You can't make this stuff up!

A while back I was minding my own business when I received an out of the blue call from someone who claimed his father had died and that he went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to turn in his dad's car plates.  He claimed he discovered later that a one digit mistake had been made and that rather than his father's, my vehicle registration had been canceled. 

Of course, my antennae were up and I initially discounted the call as some sort of new creative scam.  Yet, it bothered me and after it hung over me for a while I endured the DMV mechanized phone system (see my recent "Your Call Is Important To Us" blog) and was shocked to learn that my registration had in fact been cancelled. 

I tried to get the caller to rectify the mistake to no avail and after 2 weeks of driving around in a technically unregistered car what did I do?

I called the man who has clout and knows how to work the bureaucracy and has helped me out of pickles twice before.

Namely, Gotham Hall of Fame member Corey Bearak.

Why Corey? Because, in my words, he's a legalized fixer who can get things done and level the playing field.  He knows the ropes and opens the side door to the smoke filled room. Officially, Corey's a government and public affairs counsel (for details visit StrategicPublicPolicy.com)

After digesting my bizarre dilemma Corey said he would make some calls and as far as I'm concerned he proceeded to clout it out of the park.

As a result, last Friday I went to my local DMV office and rather than standing on long lines I asked for a Supervisor who was aware of my situation. 

I'm not saying they didn't torture me, but it could have been far worse and I eventually emerged from their Kafkaesque bureaucracy into the sun all fixed up with my newly legitimized plates.

Thanks Corey for rubbing your genie jar!