novelnext Chapter 142 Crossing Harrisburg
Chapter 142 Crossing Harrisburg
Chapter 142 Crossing Harrisburg (Bonus Chapter for 30000 Monthly Tickets)
Pittsburgh City Hall, Mayor's Office.
Leo hung up the phone with Sanders and immediately dialed another number.
"Beep—Beep—"
The call was connected.
"Leo?" John Murphy's voice came through, sounding tired, with the noise of cars in the background. "I just finished a rally in Altuna. Not many people there, and the response was lukewarm. Damn, Warren's entrenched there is too deep."
"Listen, John."
Leo skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point.
"The lawsuit is settled, and there's no need to worry about the trouble in Morganfield for now. I've already cut that chain."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by Murphy's surprised voice: "You actually did it? I haven't even had a chance to see the news yet, how did you manage to do it—"
“That’s not important,” Leo interrupted him. “Morganfield is out, at least in terms of leadership. Now, we face a completely new situation.”
Murphy sighed.
"Leo, I know you're ambitious, but I'm still a bit short on funds. All the big investors are watching and waiting."
"And can we really win?"
Murphy's voice was filled with deep anxiety.
"Warren and Monroe, their networks across the state are too dense. Today in Altuna, I'm having trouble even borrowing decent sound equipment. The local Democratic committee is completely ignoring me; they've already received hints from Harrisburg to give my campaign the cold shoulder."
"That's normal."
Leo stood up and walked to the map of Pennsylvania on the other side of the office wall.
He was holding a red, thick-tipped marker.
"We are being besieged by the Democratic establishment and the Republican Party."
"If we continue with our previous campaign strategy, the only result will be that we will be squeezed to death by both sides."
"Therefore, we must change our approach."
Leo pulled off the pen cap.
He drew a heavy circle around Pittsburgh on the map.
Then, he moved his hand northward, drawing a circle around the city of Erie on the shores of Lake Erie.
Heading east, a circle was drawn around Johnstown, deep in the Appalachian Mountains.
Further northeast, a circle was drawn around Scranton, the famous coal city.
"These are the things we need to win."
Leo looked at the scattered red circles on the map.
"These forgotten industrial ruins."
"Erie, Scranton, Johnston, Bethlehem —"
"These cities, like Pittsburgh, were once the heart of industry, but now they are rusty corpses. They are despised by Philadelphia's financial elite and forgotten by Harrisburg's bureaucracy."
"John, I'm going to use this five hundred million dollars I have as a huge wedge."
Leo drew straight lines on the map with his pen, connecting all the isolated red circles together, eventually converging on Pittsburgh.
"I want to connect these cities."
"Establish a Pennsylvania Industrial Revitalization Alliance."
Murphy on the other end of the phone was stunned.
"An alliance? Leo, that sounds good, but how does it actually work? The mayors and councils of these cities all have their own agendas, and most of them are also subject to the state government. We don't have administrative jurisdiction, so what gives us the right to order them around?"
"We don't need to command them."
Leo's eyes sharpened.
"We just need to offer them benefits they can't refuse."
"I've been thinking about this day for a long time."
"There is a clause in Pennsylvania's legal system that is often overlooked."
"Intergovernmental Cooperation Act, also known as Act 177."
"This law allows local governments within the state to sign mutual aid agreements to jointly exercise certain powers or share certain resources without the approval of the state legislature."
"Its original design was intended to allow neighboring towns to share a fire truck or build a landfill together, thereby saving costs."
"But we can expand on it."
"We can use this clause to bypass the Harrisburg state government and directly conduct resource swaps and policy exchanges within this alliance."
"This is legal."
Leo explained the legal basis to Murphy over the phone.
"John, there are no legal obstacles; we can sign the agreement."
"But resource exchange?" Murphy was still puzzled. "What are we exchanging? Pittsburgh is in dire straits right now. Are we going to build roads for Scranton?"
"We can't give you the money directly."
Leo stared at the map, his mind racing.
"Pittsburgh's municipal funds cannot be directly transferred to other cities; that would be illegal."
"But we can buy things."
Leo's voice became excited.
"Leveraging the policies of the Federal Opportunity District, plus my second phase of the Revitalization Plan."
"John, think about it. I have five hundred million dollars in my hands right now. I want to build roads, schools, and renovate the port."
What are the requirements for these projects?
"It requires a lot of steel, tons of cement, and countless glass and precast panels."
"Previously, these orders would be taken by Morganfield or go to foreign companies that had a greater cost advantage."
"But now, the rules have changed."
"I won't buy from Morganfield, and I won't buy from overseas."
Leo tapped his finger heavily on the red circles on the map.
"I only buy from cities within this alliance."
"Are Erie's plants still producing steel? As long as their mayor publicly supports your campaign and their unions mobilize to campaign for you, I'll give them all the steel orders for the Pittsburgh Port expansion."
"Isn't the cement plant in Johnstown about to go bankrupt? Tell their council that the Pittsburgh regeneration plan requires paving 500 kilometers of roads, and I will prioritize sourcing all the cement from them."
