Chapter 5
“Donna? Can you see Sam? He’d like to come over to talk to you about First Steps.” Deb
asked.
“Of course. Tell him whenever it works for him I’ll clear my schedule.”
There was a pause. “He’ll be over in 5 minutes.” Deb reported after a quick conversation
with Sam’s assistant.
Donna walked across her office and knocked on the connecting door. “Mrs. Santos? Sam
Seaborn will be over in five minutes to go over First Steps. I’ll bring him to your office for the
discussion.”
“Don’t be silly, Donna. I can walk the 15 feet from my office to yours.” Helen pointed out.
Donna came all the way into the First Lady’s office and shut the door behind her. “Mrs.
Santos, the point isn’t whether or not you can walk the fifteen feet. The point is having Sam
come into your territory to discuss your issues.”
“This is another one of those head game things?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll bring Sam over to your office. You should be seated behind your desk.
This is business.”
“Seriously?” Helen’s eyes met Donna’s in a ‘are you kidding me’ expression. “This is Sam,
right? Not the leader of a foreign nation.”
“He’s one of the leaders of the foreign nation called the west wing. It’s ruled by testosterone
driven males who occasionally need to be reminded that there’s another VALUABLE
viewpoint in the political realm.” Donna replied seriously.
“Behind the desk it is.” Helen agreed and took the seat Donna had indicated.
Donna smiled and returned to her office just as Sam was coming in. “Thanks for coming
over, Sam. Mrs. Santos appreciates your time.”
“Mrs. Santos? I thought it was just the two of us.”
“That really doesn’t make much sense. She’s available and she’d like to hear the
information first hand; right this way.” Donna took him back out of her office, past her
assistant Deb and knocked on the outer door to Mrs. Santos’ office.
“Mrs. Santos, Sam Seaborn is here. I’m sorry to interrupt, but I know you were anxious to
hear his thoughts on First Steps.” Helen wasn’t sure what Donna was supposedly
interrupting, but she caught the thread easily enough.
“No, please, these other things can wait.” Helen smiled and stood, but waited behind her
desk for Sam to come to her; just like Donna had been telling her.
“Ma’am. Thanks for making the time to see me.” Sam approached and waited for Mrs.
Santos to sit before taking a chair in front of her desk. He opened the file he’d put together
on First Steps and handed the briefing book on the program back to Donna.
“Thanks for taking the time to review the program, Sam. I’m very anxious to get started
working on it. I’d like to be working on something more important than the ceremonial role I’
ve had so far.”
“That’s what I understood from Donna, Ma’am.” Sam looked between the two women. “After
reviewing the material, it appears that this program has a lot of potential.”
“That’s what we thought too.” Helen replied.
“Yes, Ma’am.” Sam coughed. “Our concern is that in promoting this program, it may take a
bit of energy and attention away from the current legislation under consideration.”
“You mean my husband’s education reform bill?” Helen confirmed.
“Yes, Ma’am.” Sam cleared his throat. “We’re calling it Collective Learning.”
“Nice name; catchy, don’t you think Donna?”
“Very catchy. But then Sam is quite the wordsmith.” Donna smiled at him.
“Then as a professional wordsmith, do you think we should change the name of the
program from First Steps to something else when we go national with it?” Helen asked Sam.
“Yes, I mean no; the name is fine.” Sam corrected himself. “The problem isn’t the name.”
“I didn’t realize there was a problem at all.” Donna replied.
“Well…as I mentioned earlier, there’s a concern that it might take away from our current
work on Collective Learning.” Sam readjusted himself in his chair. “It would be better if we
could wait a bit before proceeding with your work on First Steps, Ma’am.”
“There’s a concern? Who’s concerned? Is my husband concerned?” Helen pressed.
“Ma’am, I don’t really think-“
“Or maybe it’s Josh.” Donna interjected. “I know he’s been specific with me about not
knocking the west wing off message. Is it Josh that’s concerned, Sam?”
Sweat had popped out on Sam’s forehead now. He felt well and truly trapped between
these two bright, articulate women; both of whom were batting their eyes innocently as him
as they waited for his response.
