Chapter 8 - FRANKLIN WEXLER HAD PAID FOR SILENCE—THEN SPENT THIRTY YEARS CALLING IT PRIVACYMy first private meeting with Franklin happened without cameras.
Without his staff.
With my attorney present.
He began:
“I loved your mother.”
I answered:
“That is not the first thing I need.”
He stopped.
Good.
I asked:
“Did you know she was pregnant when the settlement was signed?”
“Yes.”
“Did you believe I was yours?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you acknowledge me?”
His face changed.
“Cowardice.”
I had expected excuses.
Politics.
Family pressure.
His father.
His marriage.
He gave me the simplest answer.
“I was a coward.”
That made it harder to hate him cleanly.
Not impossible.
Just harder.
He said his father threatened to destroy Elise financially through litigation.
He believed signing the settlement protected her.
Maybe partly.
But Franklin still chose his career.
He later sent money through the escrow.
Never contacted me directly.
Watched from a distance.
He knew where I went to college.
Knew when my mother died.
Knew I married Owen.
That angered me.
“You watched?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I told myself staying away honored the agreement.”
“No.”
He looked down.
“I know.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
“Yes.”
Then I asked about public business.
“Did the relationship affect city contracts?”
His answer mattered.
“I never personally awarded a contract to Lancaster because of the settlement.”
“Did your family business benefit from Lancaster cooperation?”
“Yes.”
“Did Lancaster entities later receive favorable city treatment?”
“Yes, but whether those actions were improper requires review.”
Good.
No grand confession to things not established.
An independent ethics investigation later examined several matters.
Some were properly disclosed.
Others were not.
The scandal was not:
Mayor secretly gave entire city to mistress settlement.
Reality was more mundane.
Undisclosed overlapping interests.
Meetings that should have been recused.
Family relationships not reported.
One procurement process where Franklin’s office had pushed unusually hard for a consortium containing old family partners.
May you like
Serious.
But evidence mattered.
Related Stories
