The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 445: Fairness of the Rule of Law

That afternoon, James appointed a group of officials, including the new director of investigations, Scannell.

The former director of investigation successfully survived and stepped down, and Scannell returned to his position, which was also what Chen Zhengwei promised him.

"Mr. Chief!" Michael and other sheriffs came with their men to greet him at the door of the investigation bureau.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen!" Scannell gave Michael a hug with a smile on his face. He knew that this would be his last term as director. If nothing unexpected happened, Michael would be the next director.

Scannell then came to the director's office in a very good mood.

Everything here is familiar, and the previous director did not make any changes here.

Scannell sat in the chair. He was very grateful to Chen Zhengwei in his heart. After all, Chen Zhengwei was a man of his word.

Obviously, his decision to support Chen Zhengwei was the right one.

After staying in the investigation bureau for half a day, when it was time to get off work, he went out and went straight to the club.

In the next few days, after James Audis became familiar with the work of the municipal government, he immediately began to work on what Chen Zhengwei was going to do.

First, he sent people to negotiate with the Pacific Railway Company about building a new railway.

The prison contract was then found out, and the contractor was called Dennis Kenny, an important figure in the Workers' Party.

After seeing the name, James was slightly stunned, and then he called his staff thoughtfully: "Do you remember Dennis Kenny? The one from the Workers' Party."

"Yes, he ran for election at first, but dropped out soon after," said James's aide, then found a document and handed it to James.

James flipped it open and looked at it for a moment, revealing a look of approval.

The reason why he was impressed by this person was that he was the founder of the California Workers Party, a party mainly composed of Irish Americans known for its opposition to the Chinese and immigrants.

He took this into consideration when collecting information on his competitors and even considered telling Chen Zhengwei about the party.

However, as Chen Zhengwei's influence in San Francisco grew, he soon withdrew from the election and has kept a low profile ever since.

However, I didn't expect that the other party was involved in the prison contracting matter.

James thought for a moment and said to his staff, "Find him and ask him to take the initiative to cancel the prison contract. If he is unwilling, tell him that we will give this information to Mr. Chen!"

After all, James is not a bad person, as long as the other party is willing to terminate the contract.

"James, I actually suggest informing Mr. Chen about this matter!" James' staff said after taking a look at the information.

"This person is very hostile to Chinese people. If he causes trouble in the future, and you know about it but don't tell Mr. Chen, it will be very troublesome if the news gets out."

"James, he has nothing to do with you and you don't know him. There's no need to risk yourself for him!"

James thought for a moment and nodded: "You're right."

"Leave the information here. I will meet Mr. Chen this afternoon and talk to him about this matter."

That afternoon, it was drizzling and James went to visit Chen Zhengwei.

Chen Zhengwei was lighting the fireplace at home.

"I hate the weather in San Francisco too." Chen Zhengwei said, looking at the drizzle outside the window.

The winters in San Francisco are rainy and foggy, and the damp and cold air penetrates into his bones. Although it has little effect on him, it does not stop him from hating the weather here.

Then he saw the henchman walking quickly through the yard. A moment later, Li Xiwen came up and knocked on the door, saying:

"Brother, Mayor James is here! He's outside the yard!"

"Take him to the living room and wait for me first." Chen Zhengwei said.

Chen Zhengwei changed into trousers and a shirt, put on a vest, then went downstairs and saw James standing at the door.

"James, why are you here? Do you have any good news to tell me?" Chen Zhengwei walked over with a smile and sat down on the sofa.

"Mr. Chen, there is something I think I should tell you!" James said.

Then he took out a prison contract and handed it to Chen Zhengwei: "The prison contractor is this person, Dennis Kearney, who is of Irish descent and the founder of the California Workers Party."

"The main proposition of their party is to boycott Chinese and immigrants... Mr. Chen, you should know that many people think that Chinese people have taken their jobs, although this idea is completely wrong..."

Chen Zhengwei took the contract, took a look at it, picked up a match, lit the contract, and then threw it on the ground casually.

"I know about this! James, how does it feel to be mayor?" Chen Zhengwei changed the subject.

He really didn't know about the California Workers Party before. He didn't expect that there were such courageous people in San Francisco.

But this party will soon cease to exist.

And if the person who contracted the prison dies, then the contract is obviously worthless.

"Great! I've never felt so good!" James immediately smiled.

"This is just the beginning, James!" said Chen Zhengwei.

"Of course, I firmly believe this! However, Mr. Chen, there is one more thing I want to tell you!" James thought for a while and said again.

"San Francisco's tax revenue is actually very limited, and the city government doesn't have much money to mobilize, so there are some difficulties in railway construction... We can't afford to pay too much money!" "Why?" Chen Zhengwei raised his eyebrows.