“Um…I’d say it was a team concern, Mrs. Santos. We all work, you know, as a team to
uh…further the President’s agenda and ummm… collectively…we felt that while First Steps
is a worthwhile project on the face of things…it certainly deserves further consideration,
you understand, and we’d uh…be happy to work with you on that…it’s just that…at the
moment-“
“You seem to have swallowed you tongue there Sam.” Mrs. Santos noted.
“Not at all, Ma’am, except maybe a little bit there at the end. I’m just saying-“
“That we don’t want to promote another piece of education legislation when you’re trying to
garner enough votes for the…what do you call it again?” Helen asked.
“The Collective Learning bill, Ma’am.” Sam answered.
“Yes. I know it’s legislation that my husband campaigned on and believes in very strongly.”
“Yes, Ma’am it is.” Sam agreed.
“And we wouldn’t want to do ANYTHING that would interfere with that purpose.” Helen
declared.
“That would be greatly appreciated, Mrs. Santos.” Sam let out a relieved breath.
“Absolultely, Sam. We’ll get the most accomplished in our time here if we work together and
not at cross purposes. Donna has drilled that into me enough that I can hear it in my
sleep.” Helen smiled but it was the kind of smile that made Sam hold his breath again.
“Yes, Mrs. Santos. No one knows better than Donna how things operate in the west wing
and the legislature.” Sam pointed out.
“I agree. That’s why I’m sure Donna can organize our trip to First Steps in California in a
way that won’t…how did you put it? Oh yes, that it may take focus and energy away from
the Collective Learning Bill.” Helen turned to her Chief of Staff. “We can do that, can’t we
Donna?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Donna answered. “I’ll start working with Annabeth right away to plan the
perfect press event in California. That way we can give it more time and study firsthand.
Thanks so much for your time, Sam.” Donna rose and gave him a hug. “Will you do me a
favor and tell Josh I’m going to be here late tonight? We’re going to need more time to start
putting this together. He can go ahead home without me.” Donna walked to the door and
opened it for Sam.
Sam hesitated, then nearly ran for the door. “Donna…Mrs. Santos.” Donna shut the door
behind him.
“Well played, Mrs. Santos.” Donna grinned.
“That was actually kind of fun.” Helen noted. “’Take energy and focus from’…they’ve got to
be kidding me. That doesn’t sound like Matt, talking.”
“Unfortunately, it sounds exactly like Josh.” Donna told the First Lady.
“Donna, I want to pursue this. I feel very strongly about it, as you know. But if this is going
to cause a rift between you and Josh…”
“Ma’am, I was hired to do a job here and how I do my job shouldn’t have anything to do with
any personal relationship I have.”
“Maybe it shouldn’t, but we both know it will. I’m likely to take some heat on the other side of
the building as well.” Helen shrugged. “But I believe in starting as you mean to go on. I’m
going to take on an active role here. I think the boys in the west wing are just going to have
to get used to that.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Donna nodded her agreement. “Annabeth and I will get started on making
arrangements.”
**************************************
“Before we take a closer look at this legislative portfolio, I want to make sure you
understand something.” Josh told Amy. “This resurgence of the Gelsey nomination talk has
caused no end of headaches and hassles for me and the President. I’m actively
investigating the source of that problem and if I find that it originated with anyone in the
White House, they’ll be packing their belongings in record time.” Josh kept his eyes on
Amy’s but couldn’t detect any nervousness from her. Then again, she had always had a
great poker face. It was part of what made her good at what she did.
“I met with Congressional leadership and they’re on board with the first three items on this
agenda.” Josh continued. “You’ve lined up support on the health initiative and because of
your good work there, it’s going to sail for us. Nice job.” Josh gave her a small smile. Amy
could be a political asset if he could get her to pull on the same oars in the same direction
as the rest of the staff. He was willing to give this an honest try.
“Thanks.” Amy replied neutrally. “Stevens and Katsenmoyer could use a personal push
from the COS.”
“Then I’ll make sure they get one.” Josh replied. The meeting continued with Sam joining
them at the end of it. He looked a little frazzled.
