Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1444 Staten Island Independence
"The weather here is very pleasant..."

"That's right, little Roger is running around again..."

The forest fires were getting worse and worse, and Ronald's family couldn't stand it anymore. Finally, at the invitation of Aunt Karen, the whole family ran to New York to escape the terrible air pollution.

The special effects shooting of "Forrest Gump" just came to an end, and Ronald also needed to rest for a few weeks before devoting himself to the editing work.

Doug and Donna had returned to New York from their honeymoon and came to dine with Ronald. Donna and Diane chatted about some private topics, and Doug invited Ronald to enjoy the brandy he bought from Europe.

"Rudy's people have come to bring a message, asking for our help..."

Of course, in addition to the ostensible reason of avoiding the forest fire and his aunt's invitation, Ronald came to New York for another important reason, which was that the New York mayoral election was about to begin.

Just like four years ago, the two candidates who are truly qualified to compete are Rudy, an Italian-American who was formerly the Deputy Attorney General, and Dinkins, a black Donkey Party politician.

In the primary election, both of them defeated their opponents in the party by an absolute advantage and won the nomination. The other two parties in New York, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, also supported Dinkins and Rudy respectively. Three of the four major newspapers in New York, the New York Times, the New York Post, and the Newsday, also selected their respective supporters as in the previous election.

The New York Post and Newsday endorsed Dinkins, and the New York Post still supported Rudy. Only the New York Daily News, which was controlled by Ronald, had not yet made an official statement.

Agents from both campaigns have been contacting people to communicate, and Ed Bastian's attitude has been ambiguous. There are now widespread rumors that the New York Daily News may not endorse any candidate this time.

Because everything was almost exactly the same as four years ago, this election was likened to a rematch between the Yankees and the Mets. The election situation was similar to the last time, with Queens and Staten Island overwhelmingly supporting Rudy, while Manhattan and the Bronx supported Dinkins. Brooklyn had a tie for both sides.

Therefore, for the past few months, the main work of the two candidates has been in Brooklyn, the most populous district in the United States. The population of 2.3 million can be said to be decisive. Whoever can win here can basically become the mayor.

Everyone felt that this situation was a repeat of the last time, and they were generally more optimistic about Dinkins. Only the hatred between the two sides was more intense than four years ago.

The unemployment rate is rising rapidly. Four years ago, the unemployment rate was only 6.7%. After experiencing the economic depression during the presidency of President George H.W., the unemployment rate has risen to 11.1%...

Urban security has also become worse, with a general feeling that robberies and thefts are getting worse. However, contrary to the public's personal perception, the crime rate is falling. This has made many people very upset, and they mainly blame Dinkins for manipulating the crime rate calculation formula to gild his so-called ethnic palette governance model (ethnic groups living together in blocks).

This purely whimsical approach to governance has led to even more racial hatred and criminal cases.

At about the same time as the Los Angeles riots, racial hatred between Koreans and blacks broke out in New York. A Korean-run Red Apple Grocery Store was accused of searching and beating a black Haitian woman.

However, the Korean store owner accused the woman of not paying for her purchases, and after being caught on the spot, she threatened to make the store owner and his family unable to survive there.

Black Mayor Dinkins immediately issued a protest, calling on black people to protest in front of the Red Apple Grocery Store.

However, New York is the most realistic, selfish, and intelligent place in the United States. Everyone is tired of the black mayor Dinkins's biased approach towards blacks, and no one from other ethnic groups believes that blacks are the righteous party in this "performance."

The district judge ruled in a crucial moment that protests could not be held within fifty feet of the Red Apple Grocery Store.

Rudy's old nest, the inspection system and the NYPD, all refused to enforce the law and watched from the sidelines, hoping that Dinkins' core black base would stage a racial riot like the one in Los Angeles, completely destroying the possibility of blacks rising to power in New York's political circles in the next 30 years.

This move also put Dinkins in a difficult position. He had to call for reconciliation when the situation escalated and Molotov cocktails were found around. However, his reputation in the black community plummeted, and his efforts to incite racial conflicts backfired.

Another incident that caused Dinkins to lose a lot of points was the riots in Crown Heights, where blacks and Caribbean immigrants attacked the Jewish community and international tourists, causing many deaths and injuries, and completely damaging New York's tourism industry.

