Under Assistant West Coast Promo Man

Let's pretend: You are a political operator who gets paid for results.  You have a client.  The client's opponent has a troubled offspring.....drugs, shitty girlfriends...and he lives in your client's opponent's guest house.  Well...over the garage, anyway.
Hit him!  Drugs! Bad!  Immoral!  Zero tolerance for drugs and people who might take them!  Send mailers to every voter!  Eliminate the drug tolerant fuck dad dude...whatever.  He must be incompetent as an administrator....because his kid is on drugs.
Sounds good to me.
Except.....all our young people are on drugs.  Well....most or many.

Talk to any retail employer you know.  To be an employer....or a parent...in our modern times requires a functional knowledge of the courts, various rehabs, County drug policy, probation rules and procedures....bail bondsmen, cool lawyers,etc.  Not to mention modern medicine....and whichever religion you buy into to pray for your kid or worker's life.
I have actually purchased two young people from drug dealers.  First one was $1500 so he could join the army.  Second one was $2,000 so she could go into rehab.  They did not want to lose customers.....and they knew everything about my kids because they follow them on Facebook. 

The group....who I don't want to cross, because they most likely follow me on Facebook.... know where they are and what there triggers are. After one failed and one successful (out of town)rehab with the 18 year old girl.....they sent a bag over to her cousin's house when they knew she was in town and vulnerable.  Six months in the toilet....back to the rockpile.  

She eventually made it.  So far.  He did make it.

$3500 was cheap.  Two lives.

Except, the kids had to do the work.  Try to get into the Army nowadays.  Try to get back into rehab.  It is hard.  You have to be dedicated, with a program and support from friends, family and employers to even get a shot at a bed in rehab....and forget the Army if you have not been doing Iron Man..... and god forbid if that misdemeanor pot thing already hit your record.
Dealing with an addicted person is an all consuming job.  And no one has that much time.  The drugs and the drug dealers have all the power.  Recovery rates for heroin and meth are in the 5% range....with full time commitment and tons of cash.
So how ironic it would be if our pretend political operator....trashing our incumbent for his dealing with family drug issues....had family drug issues himself. 

Possiblily his brother is a known heroin addict with a current burglar girl friend....and whose previous girlfriend was shot on Christmas Eve trying to score drugs in Chinatown in Salinas.  And who has stolen property sitting in their Mom's front yard as we speak.

The irony comes when the opponent of our political operative has compassion and experience with drugs and young people.....and is not busting the brother of the operative who is cheaply trashing him because he wants the guy in recovery, not jail. Because it makes sense from a law enforcement, a human, and a $$$ standpoint.  As a professional administrator...with a heart.

This is all just a fantasy. 

Really. 

This couldn't happen in our world.
Who could be that cynical
And why?