~Finn Whitman, Class of 2025

A Politician’s Journey

James Sullivan stands on the stage, staring at the blue curtain separating him from his audience of over three thousand voters, as he prepares to make his speech. With a flash of lights and the clicks of hundreds of cameras, the curtains roll open and James steps up to the podium. Smiling brightly and waving emphatically, James greets the crowd and the press. His outgoing personality and friendly demeanor made it impossible to dislike him.

“Who’s gonna give you change?” Sullivan asked the crowd.

“YOU ARE!”

“Who’s gonna give you justice?”

“YOU ARE!”

“Who’s the next Mayor of New York City?”

“YOU ARE! 

If there is one thing that James can always do, it’s working the crowd in his favor. 

“Sullivan! Sullivan! Sullivan! Sullivan!”

The crowd’s cheers echoed through the hall, seemingly shaking the roof as James gave his signature mock-salute before the curtains closed. “You did great out there, James!” Said his campaign-manager, Micheal O’Neal.

“Thanks, I couldn’t have done it without you. I think I really have a shot at winning it this year,” James replied.

“Wanna come to my place for live vote tallying on Sunday?” Asked Micheal

“Of course! See you there,” James finished.

James steps out of his 1997 Rolls Royce, and onto the perfectly kept grass of O’Neal’s Manhattan mansion. He walks towards the door, and knocks loudly. O’Neal lets him in quickly, and they both hurry to the couch for the Live vote counting of the New York City Mayoral Election. James and O’Neal’s bodies tense alike, as the numbers start ticking up for all three main candidates; James Sullivan, Oscar Lee, and Jay Reed. Just seconds into the broadcast, all candidates are locked together with a few thousand votes each. 2500 each, 3000, 4000, the race was still neck and neck. All of a sudden, Lee falls behind, and he is essentially out of the race. Now just James and Reed. Each of the candidates has over a million votes and counting. The nervousness in James’ eyes can be seen from a mile away. That day, fortune favored James, and he suddenly flew ahead. Reed has just over a million votes in his favor, while James’ count was still soaring with over 2.5 million votes. James and O’Neal leapt from their seats in sync, and cheered as loud as they could. After just a few more minutes, the vote counting was over. James Sullivan had swept the opposition, and won by over 3 million votes.

Walking into New York City Hall, Mayor Sullivan couldn’t help but gaze in shock at the majestic building that was now his very own office. He was the one and only mayor of New York City. Better yet, he had accomplished this feat at just 23 years of age, making him the youngest ever mayor in the city’s history, 7 years younger than previous title holder Mayor Grant. Sullivan walked into the building, and greeted all of his new helpers and subordinates on the way to his office. James felt that because the voters had shown him so much support, he had to get to work on creating laws right away, just like he promised. So he did. 

On his first day in Office, he created a draft for a bill called The Litter Act, which would use state-of-the-art city-wide security cameras to impose hefty fines on citizens who litter, but give tax breaks to citizens who are not seen littering. This Bill was a huge hit in the City Council, and was passed unanimously with a 7 million dollar budget to install cameras. This Bill made him an instant hit with citizens, who had never seen mayors start helping the community so well and so quickly. This Bill was followed by the Racism and Discrimination Act and the Good Citizen Act. Those Laws used the newly installed cameras to find and fine racists, and further reward good citizens who stood up to racism or crime that they saw. Just 23 years old, Mayor James Sullivan was becoming renowned as the best mayor  in the history of the city, and skyrocketing to national fame. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal predicted 30 and 36 percent chances respectively that he would one day become the President of The United States of America.

James smiled at the press crew, as he prepared to address his citizens. 

The cameraman whispered to him, “Broadcasting live in 3, 2, 1,” 

“Hello citizens of New York City! How are you guys? 1 week from today will mark one year since my election as your mayor, so I wanted to share with you a few statistics. Number 1: No Mayor, in any US city, has passed more successful Bills in one year than me and my team.” 

Although James did not know it, Cheers erupted in apartments and houses throughout the city.

“Number two: No Mayor, In any US city, has a higher Citizen Popularity rate than mine, 97% of all citizens think I’m a great Mayor.”

Again, NYC erupted with cheers upon hearing this stat. 

“Lastly, Number three, not a stat, but an idea: My team is helping me set up an online Idea-Box. All of you can enter ideas for Bills you want me to pass, and I will try to pass as many of them as I possibly can.” James gave a salute, and the broadcast was over. 

One week later, James stepped out of his Rolls Royce in front of City Hall, and was greeted with the cheers of thousands of citizens as he walked inside. 

“SULLIVAN! SULLIVAN! SULLIVAN! SULLIVAN!” 

James smiled as he realized how much all of the citizens adored him, and walked into the building where all of his staff congratulated him on his extreme success as a Mayor. He was loved by the citizens. As long as he continued like this, it seemed his political career had nowhere to go but up. 

“Hey everyone, attention please!” James gathered his staff around him, to tell them what he had planned; “pack your bags! Bring some money, too. We’re going to Vegas, trips on the house!” His staffs’ jaws dropped, and then they whooped and hollered in delight. 