The Jewish community was also very dissatisfied with Dinkins's favoritism towards blacks and launched many protests. Their allies, the Italians and Irish, who were both white people in a broad sense, united and took action, led by Rudy, to carry out a large-scale arrest and captured a group of black gang leaders in Crown Heights.

Then Governor Cuomo (who is of Italian descent) launched an independent investigation and placed the primary responsibility for the anti-Semitic riots on NYPD Chief Lee Brown (who is black), who was appointed by Dinkins, forcing the latter to resign for personal reasons.

Behind these two consecutive incidents, blacks joined forces with Latinos to fight against the alliance of whites, Italians, and Irish who had deep influence in politics and the police.

This year, it turned into a direct confrontation between Rudy and Dinkins. At a Police Benevolent Association rally, Rudy served as the main speaker against Dinkins.

Rudy said, "There is only one reason for the low morale of the New York City Police Department: David Dinkins!" The rally quickly turned into a riot, with nearly four thousand off-duty police officers storming City Hall and blocking traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.

The mayoral election has thus become a personal feud, with both sides mobilizing all their strength. This time it's either you or me. Not only will the losing party be subject to a whole set of political persecutions, including corruption and abuse of power investigations by the winning party, but the allies of both sides are also at risk of being hunted down and eliminated by the other side.

This is also the reason why the Staten Island political forces represented by Ronald and Doug Jr. and the media controlled by the New York Daily News did not endorse or bet on one side.

The campaign has reached a critical moment, and the internal polls conducted by both sides are very tense. Many media and experts predict that this may be the closest New York mayoral election in history, and the final victory or defeat may be smaller than the last 47,000 votes.

However, for some reason, just a few weeks before the crucial vote, Rudy suddenly came to Ronald and Doug Jr. for support amid the fierce battle between the two sides in Brooklyn.

"I don't understand why, but I have an expert to consult..." Ronald and Doug were drinking brandy from a private winery in the Cognac region while waiting for someone to come.

"Ronald...ah, you have something good here, give me one..." The first to arrive was Roger Ailes, the election expert and political commentator who worked very hard on Ronald's talk show TV station.

As soon as he arrived, he smoked a cigar that little Doug had brought, drank some wine, and then gave some advice to the two young rich men.

As expected, the experts who were deeply involved in the two presidential elections are not comparable to those experts who can only "interpret" the election situation by looking at public poll data on TV.

Ayers obtained some poll results conducted within the Elephant Party, which were more fair and objective than media polls.

In this mayoral election, everyone was targeting the middle-class voters, but the funds of both sides were similar, and the results of everyone's investment offset each other, with basically no change from the last voting result.

For example, 70% of registered Donald Trump voters, 90% of blacks, and 70% of Latinos support Dinkins. 70% of whites, 60% of Jews, and more than 80% of registered Elephants support Rudy.

This distribution is basically the result of policies on both sides. A large number of blacks and Latinos live on welfare, while whites and Jews hope for tax cuts.

There are only two categories of voters who have changed. The first is the self-reliant blue-collar workers. These people have suffered the most from the economic recession and worsening public security in the past four years. Their troubles are not about tax cuts and children's education, but the large reduction of simple manual jobs, which has made it difficult for them to survive in New York.

There is a very simple indicator for this group of people, that is, high school graduates. They cannot receive unemployment benefits like those who did not graduate from high school, nor can they find a low-level white-collar job in New York like those with higher education.

In addition to fewer job opportunities, lower wages, and rising prices, these people have no savings. Once a major change happens to their family, they will face the change of having their house taken away by the bank, living on the street, or returning to their hometown.

Therefore, among this group of people, only 40% supported Rudy in the last election, but this time the poll shows that the situation will be reversed, with 60% supporting Rudy. Their main demands are to combat crime (which mainly affects low-income communities) and develop the economy so that more jobs can be created in Manhattan.

Another voting group that has changed significantly is Ronald's hometown of Staten Island.

During Dinkins' four-year term as mayor, this place became a forgotten corner. Various municipal public service subsidies, infrastructure renovation plans, and welfare spending for the lower classes mostly fell to Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, where the largest number of black people live.

Staten Island didn't make a penny, and the intercity railway that runs across the island has been in disrepair for many years, with many stops and delays, causing a lot of trouble for those people portrayed in "Working Girl" who live on Staten Island and work in Manhattan.

