Gotham Tonight - Episode 1

Show transcript follows. View the video here.

• Mike Engel: Gothamites came out in full force today, overrunning polling stations across the city, waiting up to three hours in some precincts to cast their votes. News of the record-breaking turnout, though, was eclipsed by yet another story of the masked vigilante known as the Batman. Around 5 PM, three men armed with baseball bats arrived at this polling station, allegedly threatened voters, and destroyed Harvey Dent campaign posters. Before the threats escalated, Batman appeared on the scene, quickly disarming each of the men, and leaving them beaten and bound to a tree for the authorities. Gotham PD has placed all three men under arrest, identifying one of them as Albert Rossi, a reputed member of the Falcone crime family. Good evening, I'm Mike Engel and this is a special edition of Gotham Tonight, continuing GCN's up-to-the-minute coverage of Election '08. The attack by three thugs and subsequent retaliation by Batman captured the media's attention tonight, but tomorrow's headlines will be about Harvey Dent, who posted a resounding landslide victory in the most talked about race in the election: the race for District Attorney. Joining us tonight to discuss the turn of events we welcome Dent's opponents: acting District Attorney, Mr. Roger Garcetti; the president of Gotham's Victim Advocate Foundation, Dana Worthington; as well as Allan Cypes, media manager for the Harvey Dent campaign. I thank you all for being here. The race for District Attorney was by far the most watched race in the election, but doesn't it seem pointless to elect a District Attorney when a vigilante who continues to take the law into his own hands is seen by the public and the authorities alike as their one and only protector?
• Allan Cypes: Well, if that was the case, Mike, how do you explain the voter turnout today? Batman wasn't on the ballot. Harvey Dent was. And in fact, 96% of the people who voted for him said in the exit polls that Dent has come to represent something much more than just a candidate for office. He is the face of a new era in Gotham, one that no longer requires the services of the Batman.
• Engel: Allan, wouldn't that require the Batman to play along? I mean, who's gonna make this guy retire? You? (chuckles) Mr. Garcetti, one of the platforms is to incarcerate the Batman. Now, do you think he's just gonna lay down his arms when Harvey Dent takes over?
• Roger Garcetti: He may not get a chance. Harvey Dent has almost the entire police department under investigation.
• Cypes: (sighs) Here we go. Mike, honestly, this guy is —
• Engel: Hold on, let's stick to the point. Mr. Garcetti, why do you think the Batman should be brought to justice?
• Garcetti: A man who takes the law into his own hands, even in the name of justice, is by definition breaking the law.
• Dana Worthington: No, no, no, I don't agree. Mike, I am opposed to the idea of sanctioning the existance of a vigilante, but in desperate times, now, how much of a choice do we have? As you know, I have been president of Gotham's Victims Advocate Foundation going on about twelve years now, and during that period, neither the police nor the DA's office have properly looked after the victims of crime, especially the ones from the lower economic class. These people have only received justice when it was convenient for the city to obtain it.
• Garcetti: I guess Ms. Worthington forgot that during my term of office, the overall crime rate has dropped significantly —
• Worthington: Excuse me, you can only massage logistics when you do that.
• Engel: (interrupting) Let me jump in here. If you look at the numbers —
• Worthington: No, I —
• Engel: Let me jump in here, folks. If you look at the numbers, the incidences in violent crimes, sex crimes, robberies, assaults, even organized crime activities, have declined in the last several months alone. I mean, someone's doing something right out there. Ms. Worthington?
• Worthington: Yes, that's right, and that someone is Batman. Now, since he's appeared in Gotham, I can honestly tell you that the lives of my clients have changed tremendously. Now, no matter how scarred or hurt they may be, they are no longer afraid because they know, they know that he is out there, watching over them. I want to know whether Mr. Dent is going to hunt this man down, or is he going to let Batman continue to do the good work that he's doing?
• Engel: Allan Cypes, is Harvey Dent gonna make it a priority to go after the Batman once he's in office?
• Cypes: Well, I've got to be honest with you, Mike, Batman is kind of irrelevant at this point. Gotham has its true protector now, and that man is Harvey Dent. This is a man who's not afraid to go after the mob, or any of the other criminals, for that matter, without wearing a mask.
• Engel: He is bold, I'll grant him that. Why the refusals to do interviews, Allan? Why won't Harvey Dent come on this show? What is he afraid of?