Inside of the MGM Grand, a slightly drunk James Sullivan stared intently at the BlackJack dealer, carefully watching every card drawn, and carefully calculating the probable outcome. 2 of spades dealt, no 2s, 3s, 5,s or 6s left in the deck. Percentages and fractions alike flew through James’ head as he decided on a course of action. 4 of hearts drawn. James’ mind is alight again, and this time, he walks straight to the table, and asks to deal in. His calculations show him that with no 2s, 3s, 5s, 6s, and two 4s in the deck, he has a 74 % chance of getting a score of 20, and 22% of a 21. 

“All-In,” James mutters, with a grin on his face. He slides every chip he has into the center, knowing he can hardly lose. Cards are dealt. 10 of clubs to James, he grins in delight. 9 to the dealer. 10 of diamonds to James. He scored 20, one away from the best you could get. The dealer draws an Ace. James tenses up, the dealer now has 10. Another ace to the dealer. Now 11 for him. And the dealer flips up the top card, a 10 of hearts. James’ eyes go wide, and his vision blacks out.

3.6 million dollars. That is how much money Mayor James Sullivan lost in one night. He woke up back home two days later, apparently after 40+ hours in a Shock-Coma, to the sound of his phone ringing. He picked it up, and heard the voice of his banker; “Mr Sullivan, your account seems to have a problem. You are in debt 1.2 million dollars. Unless you can repay us within a month, we are going to be forced to foreclose your house.” The call ended, and James’ could feel his heart beating loudly in his chest. 

“Excuse me, secretary, it’s James, I’m calling about the Mayor’s paycheck. What is it?”

“Let me see… it is 200,000 dollars a year.”

James hung up and gritted his teeth, realizing he could never pay off this debt. 

Fraud isn’t that bad, is it? I can get away with this. Just 1.2 million. That’s all I need. These were the thoughts going through James’ head, as he walked to the top floor of city hall to get a 1.2 million dollar check for a ‘secret bill idea’. 

“Hey, I had a huge bill idea pop into my head, but I’m going to need 1.2 million dollars to finish it. Do you think you can do that?”

“Well, it’s going to take a few weeks, but that sounds like a good idea!”

James, realizing he has done everything in his power to get the money, knew he could only wait and hope.

1 month later, the money arrived in a secure package at James’ home. He drove as quickly as possible to his bank, running red lights, flying by stop signs, and doing everything in his power to arrive by 11:00 a.m., the deadline for the payment. Time: 10:57, ETA: 11:01. James slammed the gas, and heard a deafening crack as his rear view mirror was ripped off his car by a giant oil truck. Distracted by that, James failed to notice an elderly grandmother with three grandchildren crossing the road. James swerved out of the way st the last second, putting him in the wrong lane, and into the path of a small blue Kia. James swerved off the left lane, and into the bushes. In doing so, he lost his other rear view mirror to the Kia. 

At 11:00 he rushed into the building, and up the stairs. At 11:01, he entered the office with the check. “Sorry James, your time is up. We’re going to need 3.6 million now, because we gave you a month. We will be foreclosing your home in about a week probably. Unless you get us 3.6 million by then, it’s ours.” His banker told him. James handed him the 1.2 million, and stormed out of the bank to find 2.4 more.

In the dimly lit alley behind a shady downtown bar, Mayor James Sullivan stood across from a notorious figure known as Vinnie. You could practically see the tension in the air as they exchanged wary glances. “So, what’s the deal, Vinnie?” James asked, trying to keep his voice steady despite the nerves shaking his whole body. Vinnie was twirling a knife in between his fingers. “You need money, Mayor,” he said, his tone laced with menace. “You help me, and I can help you.” James sighed, knowing he was about to dive headfirst into the dark waters of corruption and fraud. “What do you want in return this time?” he asked, already dreading the answer. Vinnie leaned in closer, with a smirk on his disfigured face. “I need those construction contracts for the new development project downtown,” he said. “And I need them to go to my guys, no questions asked.” Sullivan hesitated, the weight of his decision pressing down on him like an elephant. But he knew if word of a foreclosure got out, his political career would be over. “Consider it done.” As Vinnie’s grin widened, Mayor Sullivan felt a pang of regret, knowing that he had just sold a piece of his soul to the devil in exchange for his career.

Blue and red lights flashed everywhere around Sullivan’s home, creating a hazy purple blaze. News teams snapped photo after photo, the clicking sound adding to the inferno of noise. In the center of it all was Mayor James Sullivan, being led to a cop car, his hands cuffed behind his back. 

“Mr Sullivan, is it true?”

“Excuse me, Mayor, why did you need the money?”

“What do you have to say to the people who feel betrayed?” The reporters’ questions swirled around him like a whirlwind, stabbing and poking him as he walked to the car.

“I have seen enough, I am ready to make my decision” The judge’s voice echoed around the courtroom. “Corruption: 21 years in prison. fraud of over a million dollars: 25 years in prison. Accepting bribes: 7 years in prison. You are sentenced to 53 years in federal prison, and 4.7 million dollars must be repaid.” 

As James entered prison, he realized his mistakes, but by then, it was far too late.