As City Councilmember Mitchell Englander drove in furtive circles through the thicket of one-way streets downtown, he turned to his passenger and whispered under the din of the radio. Moments before, he had boosted the volume to an ache-inducing roar, the better to hide his words if someone happened to be listening. It was imperative that no one should hear him roughly coaching the man sitting next to him to deliver short rehearsible falsehoods:
“You just say ‘I was so drunk I don’t remember calling.’”
“‘No I didn’t arrange a massage for anybody.’”
“‘He shook my hand and said hello, that was it.’”
“‘He asked me a couple times how much does he owe me, he and John owe me, and I didn’t have an amount.’”
“‘…he and John owe me…’”
“‘…he and John…’”
The passenger, Andy Wang, a purveyor of cabinets and so-called smart home electronics for new housing developments, was an agreeable companion. Englander spoke. And Wang repeated what he was told, rarely protesting. If […]
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