• Cypes: He's not afraid of anything, Mike. He's just busy. In fact, do you know what he's doing right now? He's in his office, working to put Sal Maroni on trial as promised. Now, isn't that exactly what you want from a District Attorney?
• Garcetti: The only people Harvey Dent has put on trial are the police! Hard-working, innocent cops!
• Cypes: No, Mike, nearly every cop that Harvey Dent has prosecuted has been found guilty, and each of those convictions have led to information on corruption that stems right back to the Falcone crime family, of which Sal Maroni is —
• Garcetti: The accusation that Sal Maroni is somehow involved in the department is completely unfounded. If there was any evidence to the contrary, I would have indicted Mr. Maroni myself, but Mr. Dent isn't interested in the truth. He just wants to justify his witch hunt into the Gotham PD, a witch hunt that has persecuted the very people who every day put their lives on the line to protect the rest of us. Tell me, Mike, just how effective do you think this new era of Gotham is going to be when the face behind it has alienated the entire police force with his internal affairs investigations? What do you think happens to law and order when you go after the law?
• Engel: It's a valid point, Mr. Garcetti. Allan, Dent's internal affairs investigations have uncovered corruption within the department, but at what cost? He's gonna need these guys to pit against the criminals, right? I mean, not himself.
• Worthington: Mike, Mike —
• Engel: Jump in, Ms. Worthington, please.
• Worthington: — this is why I find myself embracing the Batman. Now, Batman has no politics. He has no agenda other than removing the criminals from our streets.
• Garcetti: If you want to put on some crazy costume and go declare war on the criminals, well, that's what you're gonna get...
• Worthington: I don't —
• Garcetti: War! Because the criminal-minded people in this town don't go quietly into the night. If you go after them with violence, they'll come right back at you with more violence!
• Cypes: You should know, Mr. Garcetti...
• Engel: (simultaneously) Well, this guy's more than a costume. This guy's more than a costume. Jump in, Allan.
• Cypes: Well, I said you should know, Mr. Garcetti...
• Engel: Should know what, Allan?
• Cypes: Should know how the criminally-minded are going to react to the net that Harvey Dent is tightening around them. It doesn't surprise me that a man like Roger Garcetti can't understand how Harvey Dent has made the Gotham PD a stronger police force by rooting out the ring of corruption that threatened to bring it down, corruption that Mr. Garcetti himself has had a hand in!
• Garcetti: What are you saying?
• Cypes: Now, through this entire election, Mike, we've endured smear campaigns and character assassinations perpetrated by Mr. Garcetti and his friends, like the ones that tried to threaten our supporters —
• Garcetti: You're right out of line!
• Cypes: — and never once did Harvey Dent stoop to his level to retaliate. But now that the election is over, we can reveal that Mr. Garcetti, former chief legal consultant to the Gotham Police Union and trustee to the Philip Patso Community Foundation, both organizations, interestingly enough, with strong ties to Sal Maroni, will be under investigation —
• Garcetti: I will not stand for this!
• Cypes: — for misuse of power and acceptance of bribes, and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
• Garcetti: You and your guy better be real careful! You think your "White Knight" doesn't have any chinks in his armor? Well, you think again!
• Engel: Is that a threat, Mr. Garcetti?
• Garcetti: Oh, you figure it out for yourselves! You turn that camera off!
• (pause)
• Engel: I think we've lost Mr. Garcetti.
• Worthington: Well, like I said, Mike, judge and jury. It's a lot less complicated, making it a lot less corruptible.
• Cypes: And so is a man with the utmost integrity, intelligence and conviction, Dana. You know, when you meet someone like that, you can't help but believe in him. And I believe in Harvey Dent. And I'm very proud to say that Gotham does, too.
• Engel: Well, I will as well if we can get Mr. Dent to come in here and join us on the show. Any chance of that happening, Allan?
• Cypes: Well, I'll do what I can, Mike.
• Engel: I want to thank all my guests: Roger Garcetti, Dana Worthington, and Allan Cypes. We will, of course, keep you updated on the pending investigation against the former District Attorney. In the meantime, join us in two weeks as we take a closer look at exactly what Harvey Dent is up against in his war on crime. The mob is one thing, but how will he combat a recent rash of sensational offenses committed by criminals that seem to have no motive at all? And next week, check out our profile on Gotham's most eligible and untamed bachelor, Bruce Wayne, as we try to determine who the real man is behind the one in the headlines. We thank you for watching. More election coverage on the hour. This is Gotham Tonight.

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