38

THE TELEPHONE CALL FROM Cyril Berman came just minutes after Federal Express dropped off the package at his home. Fiore was eating a late breakfast and reading the Herald’s Saturday sports page when the front door bell rang. He brought the package inside, looked at the return address on the small bubble envelope that was sent by overnight delivery and put it down on the dining room table. When he answered the phone and heard Cyril’s voice, he had a mental picture of the Fed Ex driver returning to his truck, dialing Berman’s number in Washington and saying, “Okay, he’s got it.”

Fiore’s campaign manager was just short of ecstatic. “Everything I’m hearing is terrific, Doug. Those ‘pillars’ of ours loved what you had to say and how you said it. Lester will follow up soon with phone calls to all of them, and I’m sure the money will start rolling in. We’ll ask everyone you met to give us lists of friends who can be counted on to make a contribution, and we’ll invite them to small parties to hear you speak. But none of that will start until after you’re officially in the race. In the meantime, we’ll do what’s necessary right now with some of the funds coming through you know who.”

Berman explained that Fiore’s name would begin to leak out as a possible candidate for governor in about a week. He reminded him to keep his answers to the press and other media short when they began contacting him. It was best, Berman said, to stay with the line that he was tremendously interested in serving Rhode Island but still evaluating the extent of those promoting his candidacy.

“Someone will probably ask what makes you think you’re qualified to start at the top since you’ve never held political office before. Don’t let a question like that rattle you. Just tell them the same thing is happening all over the country. Stress the fact that Reagan’s first political campaign was for Governor of California. Point out that if you’re elected, you can come in with a clean slate. You won’t owe anything to anyone, especially other politicians in the Statehouse.

“Later on, once you’re officially in the race, you can say that your Republican opponent didn’t serve in the legislature either. By the way, never mention Cardella’s name if you don’t have to. Tell them that whatever experience he picked up as attorney general means nothing as far as having the vision Rhode Islanders want to see in their next governor. You got that?”

Fiore assured him that he did, and Berman continued talking. “I don’t know whether the Republican State Committee will try to put any pressure on you to stay out of the race. They’re definitely going to have to endorse Cardella. But they may think it’s better for him to get his feet wet in a fight with you instead of just sitting around waiting for the democrats to choose their candidate.

“Not only that,” Berman went on, “but who’s going to pay attention to what Cardella has to say between now and September if he can’t tell the voters his opponent is full of crap? The Committee has to worry about that. I’m guessing they’ll decide it’s better to have you around, even if they think you may land a few punches before the primary. I’ve already spoken to Russ Walsh about it, Doug. He agrees with me, but he’s going to stay tuned in to what those folks have to say. And just in case anyone on the Committee calls you a traitor to the Party or tries to buy you off, you get hold of Russ right away. He knows all the players over there and he’s the best one to handle it, okay?”

Fiore was just swallowing some coffee and had to wait for it to go down.

“Okay, Doug?” Berman asked again.

“Yes, I heard you, Cyril,” he replied. His curiosity suddenly was aroused. “What’s in the package you sent me?”

“My next point,” Berman said. “Unless there’s some good reason to change it, I’m planning on your making the big announcement three weeks from today. I want to let some suspense build up after the public first hears about you. We’ll milk that for what it’s worth. Then I want your picture on the front page of the Sunday Herald. Decide where you want to give the speech and we’ll book the room. The Holiday Inn is the only place off limits. It’s non-union. Not that we’d expect much support from labor, but there’s no sense starting off with enemies. Let Lester know by Tuesday at the latest and he’ll do the rest. Still okay so far?”

“I’m with you, Cyril.”

“The package has a tape in it, Doug. It’s a draft of the speech I want you to make. In this case, draft doesn’t mean rough draft. A few people worked on it before we were all satisfied. I recorded it so you could hear how it sounds. There’s a transcript there too. It’s important for you to be comfortable with the whole thing. You can reword anything you see there—say it the way you like—but don’t change the substance. That’s going to be your basic speech all through the campaign. A lot of hard work went into it and we think we’ve got it right. For the time being, at least, your views on the issues are written in stone. So, you got any questions?”

“None on that,” Fiore said. “At least not until I hear the speech myself. But when are you coming to Providence and when do you plan to get involved full time?”

“Good point,” Berman answered. “I meant to tell you that. I’ll be there two days before you announce, on Thursday of that week. We’ll spend some time together, you, me, Russ and Lester. The four of us can polish up the speech if it needs it. Between now and then, I’ll find a place for a campaign headquarters in Providence and put down some deposits on locations in a few other towns around the State.

“We’ve already ordered the signs and buttons from a union printer we can trust to keep his mouth shut. We’re going with blue and green, by the way, the same shades that BayBank uses. I like those colors together. The phone company promised to install all the lines we need on one week’s notice. We’ll handle that on a tight schedule, even if we have to go without for a day or two.

“I’m taking a look at some old computer printouts to see who gave money to John Sacco two years ago. We ought to know something about every republican and independent in the State. I’ve contacted a PR firm that will start setting up some focus groups in about a week. We’ll see how they react to the different issues once you and Cardella start hitting the stump. There’s a bunch of other things to get done that I won’t even bother telling you about. The short answer to your question is that I’ve been involved full time for a while already.”

“Will Walsh or Karp know where you’ll be staying when you get here?” Doug asked.

“Oh, that’s already arranged,” Berman replied. “I’ve rented a room by the month at the Biltmore.”