A week later, Leo received a call from Kevin, an aide to Representative Murphy.
The voice on the other end of the line was filled with exhaustion.
"Leo, I'm sorry, but we've run into a problem," Kevin said, getting straight to the point. "Your grant application has been held up at the preliminary review stage with the Department of Housing and Urban Development."
Leo's heart sank.
"What happened?"
"A Vice Minister named Robert Coleman rejected the application outright, claiming the materials don't comply with their latest internal guidelines," Kevin explained.
"Internal guidelines?" Leo pressed. "What are those? The materials we submitted are in full compliance with all federal regulations."
"I know." Kevin's voice was full of resignation. "Those so-called internal guidelines have never been made public. It's the favorite trick of Washington bureaucrats. They can always dig up some obscure internal rule to kill any project they don't want to approve."
"It's classic bureaucratic stonewalling. They're trying to wear us down."
"But that's not the primary reason," Kevin continued. "The deeper issue is that this Vice Minister, Coleman, is a holdover appointed by the previous Republican Party administration. He has only one political objective: to create problems for any project spearheaded by the Democratic Party."
"Community projects like yours, with their obvious social welfare angle, are a particular thorn in his side."
"But that's not the most critical part." Kevin lowered his voice. "We've discovered that Coleman is extremely close with Warren, the Republican Senator from our state of Pennsylvania."
"And I think you know very well who stands behind Senator Warren."
In that instant, Leo understood the entire situation.
This wasn't just a simple case of Washington bureaucracy.
This was a precision strike, orchestrated from afar by the powers that be in Pittsburgh.
Mayor Carter Wright may have compromised publicly, but the real power players behind him weren't about to let Leo off the hook that easily.
Senator Warren was one of the most powerful figures in the Pennsylvania Republican Party.
And his biggest campaign donor was Old Morganfield, the Sect Leader of the Pittsburgh-based conglomerate, Morganfield Industrial Group.
Leo remembered what his father had once told him.
In Pittsburgh, mayors come and go, but the Morganfield Family is eternal.
They were the true rulers of the city.
Mayor Carter Wright, Peak Development Group, Allen Wexler—they were all merely the public-facing agents of this massive interest group.
"Do you see now, Leo?" Roosevelt's voice rang out. "This is what happens when the deep state combines with a network of local oligarchs."
"You think you're just fighting some petty bureaucrat in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but you're actually challenging a vast network of interests that spans both Washington and Pittsburgh."
"Representative Murphy has some influence in the House of Representatives, but over in the Senate, his voice doesn't carry enough weight. He can't withstand the combined pressure from Senator Warren and the Morganfield Family on his own."
On the other end of the line, Kevin said dejectedly, "John is doing everything he can. He's preparing to contact the other Pennsylvania representatives in the House to jointly pressure the Department of Housing and Urban Development. But he needs time. It could be months before we see any results."
Months.
That was far too long for Leo and Murphy.
In a few months, Murphy's primary election would be long over.
If he couldn't deliver any tangible results for his constituents before then, he was sure to lose.
And Leo's Pittsburgh Revitalization Plan would be dead in the water, caught in this endless cycle of delays.
Leo hung up the phone, lost in thought.
He knew it was his turn to make a move.
His alliance with Murphy was based on mutual exploitation.
If he couldn't help Murphy solve this problem, their alliance would be nothing more than a worthless piece of paper.
Murphy would abandon him without a second thought—an ally who had become worthless.
"What should we do?" Leo asked Roosevelt.
He found the situation tricky.
They couldn't directly confront a Vice Minister of the Federation in Washington, let alone deeply entrenched local oligarchs like Senator Warren and Morganfield.
Roosevelt laughed.
"My boy, never attack an enemy's strength with your weakness. What we must do is drag them out of their fortress and onto a battlefield of our choosing—one that gives us the advantage."
"We're going to drag them into a war against the people."
"Remember, what a bureaucrat fears most isn't a more powerful adversary, but endless trouble. The unpredictable kind of trouble that wells up from the bottom and refuses to play by the rules."
Under Roosevelt's guidance, Leo began to formulate a completely new plan of attack.
It was a transparent plot, a scheme played out in the open.
Step one: redefine the enemy.
Leo immediately had Sarah set up a camera. He was going to record a special episode for "Pittsburgh Heart."
In the video, Leo sat in front of his familiar fireplace. But the expression on his face wasn't one of anger. It was a mixture of sorrow and confusion.
"My brothers and sisters of Pittsburgh,"
he said to the camera, his voice low.