Now that the Major League baseball season is underway we should all be familiar with the term “hardball.” And yes Chris Matthews has a cable program with that same title. In this case my reference is to the White House “negotiating” which “requires creditors to accept roughly 29 cents on the dollar for an estimated $6.8 billion owed by Chrysler.”
After reading the following we would like to have you respond as to the charges of this new form of “waterboarding” instituted by this administration. Take twenty-nine cents on the dollar or risk getting nothing while having us kill your reputation.
Did I miss the headline? Has the Mafia relocated its headquarters from NYC and Chicago to Washington, D.C.?
Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper
Jake Tapper is ABC News’ Senior White House Correspondent based in the network’s Washington bureau. He writes about politics and popular culture and covers a range of national stories.
White House Denies Charge By Attorney that Administration Threatened to Destroy Investment Firm’s Reputation*
May 02, 2009 3:17 PM
A leading bankruptcy attorney representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.
The White House and a spokesperson for the investment bank in question challenged the accuracy of the story.
“The charge is completely untrue,” said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, “and there’s obviously no evidence to suggest that this happened in any way.”
Thomas Lauria, Global Practice Head of the Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Group at White & Case, told ABC News that Rattner suggested to an official of the boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners that officials of the Obama White House would embarrass the firm for opposing the Obama administration plan, which President Obama announced Thursday, and which requires creditors to accept roughly 29 cents on the dollar for an estimated $6.8 billion owed by Chrysler.
Lauria first told the story, without naming Rattner, to Frank Beckmann on Detroit’s WJR-AM radio.
Perella Weinberg Partners, Lauria said, “was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That’s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence.”
A Perella Weinberg Partners spokesperson told ABC News on Sunday that “The firm denies Mr. Lauria’s account of events.”* The spokesperson would not elaborate.
Perella Weinberg Partners, which owned Chrysler debt through its Xerion Fund, was one of Lauria’s clients in this bankruptcy, but no longer is. The firm is led by Joseph Perella. On Thursday afternoon — after the Wedneday deadline — the portfolio manager for the Xerion fund decided to join the larger four creditors who are owed roughly 70% of Chrysler’s debt and had already agreed to participate with the administration’s plan.
Those four financial institutions – JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs — are recipients of up to $100 billion in federal government bailout funds, though the Obama administration insists the matters were kept completely separate.
Someone familiar with the Perella Weinberg Partners’ portfolio manager’s thinking told ABC News that the decision to go along with the government plan “was based on an assessment of investment risk and reward and nothing else.”
Lauria said his clients “are mainly fiduciaries for pension plans, college endowments, retirement plans and credit unions who invested in low yield supposedly very secure first lien debt” with Chrysler.
President Obama singled out Lauria’s clients for criticism when he announced the Chrysler plan on Thursday.
“While many stakeholders made sacrifices and worked constructively, I have to tell you some did not,” the president said. “In particular, a group of investment firms and hedge funds decided to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout. They were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices, and they would have to make none.”
Lauria said the president’s assertion that his clients weren’t willing to make any sacrifice is false. The clients were willing to take 50 cents on the dollar from Chrysler for their debt, he said.
President Obama also said of Lauria’s clients, “I don’t stand with them. I stand with Chrysler’s employees and their families and communities. I stand with Chrysler’s management, its dealers, and its suppliers. I stand with the millions of Americans who own and want to buy Chrysler cars. I don’t stand with those who held out when everybody else is making sacrifices.”
“He stands my clients up as basically the reason Chrysler is going into bankruptcy,” Lauria said. “He wrongly says they’re not willing to make any sacrifice. And then he says he does not stand with us.”
Lauria said the president saying he doesn’t stand with his clients “kind of sounds like ‘You’re fair game.’ In whatever sense. People are scared. They have gotten death treats. Some have been told people are going to come to their houses. God forbid if some nut did something, I’m just wondering how the president would feel.”
The Miami area-based attorney describes himself as an independent, and says after waiting in line for six hours last November he ended up not voting in the presidential election. He donated $10,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2008 and $1,000 to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, in 2006.
