Chapter 3269

During the process of walking back to his seat, Gordon stared closely at Shiler, as if wanting to find some clues from his face, but couldn't see anything, so he could only keep rubbing the coffee cup with his fingers, appearing abnormally anxious.

He sighed heavily.

"Don't be so dejected, Commissioner. You have done well enough, but you obviously underestimated the greed of some people."

Gordon looked at him with a frown. He naturally heard the hint in Shiler's words, so he carefully pondered the tone of the congressman who called just now, and his heart suddenly cooled by half.

"You mean, the people in the State Legislature know about the GTO's income?"

"That's a large sum of money, Commissioner. They aren't that stupid." After Shiler finished speaking, he added a sentence in his heart, "They really are, so I had to act as a concerned citizen who reported it."

The fingertips of Gordon's hand holding the coffee cup began to turn white, and he couldn't help but show a painful look on his face. He looked at Shiler and said, "I am a police officer. If I had the ability to engage in political fighting or finance, I wouldn't be here."

"It doesn't matter, Commissioner. At least in your professional work, you have done very well." Shiler still praised him very calmly.

But it made Gordon not happy at all, because this sentence sounded like another way of saying "please accept my condolences."

"No, the GTO absolutely cannot be dissolved," Gordon said. "They have brought the greatest improvement to Cat Getan's public order in history, even greater than Batman. It absolutely cannot be destroyed like this."

"Yes, I agree with you," Shiler nodded and said. "If there had never been hope, naturally no one would force it. But since hope has been seen, no one would be willing to give up easily."

It sounded more like "please accept my condolences," Gordon thought.

"You must not have come here to say these meaningless words." Gordon decided to be straightforward. He continued, "If you have any solution, just say it."

"With all due respect, Commissioner. Your lack of skill in politics and your lack of sensitivity to finance are also one of the reasons why Cat Getan's public order has become what it is today."

Shiler stood up from his chair and began to pace in the office. He said, "In this world, no one is an island, and no city is an island. Cat Getan is a city in New Jersey and also a city in the Federation. Gothamites are citizens of New Jersey and also subjects of the Federation. It shouldn't be only you who are responsible for them."

"But they have never..."

"I know you have fought for their support, but failed for various reasons. This has led to them never making any contribution other than issuing various bills and constantly imposing restrictions on you."

Gordon's hands were both on the table. His expression looked a bit gray, but he still nodded and said, "Yes, they have been holding us back. But is this our fault?"

"Although I am biased towards you, I cannot lie and say you have no responsibility at all. The social relationships of human individuals need to be managed, and cities naturally need them too."

"The original intention of humans forming society is to help each other, but no one will help anyone unconditionally. Relationships are all managed. Today you help me, tomorrow I help you."

"And how to start this relationship of helping each other? The first thing to do is to make others feel that one day you can help him. Only then will he take the initiative to befriend you."

"And to make others have this feeling, naturally you have to show your own value. As long as you look powerful, others will naturally feel that sooner or later you can help."

"Conversely, if you are always weak and unable to show your due value, it will make people feel that the time and energy spent helping you are like throwing money into the water. If you make them feel that maintaining a relationship with you is completely unnecessary, then it will be very difficult for you to have friends."

Gordon listened very carefully. Although it wasn't a very complicated truth, no one had ever analyzed these things for him in detail before.

"Cat Getan has a very serious isolationism." Shiler first threw out his conclusion and then talked eloquently, "You feel that Cat Getan doesn't need others' help, and no one will come to help Cat Getan."

"On the surface, it seems to be the case, because Cat Getan's problems are not on the surface. Outsiders may not be able to understand, and because this city is rotten, no one wants to lend a helping hand."

"But, no, things are not like this. People may not do something because of a bad impression, but the premise is that this thing also doesn't bring any benefits."

"Conversely, if the benefits of something are unimaginable, then there is no bad impression that cannot be reversed, and there is no prejudice that cannot be broken."

"Interpersonal communication is like this, international communication is like this, and communication between cities and states is also like this."

"No one will help Cat Getan, not because people have a bad impression of this place, but because this thing itself doesn't bring any benefits. Because you and Batman, as well as other people who rule this city, are unwilling to participate in interest exchange, but always isolate yourself."

"Now, the drawbacks of this isolationism have appeared before your eyes." Shiler walked back to the desk and sat down, looked at Gordon and said, "If Cat Getan had a congressman who could speak in the State Legislature, you wouldn't be so passive."

Gordon closed his eyes somewhat painfully, because he knew what Shiler said was right.

"People always think that politics is very far away from them, but the fact is not so." Shiler shook his head and said, "Especially for a city manager, if you don't understand political gaming, you will definitely lose."

"The Pale Knight is a good mayor, perhaps he also has talent in this regard, but he is obviously too conservative." Shiler made a posture of being slightly sighing, and he said, "In the political arena, there has never been a distinction between good and evil, only a distinction between strong and weak. Either the east wind overwhelms the west wind, or the west wind overwhelms the east wind."

"And he is like a miser guarding treasure, a stingy Grandet, feeling that all wealth should be kept in his own hands to be the safest, unwilling to turn them into chips and throw them onto the table to gamble. Then naturally, he will be passive, more passive."