“How’d it go Samuel?” Josh asked genially. Once they’d started talking business, he and
Amy had chugged along just fine.
“I’m going to need to speak to you about that.” Sam said looking pointedly at Amy.
“We’re about done here, aren’t we Amy?”
“If any other issues pop up, I’ve got you on speed dial.” Amy answered and left the men to
themselves.
“You look a little worried there, Sam.”
“I am a little worried, Josh.”
“Mrs. Santos didn’t get understand our position on the First Steps thing?”
“Oh no, she understood that just fine.” Sam nodded. “They’re going to be very careful not
to divert energy or focus from our bill while they TRAVEL TO CALIFORNIA ON A PRESS
JUNKET FOR FIRST STEPS!” Sam shouted as he leaned forward to get in Josh’s face.
“I don’t understand. How can they possibly do that when we’re telling them not to?” Josh
asked.
“I may not have said the exact words, ‘we don’t want you to do that’. It was more like an
implied ‘we don’t want you to do that’.” Sam admitted.
“Sam… Sam…you can’t simply imply something like that. You have to state it straight out.
Go back and make sure they understand there will not be a FLOTUS trip to California
unless there is a disaster of some kind for which the First Lady needs to appear at as part
of the disaster relief.” Josh got louder as he continued. “Now go tell them that, explicitly.”
“I think that kind of explicit instruction might come better from you. Or maybe the President!”
Sam loved that idea.
“No. We are keeping the President FAR away from this.” Josh contradicted him. “Just
explain-“
“I really think you would be better suited to handle this.” Sam interrupted him.
“Sam? Just what exactly happened in the east wing?’ Josh wondered.
“They totally double teamed me!” Sam nearly exploded. “They were all smiles and
understanding while they informed me that they appreciated my input and that they’d be
careful not to disrupt our agenda while they went ahead with theirs!” Sam paused to take a
breath. “Then they were all like, ‘who’s concerned Sam? Is it Matt? Is it Josh? They just kept
going on and on!”
“Slow down buddy. They just took you by surprise, that’s all.”
“That’s right. They took me by surprise. I was supposed to be meeting Donna in her office
and all of a sudden she was escorting me into the First Lady’s office. It was like something
from Alice in Wonderland; up was down, in was out, dropping the program is keeping the
program.”
“You’re starting to scare me there, Sam. Take a breath. This is a simple fix. Follow up with
Donna and explain that a trip to California is out of the question at the moment.”
“And you can’t do that because…” Sam trailed off.
“Well, I could, but then you wouldn’t have the opportunity to fix the problem you created.”
“I created???” Sam exploded again. “No, you’ve got to do this.”
“That’s really a bad idea, Sam.” Josh replied.
“Why?”
“Because Donna’s going to get pissed at me and things are very bad when Donna’s pissed
at me.”
“So…it’s better that the First Lady and her Chief of Staff are pissed at me?”
“As far as I’m concerned, yes.” Josh confirmed. “Good luck, pal. Let me know how it goes.”
“You. Are not my friend anymore.” Sam stated before he got up to leave.
“Sorry to hear that.” Josh said insincerely. “Hey, things went well with Amy.”
“Don’t care.” Sam called over his shoulder as he passed Carol’s desk.
“Of course not.” Josh muttered.
***********************************
“Do we need to push it back farther?” Donna asked Annabeth and Ron Butterfield. “I don’t
want to rush this.”
“Two weeks gives us plenty of time to get organized from my end. Get me a list of the stops
and their duration and I’ll have the First Lady’s team get started on it.” Butterfield replied
and rose. “A two day trip won’t tax our team at all.”
“Thanks, Ron.” Donna smiled at the head of the White House Secret Service division. Once
he’d left, Donna turned back to Annabeth. “Now how about from your perspective,
Annabeth. Do we need to push things back a little more?”
“Not in my opinion.” Annabeth replied.
“Donna?” Deb called as she came through the door. “Sam Seaborn is here to see
you…again.”
“Really?” Donna pretended to be puzzled. “I wonder what that could be about.”
Annabeth feigned incomprehension too. “I can’t imagine.”