— jpt
* This post was updated with first the White House’s, and then Perella Weinberg Partners’, statements.
The above story can be read at the following link:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/05/bankruptcy-atto.html
Juice readers. Do you support or oppose this new arm twisting by the Obama administration?
I could have sworn that the auto co CEO’s flew to DC and begged for government funds. If the capitalists won’t bail them out with bank loans, then they’re lucky to get anything at all and of course the administration will be calling the tune since they’ve paid the piper. Shocking isn’t it?
Larry M.
As we drive Toyota’s in this household and do not own any auto stocks,we do not have any personal agenda covering the US auto industry. The Big Three saw that big brother opened a huge candy store beginning with Bush 43. Billions of dollars here for the taking. Come and get it. So we begin bailing out Wall Street without any oversight and set a terrible precedent of public trough handouts.
I have seen them in redevelopment transactions but that is “chump change” as compared to this recovery plan.
Now we have organized labor given a seat at the Chrysler Corp Board of Directors. In his first 100 days President Obama has taken Capitalism over a cliff. Forget that expression slippery slope.
And yes the CEO’s were clueless with reality flying to DC in their first bailout funding appearance. They brought this on themselves.
Larry, actually Perella Weinberg DID release a full statement;
Suggestions have been made that the Perella Weinberg Partners Xerion Fund changed its stance on the Chrysler restructuring due to pressure from the White House officials. This is INCORRECT (emphasis mine). The decision to accept and support the proposed deal was made by the Xerian Fund after reflecting carefully on the statement of the President when announcing Chrysler’s bankruptcy filing. In considering the President’s words and exercising OUR BEST INVESTMENT JUDGEMENT, we concluded that the risks of potentially severe capital loss that could arise from fighting this in bankruptcy court far outweighed any realistic potential upside.
We have a very specific mandate from our investors, and that is to carefully weigh investment risk and rewards. It is not our investment mandate to pursue political or risky legal campaigns with our investor’s money. This WAS OUR ASSESSMENT OF INVESTMENT RISK AND REWARD,NOTHING ELSE.
While we did and still do believe that the lenders would be justified in pressing their objections under conventional bankruptcy law principles,we believe a settlement would now be in the best interests of all parties in the context of avoiding a drawn out contested bankruptcy litigation proceeding, and we encourage our colleagues in the loan syndicate to pursue this immediately.
This reminds me of that Mark Twain saying about “a lie getting halfway around the world, before the truth can pull it’s boots on”.
Your use of the term “waterboarding” really makes you look ridiculous.
anon.
We will simply disagree.
If this report is accuate, and lenders had their arms twisted by someone high up in the Obama Administration, I would call this another form of torture.
Are you saying its OK to borrow money at a specified term and interest rate and tell the holder of the Note that they should take 29 cents on the dollar or take a hike?
anonster.
This post is from an NBC report where we have a situation with “he said, she said.”
Have you read about POW’s who after time cave in to their captors. As neither you nor I were there we must use caution accepting the statements found in the report which you reference above. When the president of the United States has you in his gunsights, chances are he can back it up and make your life rather uncomfortable.
That my friend is an understatement
Capitalism isn’t for Winnie the Pooh types. The Ford family hasn’t produced a lot of moral leaders but they understood the implied rules and didn’t take the money. No one can twist their arms and they aren’t whining.
For those who want to save capitalism, we should have let the big 3 along with AIG, Merrill, and the rest go BK with some honor. Those that could should have restructured whithin the existing law, and you would not have to worry about being passed around like a prison B!#ch. You went to them for protection and now you have to pay it off! SWadly it will bring the rest of us down with them in their socialist jihad against those who are productive.
Larry M
Well stated. Look at the banks who want to return TARP funds while they are being thwarted by the Obama Administration who wants complete control.
Even in our home mortgages we are able to repay the lenders early even if there is an early payment penalty.
These recent events in America remind me of James Jones in Jonestown. Trust, me my flock of faithful. Have some Kool Aide brother followers.