There is a joke that vividly describes this situation. If you ask a person where he is from and he says he lives in Manhattan, he is a rich person living in Manhattan. If he says he lives in the city, he is middle-class in Queens. If he calls himself a New Yorker, he probably lives in Brooklyn. If he says he lives in the five boroughs of New York City, he is from the Bronx. If he says he works in Manhattan, he is probably a country boy living in Stanton.

Staten Island is a well-known rural area in New York City, the lowest point in the contempt chain. So many people are used to the situation where good things come to them last. But it is one thing to have no good things, and it is another to have too many bad things.

Dinkins clung to black and Latino voters and dumped some unpleasant stuff on Staten Island like trash.

On the west side of Staten Island, there is a landfill called Fresh Kills. During Dinkins' tenure, two landfills in Brooklyn, one in Queens, and one in the Bronx were closed, and almost all domestic waste and construction waste were dumped in this landfill on Staten Island.

The Fresh Kills landfill is expanding so rapidly that it is rumored to be visible from the space shuttle, making it the only garbage dump in the world visible to astronauts.

The people of Staten Island complained about Dinkins, and many of them made public appeals in the Stanton Advance, saying that Staten Island did not gain any benefits from New York, but instead suffered additional disadvantages. All the taxes they paid were used to subsidize black people in the Bronx, while not a penny of New York City's taxes went to Staten Island.

Gradually, the Staten Island council and the public have formed a call for the independence of Staten Island, demanding a referendum to separate from the jurisdiction of New York City. Whether it is to become an independent city under the direct jurisdiction of New York State, or simply merge with New Jersey, it can be said that more funds can be used to improve the well-being of the island.

Of course, the Staten Island city government certainly doesn't like this referendum. In New York City, you can further enter the political world of the largest city in the United States and get a lot of financial support and exposure. If it becomes an independent city... How many people can name the independent cities in northern New York State?

"So, the most likely scenario is that they want to use this referendum to exchange interests with us..." Roger Ailes explained the key to this election and put forward the conditions that Rudy might propose this time.

Soon, Rudy's Italian political consultant also arrived. He and Roger Ailes were old acquaintances, and after exchanging pleasantries, they sat down.

This Italian consultant was a gourmet, and after sitting down, he first enjoyed a cigar and a good wine. After a few minutes, he moved his fat body and directly put forward the conditions.

Rudy hopes to promote this referendum, which will be held at the same time as the mayoral election, and come up with a result that Staten Island will be independent. This way, voters can express their anger towards Dinkins when they vote. When they vote for mayor, they will remember how Staten Island has been forgotten for the past four years. As for the result of the referendum, it still needs to be approved by the New York City Council, and it will definitely not pass when the time comes.

Of course, all of this has to be arranged by local bosses like Doug. If resources are properly deployed, and influential people in factories, churches, etc. raise their voices, the referendum will surely pass with a high vote, which can increase Rudy's chances of getting 10,000 or 20,000 votes.

In this year's intense competition, those 10,000 or 20,000 votes may be decisive.

"You can put forward any conditions you want."

"I think we can get...and Rudy's friendship." Doug Jr. talked to him first about what he and Ronald hoped to get.

"Of course...what about you, Director Li?"

"As for me..." Ronald thought for a while, "I personally don't have any additional requests. Doug and I have always been in solidarity. But... I want to fight for something for the voters of Staten Island..."

"Please go ahead..." The fat consultant's facial muscles shifted a little, and his forced expression made people feel uncomfortable. He was afraid that Ronald would propose biased conditions like Dinkins', and strive for too many benefits for Staten Island, which would not be in line with Rudy's own ethnicity (Italian) and base (inspection and NYPD system).

"One is a commitment to close the Fresh Kills landfill..."

"Okay, but this will take time... Rudy can publicly announce the closure and come up with a timetable for when it will happen. Any more?"

"Second, I think he can subsidize the ferry to Staten Island, preferably for free..." Ronald was still thinking of the secretaries in "Working Girl" who commuted by ferry every day.

"Hmm?" The fat consultant's face immediately brightened. This method is really increasing Rudy's votes. As for the cost, 50 cents per passenger is nothing for the wealthy New York City. But the voters' monthly expenditure of 30 dollars can make the lower-level white-collar workers breathe a sigh of relief, right?
"Genius, your idea is genius." After sending the consultant away, Roger Ailes looked at Ronald in surprise, "Do you have any idea of ​​running for president in the future? If so, you can start managing your personal image now..."