CHAPTER 12
Act Like a Winner
On the day of the Senate vote on the Set-Aside Bill, Priscilla was tense but optimistic as she took her designated seat on the black leather bench reserved for staff. From her catbird seat inside the banister in the Senate chamber, she would experience her first floor speech delivered by the senator.
Everyone who was anyone was there. Officials from the governor’s office, other statewide offices, the House of Representatives and the state agencies packed the gallery and every other available space in the Senate chamber. It was standing room only for the black businessmen, the lobbyists as well as the media, who had squeezed in where they could.
Priscilla scanned the gallery and chamber for familiar faces. She was gratified to see so many black businesspeopl
