Make that a definitive 'yes'. Under the placid surface of a 'drip drip drip' approach lies a torrent of pressure looking for an outlet.
link.
Yet, Thursday afternoon in an otherwise empty federal courthouse, the machine definitely sputtered to life when well-known antiques dealer Wayne Pratt admitted participating in a clandestine plan to pay Rowland an inflated price for a condo he owned. It's a small step, but exactly the leverage needed to lure additional cooperation from more witnesses.
Could you hear the sound of the machine from your office at the Capitol, Governor? Because everyone else did. Reporters who have been detailing every twist and turn of the scandal packed the courtroom, sensing a big development.
The feds looked visibly pleased as they sat behind Assistant U.S. Attorney Nora R. Dannehy while she presented a long list of facts that boiled down to this: Pratt helped millionaire businessman Robert V. Matthews channel thousands of dollars to Matthews' pal Rowland. They smiled, Governor. Feds don't smile.
Back at the Capitol, legislators saw the end coming. Speaker of the House Moira Lyons said it best: "Every day it's a drip, drip, drip. With this development, I think it's like Niagara Falls is coming right at us." Everyone got their life jackets?
And if this doesn't strike everyone, including the never-say-die governor, as the beginning of the end consider Pratt's lawyer, Thomas E. Dwyer Jr., asking that sentencing be delayed for six or seven months. "This case can be disposed of after the disposition of several other existing, maybe soon-to-be existing, cases," Dwyer said.
You hear the machine now, Guv? It's headed your way.
I love that line. 'Feds don't smile.' Remember it when the Bushies do the perp walk.