“Send him in please, Deb.” Donna told her assistant. “Hi, Sam. I wasn’t expecting to see you
again today.”
“I’m sorry to bother you again, Donna. I just thought that earlier…when I was speaking with
you and Mrs. Santos…I got the feeling that maybe…we might not have clearly understood
one another.”
“No, we understood you perfectly, Sam.” Donna disagreed. “There’s no misunderstanding.”
“I think there is.” Sam countered. “Because the west wing is very adamant that you not
make the trip to California anytime soon.”
“We’re not.” Donna replied.
“You’re not?” Sam asked carefully.
“No, we’re not.” Donna answered succinctly. “We need time to plan things out and make
arrangements. We can’t make the trip anytime soon.”
“Oh. Oh well, then. That’s great.” Sam beamed. “That is very good news. Thanks Donna.
Sorry to interrupt, Annabeth.” Sam strolled back to the west wing whistling.
“Donna…that was…untruthful.” Annabeth chastised the Chief of Staff.
“It was not! We’re looking at a date at least 2 weeks out. That is not anytime soon.”
“I think the west wing staffers might think it is.” Annabeth argued.
“Well it’s clearly not. If they wanted to know EXACTLY when we’re planning our trip, they
should simply ask. Or they could consult our online calendar. That was a brilliant idea, by
the way, to keep that online.”
“Thanks.” Annabeth accepted the compliment. “It’s just so much easier for people to keep
updated on the changes in the First Lady’s schedule that way.”
“Right. And we copied the west wing staff on our online calendar, didn’t we?” Donna asked.
“All the White House staff was copied on that.” Annabeth concurred.
“Then I think we’ve covered all our bases.” Donna concluded. “And it’s not like we’re going
to hijack their agenda anyway. I’m going to invite Senator Lee over later today to help us
put together a comprehensive visit schedule.”
“Great, let me know when it’s arranged and I’ll make sure I’m there too.” Annabeth rose.
“This is going to affect so many families! I’m really excited about this, Donna.”
“Me too.” Donna admitted. “We’re going to help steer the First Lady through some major
policy issues. This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Donna looked up as Deb came in a dropped another blue file on her desk. She was able to
exert enough self-control to wait until Annabeth left, but then she pounced on the latest
clippings.
First Lady Helen Santos was resplendent in her Oscar de la Renta gown standing just
behind her husband in the receiving line to greet new members of Congress. The
placement couldn’t be more metaphorical for her role so far as First Lady. Mrs. Santos,
accompanied by her Chief of Staff Donna Moss, have been little more than ornaments
on the arms of the powerful men they’re connected with. We hoped that Mrs. Santos
would live up to the promise she presented as an outspoken representative of half the
population in this country. Up until now, we have seen no evidence of this. We don’t
want to judge to harshly, though. It is still early days yet, and even the more
traditionally better organized west wing of the Santos administration have been
struggling to get some balance. We’ll have to wait and see.
The second clipping was little improvement on the first.
The buzz around the beltway has been about the tight ship the new Chief of Staff
Josh Lyman is running. Lately, though, someone on the west wing crew has been
marching to their own drummer. Witness the recent difficulties that have arisen over
the attempt to get Governor Baker appointed to fill the Vice Presidential position.
Suddenly, on the eve of what appeared to be a smooth sailing confirmation hearing
for the Governor, rumors of another effort to propel Carol Gelsey into the Vice
Presidential slot have surfaced. In an attempt to quash that effort, Lyman has double
downed his Baker bet; putting his own effort and reputation on the line. So far, that
effort seems to be working due in part to his formidable team of women. Lou Thornton
runs the communication office with wit and steel. Amy Gardner uses her prolific
Congressional connections and negotiation skills to wrangle the votes President
Santos needs. Chief of Staff to the First Lady Donna Moss, Lyman’s current love
interest, carefully keeps the First Lady out of any political dramas and makes sure
Lyman and his team have the news cycle to themselves. Together, they are an
impressive team to have at his disposal.
***********************************
“Our last stop should be at the local elementary school.” Senator Lee told the group
assembled in the First Lady’s office. “There are many graduates from the First Steps
program who attend school there. Meeting with them and their parents can give the
electorate a long term view of the benefits to early intervention.”