San Francisco had no problems with taxes and infrastructure before, but now there are problems with building a railway?
"In the past six months... San Francisco's tax revenue has begun to decline... In addition, things like building railways also require federal or state funding. As for the state, I think Mr. Chen should give a heads-up first, and then things will be easier..." James said after hesitating.

After all... Chen Zhengwei's businesses are growing, and San Francisco's taxes are getting lower and lower...

Chen Zhengwei never pays taxes.

No one dared to ask him to hand it over.

Today's tax revenue is not enough to invest in railway construction, beyond maintaining the operation of the city government and public facilities.

Of course, he didn't think that Chen Zhengwei would pay taxes. He hoped that Chen Zhengwei would say hello to the state and ask the state to provide certain subsidies.

Chen Zhengwei also noticed the problem from his expression, and then he realized it.

"This is easy!" Chen Zhengwei said, "It doesn't need to be so troublesome. We can issue a batch of local government bonds!"

"In addition, we can find ways to increase the city government's revenue!" said Chen Zhengwei.

"Mr. Chen, I know how to deal with bonds, but how should we increase our income?" James immediately became interested.

"Add some local regulations!" Chen Zhengwei said lightly, "For example, sleeping on the street or under the bridge is not allowed! If you are caught... you will have to pay a fine!"

"In addition to fines, there are search fees, conviction fees, fine assessment fees, court construction fees, various government fund fees, court hearing assessment fees, court hearing fees even if there is no court hearing, and public defense fees even if there is no defense lawyer..."

Chen Zhengwei counted on his fingers and said:

"If they can't afford it, we can pay them in installments, charging them 12-20% installment interest."

“Then that money can be used to supplement the city’s revenue!”

"Of course, for the sake of fairness under the rule of law, rich and poor are treated equally. No one is allowed to sleep on the streets or under bridges, beg on the streets, or steal bread..."

James opened his mouth and froze.

He felt that if he did as Chen Zhengwei said, it would be like opening the devil's cage, especially the series of fees, which made even this former lawyer feel his scalp tingling.

If this method really spreads and other cities in the United States do the same, it is hard to imagine what will happen.

"All violent or non-violent misdemeanors can be handled this way. For example, noise nuisance, petty theft, sexual harassment, drunkenness, fighting..."

"Of course, it's just a suggestion! In fact, those people who wander outside in the middle of the night will only disrupt social order and increase social management costs. It would be better to let them make more contributions to society." Chen Zhengwei said with a smile.

“It also gives them more motivation to strive!”

He just helped James open up his mind.

As for how to do it, that is the business of the San Francisco City Government...what does it have to do with him?
In fact, even if he was not there, the United States would have done the same thing in the future, he just did it a little earlier.

This is called poverty capitalism.

Redistribute assets from the poor, impose debt on the poor, and shift the costs of government onto the poor.

This is also the way to manage the poor and vulnerable. When they are busy paying off these fines, they have no energy to think about other things.

"James, do you know what is the most important thing in developing a city?" Chen Zhengwei then changed the subject.

“Attract talent! Attract talent, technical talent, entrepreneurs, scientists…they are the ones who can develop a city, create more jobs, and attract more people to San Francisco.

In order to attract talents, in addition to providing various preferential policies, we must create an environment that is conducive to economic growth, cultural prosperity and social stability, which should be cleaner, safer and more vibrant than other cities!"

"To create such an environment, we need to reduce crime on the streets and beautify the city image of San Francisco... What I just said is actually to reduce the instability on the streets. Strictly managing those unstable factors will only bring benefits and no harm."

James was a little dazed when he left, and kept thinking about Chen Zhengwei's words.

After James left, Chen Zhengwei said to Li Xiwen: "Let Ah You investigate the California Workers Party! Kill the party leader and send the others to jail."

Li Xiwen immediately went out and asked someone to notify Yan Qingyou.

It took Yan Qingyou three days to thoroughly investigate the California Workers Party.

When he got the information, he knew why Chen Zhengwei wanted to investigate these people.

"Fuck, these people simply don't want to live!" Yan Qingyou cursed.

The Workers' Party was one of the main forces in the boycott against the Chinese. Whenever Chinese people got off the ship at the port, the people shouting and cursing outside the port were members of the Workers' Party.

These workers' parties are filled with Irish people who feel their jobs have been robbed.

At its peak, the group had thousands of members.

However, in the past six months, the California Workers' Party has been very low-key, and its membership has also decreased a lot.

There are still more than one hundred core members.

　I wanted to sleep... so I wrote another chapter

　　
　
(End of this chapter)