Little Pink House_ A True Story of Defiance and Courage - Jeff Benedict [153]
He read the release back to Bullock. Then Bullock dictated a quote for the end. “The NLDC’s claim that the moratorium on eminent domain applied only to new cases and not to the homes in New London is a blatant lie,” Bullock said. “Now the NLDC is not only breaking its word and defying both Governor M. Jodi Rell and the Connecticut legislature, but it is outright lying to the media and the public.”
“Got it,” Kramer said. He hung up and sent off the press release, copying the governor’s staff.
When NLDC attorney Mathew Greene learned that the governor’s chief counsel, Kevin Rasch, was on his way to New London to meet with NLDC officials he figured heads would roll. Greene had weathered many public-relations storms during his seven-year stint as the agency’s in-house counsel, but none of them seemed as threatening as this one. The institute was applying intense public pressure on Goebel and Joplin, and the city council had upped its plans from a no-confidence vote to a demand that the NLDC’s senior leadership resign. In a matter of forty-eight hours, the city’s plans had gone from merely publicly slapping the NLDC’s wrist to cutting off its head.
When Rasch arrived at the NLDC’s office, he did not mince words. He said that the governor had lost confidence in the agency and that Goebel and Joplin were on thin ice. The governor wanted the eviction notices rescinded immediately.
Goebel and Joplin agreed to comply. Greene also agreed with the decision to rescind.
Following Rasch’s visit, Greene met privately with Joplin and suggested a plan to try to fend off the city council’s plan to sever ties with the NLDC. Greene still had the trust and respect of the city council, and if there was any way of working out a compromise, Greene had the best chance of facilitating it. “Utilize me,” he told Joplin.
Joplin agreed to have Greene see what he could do.
The same day that the NLDC agreed to rescind the evictions, Susette received a letter from Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. It read, “Dear Ms. Kelo: On Tuesday September 20, 2005, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary will hold a hearing entitled ‘The Kelo Decision: Investigating Takings of Homes and other Private Property.’ I invite you to testify at the hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.” Specter informed her that she would need to provide seventy-five copies of her written testimony and her curriculum vitae for distribution to the committee and the press.
“My God, when is this going to end?” she said out loud.
The demands on her time were overwhelming her. Everyone, it seemed, wanted her attention. Despite the NLDC’s doing everything in its power to wipe out her address—tearing down street signs and refusing to recognize the street addresses in the Fort Trumbull area as valid—the mail carrier knew who lived where and continued to deliver mail. In Susette’s case, that meant hundreds of letters from supporters around the country. Unsure of her address, many writers put down only sketchy information on the mailing envelopes, hoping it would be enough to reach Susette.
“Mrs. Susette Kelo, Fort Trumbull Neighborhood, New London, CT 06320,” read one envelope from a man in Greenville, North Carolina.
“Susette Kelo & Family, New London, CT 06320,” wrote a person in Honolulu.
A man from Waterbury wrote, “Mrs. Susette Kelo at the 1893 John Bishop House, Fort Trumbull, New London, Connecticut 06320.”
“Susette Kelo, New London, Conn. 06320,” a person from Hollywood, California, wrote.
Some mail didn’t even have a zip code, like the letter from Savannah, Georgia, addressed to “Ms. Susette Kelo, Eminent Domain Displaced,