"Tell the logistics companies in Scranton that Pittsburgh's future inland port will make Scranton the primary distribution center in the East."
"This is our bargaining chip."
"We exchange orders for votes."
"We use the market in Pittsburgh to support the factories in these sister cities."
"This is called supply chain politics."
Murphy on the other end of the phone gasped.
He finally understood.
This isn't some kind of campaign strategy; it's clearly a small-scale economic war.
Leo is using $500 million in purchasing power to forcibly build a real economy within Pennsylvania that is independent of the Philadelphia financial district.
"This—this is insane," Murphy muttered to himself. "This will be accused of local protectionism."
"Screw local protectionism."
"Leo said coldly."
"When Philadelphia bankers lent money to New York real estate developers, did anyone criticize them? When Harrisburg skewed the state budget towards the East, did anyone criticize them?"
"We call this mutual assistance."
"John, you need to change your approach."
"When you go to these cities to give speeches, don't talk about political parties; talk about industrial renaissance."
"You need to tell the mayors, union leaders, and small business owners in these cities."
"Look at Philadelphia, look at Harrisburg. In their eyes, you are a burden, outdated garbage. If you follow them, you'll always be beggars, only able to wait for that damned State Appropriations Committee to slip a few scraps through your fingers."
"But if you're going to follow Pittsburgh, you're going to follow me, John Murphy."
"We are brothers."
"We have steel, we have coal, we have technology, we have markets. As long as we unite, we can feed ourselves!"
Leo's voice echoed in the office.
"This is a new identity, John."
"We want to divide the whole of Pennsylvania in two."
"On one side is Philadelphia, where people wear suits, drink red wine, and dabble in finance; on the other side are us, wearing work clothes, drinking beer, and getting things done."
"This is a war between producers and rentiers."
Murphy remained silent for a long time on the other end of the phone.
Then, his heavy breathing could be heard.
"Leo, you're a genius."
Murphy's voice carried a hint of ruthlessness.
"I know what to do."
"I'm going to Yili tomorrow. The mayor there is a tough nut to crack, but he's desperate for money. As long as I slam your purchase contract on his desk, he'll personally drive me there to campaign for me."
"very good."
Leo glanced at Ethan, who was standing in the doorway.
"Ethan, come in."
Leo didn't hang up the phone; he gave Ethan the order directly.
"Notify the purchasing department to suspend all outstanding large-scale building material purchase contracts."
"Draft a 'Regional Priority Procurement Guidance Catalog'."
"Include Erie, Johnstown, Scranton, Bethlehem—these dozen or so old industrial cities on the list of top-priority partners."
"Under the same conditions, we will give priority to purchasing products produced by enterprises in these cities."
"The reason is to shorten the supply chain and reduce carbon emissions," and the Environmental Protection Agency will like that reason.
Ethan paused for a moment, then quickly jotted it down in his notebook.
"Understood, boss."
Leo spoke again to Murphy on the phone: "John, I've prepared the ammunition for you."
"Go and pick up those iron rings scattered throughout the state, one by one."
"Then fuse them together."
"We need to build a chain."
"An iron chain that could strangle Harrisburg and Philadelphia."
Murphy hung up the phone.
Leo put down his phone and looked at the battle line on the map connected by a red pen.
This is his way of breaking the deadlock.
Since we can't win under the existing rules, let's redivide the map.
Roosevelt's voice rang out.
"Act 177, that's a wonderful clause."
"The people who wrote this law originally just wanted small towns in the countryside to borrow lawnmowers from each other."
"They never imagined that one day someone would use this law to turn half of Pennsylvania's industrial cities into an independent political entity."
"It's just like the Confederation back then."
"But this time, we're not doing it to own slaves, we're doing it to survive."
"Leo, you're turning Pittsburgh into a capital."
"A capital city belonging to the Rust Belt."
Leo was well aware of the risks involved.
This didn't just touch a nerve with Monroe or Warren; it created an independent kingdom outside the existing political landscape, one that was not controlled by Washington.
"But this is dangerous, Leo."
Roosevelt's voice turned low.
"If those people in the White House understand what you're doing, they'll be more panicked than losing a Senate seat."
"A rust belt coalition that doesn't obey orders, has its own independent financial system, and spans half the state? For federal centralization, that's a more terrifying heresy than the opposition party."
"Compared to that, whether Murphy becomes a senator becomes less important."
"I know," Leo answered in his mind, "but this is also our opportunity."
"This is a crucial moment in the midterm elections, and everyone's eyes are on the ballots and on that Senate seat. This is the perfect smokescreen."
"I want to take advantage of Murphy's statewide campaign and this wave of chaos to promote this idea and get this ship built first."
Leo looked at the red circles on the map.
"We have the right timing, the right location, and the right people."
"There are indeed quite a few Republican mayors in those industrial cities. But when faced with real orders, when faced with contracts that can make factories smoke, partisan color fades."
"No one turns down money, especially when they're starving."
Leo tapped his fingers lightly on the table.
"The advantage lies with me."
>