What's going on, Lou?"
"Sir, as you know, we have a large and robust agenda we're trying to focus on: Baker's confirmation, the education reform bill and
"I'm well aware of our agenda," Matt interrupted with a small smile.
"The thing is these are the issues we'd like the press focused on, not trivial, banal things like the relationship between your Chief of Staff and the First Lady's Chief of Staff that seems to be dominating the media coverage of this Administration.
We'd like your assistance in convincing Josh that the best way to make this whole thing go away is for him and Donna to give an interview to a selected news outlet or two and give the press what they want so we can move ahead. And if he still refuses, I think you should consider ordering him to do it," Lou stated her case.
"Lester? What's your opinion?" Matt asked.
"I agree with Lou, sir. I'm tired of talking about Josh and Donna to the press," Lester replied.
"Sam?"
The Deputy Chief of Staff took a deep breath. "I think it's is a very bad idea. I talked to Josh about doing an interview again this morning, and he reminded me that he never once did an interview after the shooting and Donna didn't do any after the bombing. They didn't sell their stories to
Lou and Lester exchanged glances and looked down at the carpet suitably chastised.
"Do you have anything to add?" the President turned to his Counsel.
Ainsley thought about it for a moment. "If it were me, the next time I was on Capital Beat that might be what I'd say."
"I might suggest that to him later. Anything else?" Matt asked.
"No, sir," the staffers chorused and dispersed.
"Lou?" Matt called stopping her at the door. "I know you're trying to do your job and I was willing to hear you out this time because there were other people in the room, but never do anything like this again. If you've got a problem with Josh in the future, the three of us will sit down and deal with it."
"Yes, sir." Lou took the door out into the hallway and stalked back to her office, mentally berating herself for yet another failed attempt to get the monkey that was the 'Joint Chiefs' off her back. "God, what a stupid nickname."
"Stupid nickname for what?" Otto asked as Lou passed him in the Communications bullpen.
"Don't worry about it," she scowled.
Otto trailed her into her office. "A bunch of us are going out for drinks after work, do you want to come along?"
"Otto," Lou growled threateningly. "What did I tell you about..."
"Hey! I said a bunch of us. Me, Bram, Lester, Ronna. It's not a date. Sheesh. Calm down." The younger man turned to go.
"You know what? A drink sounds good right about now. Where are you going?"
"The Hawk and Dove." Otto grinned at her over his shoulder and continued on his way.
FADE TO BLACK