Helen looked at Donna for a cue, but found her Chief of Staff staring at the wall, distracted.
“Donna?” Senator Lee spoke up to get Donna’s attention.
“I’m sorry, I was…thinking about the itinerary in my head.” Donna excused her reverie. “I
think the elementary school is a great idea, but the last stop should be the California
Assembly to meet the men and women who provided funding for the program and talk to
them about the political convictions it takes to get a program like this funded and off the
ground.”
Helen blinked twice in surprise. “You don’t think that will put too much of a political spin on
the trip?”
“That depends on what you’re hoping the outcome of the trip will be, Ma’am.” Donna
replied. “If you want a photo op and publicity tour then we can skip the assembly. If you
want to work to get a similar program pushed through Congress, then we absolutely go to
the State assembly.”
The noise in the room stopped suddenly; all 8 staffers of the First Lady and the Senator
watched for Mrs. Santos’ reaction and held their breath to see what she would say.
“I think I’ve made myself perfectly clear about the kind of role I want to play here, and it
goes well beyond photo ops.” Mrs. Santos said succinctly.
“Then I’ll call my colleagues in California and start the wheels in motion there.” Lee smiled
at the First Lady’s vehement response.
“Everyone has their marching orders.” Donna declared. “If anyone runs into a wall; literally
or figuratively, I want to be contacted personally.” There were murmurs of assent around
the room and Donna dismissed everyone.
“Mrs. Santos, I can’t tell you how delighted I am that you’ll be making this trip personally.”
Senator Lee said warmly. “It’s going to make a big difference in getting the backing this
program needs.”
“I’m glad to be a part of this.” Helen shook the Senator’s hand. “It’s been a pleasure to meet
you, Senator.”
Once she’d left the room, the Senator turned back to Donna. “I owe you a debt of gratitude
as well. If you hadn’t brought this to the First Lady…Anyway, I appreciate you facilitating
this move and the trip. I thought for awhile that it might be too politically charged for the
First Lady to take on. I was happy to hear you both confirm your commitment to this project.”
“Don’t believe everything you read, Senator.” Donna said simply.
“No, I can see that you’re not quite the pliable public servant that some assume you are
because of your close association with Josh Lyman.”
“A fact we’re about to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt.” Donna snapped and then
grimaced. “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that. I guess some of the press is just getting to
me.”
“Understandable. You forget that in my job unflattering descriptions in the press is a matter
of course. You shouldn’t let it get to you. As people get to know you better and see your
work, the rest of this nonsense will dissipate.”
“I’d prefer that it disappear altogether.” Donna muttered.
“Then you should consider a career change. Or at the very least; get out of D.C.” Michael
teased.
“Well, I’m pretty attached to the job and the city, so I’ll just have to develop a tougher skin.”
“It would be a shame to ruin such beautiful skin. Develop a sense of humor and poor
hearing instead.” Senator Lee suggested. “You know the old saying; believe none of what
you hear and only half of what you see.”
“I’ll work on it.” Donna smiled her gratitude.
“If you’re heading out for the evening, I’ll walk out with you.” Senator Lee offered.
“Thanks, but I’ll be here awhile yet.” Donna shrugged. “Now that this is on our schedule I
need to pull some things together and re-arrange some others.”
“Sure. I’ll talk to you soon, then.” Michael got up from his chair and Donna rose too.
“Thanks for all your help today, Senator.”
“Michael.” Senator Lee insisted. “We’re alone in your office here.”
“Thanks, Michael.” Donna acquiesced. “I’ll be in touch.”
“I certainly hope so.” He winked and sauntered out of her office.
Donna got to work on filling out the itinerary before heading over to Annabeth’s office to
work on a press release for the following week.
When she got back to her office, Deb left a note stating that Josh Lyman had stopped by to
see if she was ready to leave, but didn’t want to disturb her while she was with Annabeth.
Donna didn’t really need the note to know that Josh had stopped by. On her desk was a
print out from the State of Virginia listing the requirements for getting married in that State.
Donna chuckled. She REALLY loved that man.