"It's too late to say these things now." Gordon said, "The State Legislature doesn't have our people, but they can easily remove me with the referendum results. Bruce Wei En may not be able to interfere."

"Once I am removed, the new commissioner will not allow the existence of the GTO, and that huge sum of money will also be swallowed by the upper class. Everything we have done will become a joke."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Commissioner. Didn't I come?" Shiler smiled and said.

Gordon asked somewhat hesitantly: "Do you have a way?"

Before Shiler could answer, Gordon added another sentence: "I mean, a legal method. At least it cannot harm others, even if it's a vagrant. Sorry, this is my principle."

"I admire your integrity." Shiler said, "I do have some immature little ideas, may I say them?"

Gordon took a deep breath, sat up straight, made an attitude of listening carefully, and then said: "Please speak. Anyway, there won't be a worse situation."

"For you, it is indeed." Shiler thought in his heart, "But for Batman and the Pale Knight, it may not be."

"The reason why the State Legislature is so angry is that you got a big cake, but refused to share even a crumb with them." Shiler spread his hands and said, "Everyone has to take a little, this is the rule of the Jianghu."

"You mean they want money? Then... then giving them some is not impossible..." Gordon's expression was somewhat hesitant. It could be seen that he didn't want to do this, but in the end, he compromised for Cat Getan's public order situation.

This wasn't that his moral bottom line was lowered, but in the United States, political contributions were legal, didn't belong to bribery, just supported the election, and were the legal political rights of American citizens.

"If you did this when you got this money, perhaps it would have some effect. But now I'm afraid it won't work." Shiler said, "You cannot first show an attitude of absolutely not being in the same boat to show your high-mindedness, and then want to use money to obtain actual benefits. There is no such good thing in this world."

"If you hold money up now, it will definitely be a hot face sticking to a cold butt. You will destroy your reputation and won't get any benefits. You can't do such a stupid thing."

"Then what should we do?"

"Since the high posture has been done for so many years, then you might as well continue to do it, at least you can earn some reputation. But I know you are worried that they will remove you, so we don't have to do it so straightforwardly, but carry out a detour."

"Detour?"

"Yes, sending money directly is called servility, but we push someone up, throw money to support him, and let him speak for us, which is called fighting for the political rights we deserve."

"Do you want someone to run for congressman?"

Shiler nodded. He took out a newspaper and handed it to Gordon, then said: "Congressman Fonsk, who represents Blüdhaven, is going to retire this year, and the party he belongs to is pushing for a new person. Balk, the leader of the New Jersey region, is involved in the arms smuggling case in the city and cannot get out. If we spend some money to help him, he will give our people a chance."

"Arms smuggling case? Is it the case where the captain of the ocean shipping company swallowed the goods and had a firefight on the high seas?" Gordon frowned deeply, recalling the details of this case.

But in fact, there was nothing to say. This was a case where everyone was a villain. Anyway, it was arms smuggling that didn't go well, several big ships sank, causing the boss behind the scenes to be furious and putting everyone involved in it.

"This matter has nothing to do with civilians." Shiler said, "It even has nothing to do with Balk himself. It's his son-in-law's problem. He can be considered unlucky."

"This guy can't be called a good person, he loves to show off, loves to play with power, but he hasn't done anything crazy and bad. At most, he scrapes some oil and water. And he is old, he can't sit in this position for a few years, protecting him won't harm anyone." Shiler said.

Gordon looked at the information about Balk that Shiler handed over. He even felt that this guy could be called a good person. Sure enough, after seeing too many monsters and ghosts in Cat Getan, he looked at any outsider as beautiful.

Gordon focused on his qualifications and felt that what Shiler said was true. If he could really protect this guy, he should be able to get a congressman's position.

"But is this really enough?" Gordon asked, "It's just a congressman. The State Legislature has quite a few congressmen."

"Political gaming is not about the number of people." Shiler replied, "But about the means of management. If managed well, one person's voice can be louder than everyone else's. If managed poorly, putting ten or eight people up is also in vain."

"So the candidate is very important?"

"Yes, very important." Shiler nodded and said, "Although we can help him behind the scenes, in the end, it depends on his own means. This person must be smart enough, tough, flexible, and preferably old enough. Because in this situation, we don't have so much time to cultivate newcomers."

"It's easy to say, we don't even have old people." Gordon sighed long and said, "The Pale Knight has strong ability, but he needs to manage Cat Getan. Bruce Wei En is obviously not okay either, the Wei En Group is now struggling to survive."

"Then what about you? Commissioner?"

"Me? I'm even less okay. I said I don't understand politics at all, and I'm afraid I won't be able to learn it in this life. And I think age is also a big problem, right? If you throw so much money and only go up to sit for a few years and retire, it would be too much of a loss."

"Alright, it seems we don't have a suitable candidate." Shiler shook his head with some regret and said, "In my opinion, the cunning and evil inherent in Gothamites should be able to produce a few political geniuses. It's a pity..."

The hand holding the coffee cup suddenly stopped. He took a light breath, then looked into Shiler's eyes and said: "Since you said so, I seem to have really thought of a candidate."

"Who?"

"Penguin, Oswald Cobblepot."