Chapter 3 - The Smear Campaign
Thomas Vance was not a man who accepted the word "no."
When he received the official notice that his multi-million-dollar zoning permits were frozen pending an audit, he went on the offensive. He didn't want the public to know that the new, popular mayor was the daughter he had discarded for having a learning disability. He knew it would destroy his social and corporate standing.
Instead, he hired a ruthless PR firm to destroy Clara politically.
Within a week, anonymous hit pieces started appearing in the local papers. They attacked Clara’s policies, calling her "anti-business" and a "radical extremist" who was going to drive jobs out of Oakhaven. They dug into her past, trying to frame her adoption by a transit worker as a sign of her being "uncultured" and unfit for high office.
Martha, now in her late sixties and enjoying a comfortable retirement thanks to Clara, sat in the mayoral office, reading the morning paper with a scowl.
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“They’re playing dirty, Clara,” Martha said, tossing the newspaper onto the desk. “They’re trying to make you look like a thug.”
Clara poured her adoptive mother a cup of coffee and smiled softly. “Let them spend their money, Mom. A smear campaign only works if the target has something to hide. Thomas thinks I’m still that terrified eight-year-old girl. He doesn't realize he's walking into a trap.”