Larry, the account of investment firms being “directly threatened” by the Obama administration was made by attorney Thomas E. Lauria of White and Case, it has been DENIED by both parties involved. Furthermore, Lauria based his claim on a conversation with the White House’s auto task force chief, Steven Rattner, but Rattner denies ever speaking to Lauria, and other participants in the conversation in question, have denied Lauria’s account as well. As of Sunday, Mr. Lauria could NOT be reached for comment.
anonster,
Exactly…and don’t hold your breath waiting for Mr. Gilbert to report that this “report” proved to be inaccurate.
anon.
Do you truly think I sit in front of this keyboard 24/7 just waiting for your comments?
I did not see you this morning at the OCSD HQ or BOS meeting that I attended. Yes, I do get out on ocassion.
anonster.
Sure. This entire story was a case of fiction?
You just don’t get it. Perhaps we should make Lauria take a lie detector test to two.
“This entire story was a case of fiction?”
Show us, Larry, please, where anonster said that the ENTIRE story was a fiction? You’re very adept at attributing arguments to people that they never actually made.
I have plans for a full size car /SUV that gets 70 miles per gallon! With 300hp! And Almost Zero emissions, Right Now! Here, in my home! I just don’t want to release it. Because if I did I would make millions and millions of dollars, but you see, my research company is a “corporation” and because I don’t want Obama and the Socialists in Congress to decide I am an evil corporation, and because of that I would have to be punished, and be forced to pay my “fair share” and I would eventually be punished the government for being one of the Evil Corporations. Nope I don’t need the headache!
Larry, Mr. Lauria was on Neal Cavuto’s show today and refused to comment on his previous statements.
How can YOU be so sure of Mr. Lauria’s truthfulness? It couldn’t be that the scale you use to judge “truth” by is slightly weighted toward “truths” that slime the Obama administration, could it?
Anon, to give you some perspective on Larry’s mind set; he “suspects” the Clinton’s killed Vince Foster. Enough said.
#16 anonster.
Show me where I accused the Clinton Administration of killing Vince Foster.
You need some serious help. If you need a referral simply give me a call and I will send the men in white coats to pick you up.
Of course they did it!!
liberal means, “go aganist us and you won’t have a friend in the world”, “I call you a racist,
scumbag,idiot,bigot,ignorant,redneck,ect”.
Big libs do it so does the small!!
Larry, well over a year ago,you put up a post of an interview you did with ? (name escapes me) suffice it to say that he is someone who is a charter member of the “Blame Bill” club, I seem to recall YOU bringing up Vince Foster.
Maybe I’m wrong, if so I apologize.
But come on, you can tell us, don’t you think Bill ordered a hit?
anonster. We conducted four interviews of key players inside the beltway. None of them mentioned Vince Foster. To “trust, but verify” this response simply go to our web site archives and look at the Cutting Edge-a talk show interviews with “Cap Weinberger” at the Nixon Library, “A Clinton Legacy” with Lt. Col Buzz Patterson (one of the men who carried the nuclear football for president Clinton), “Preserving the Reagan Legacy” with Major General Paul Vallely (and Michael Reagan) and “Company Business” where we interviewed Gary Bernsten, the CIA’s key field commander in Afghanistan in 2001. You can read his book Jawbreaker to confirm that there is no reference to Vincent Foster.
http://www.cuttingedge-atalkshow.com
anonster.
Why select only Vince Foster? How many other suspicious untimely deaths occured on his watch?
I am not going to engage you in any “conspiracy theory” regarding that list whihc someone else has created and put on the Internet as follows:
THE CLINTON BODY COUNT
A partial list of those who have died around the president. The following is a partial list of people with connections to the Clintons who have died under suspicious circumstances.
THE MOST RECENT
James McDougal
Banker
Died March 8, 1998
Jim McDougal was serving his three-year sentence for bank fraud at the Fort Worth Federal Medical Center in Texas, a facility operated by the federal Bureau of Prisons for inmates who need medical attention. Just prior to another round of testimony before Kenneth Starr’s grand jury, McDougal, while in solitary confinement, suffered a heart attack that may have been brought on by diuretics forced on him. When Jim McDougal was finally taken
out of solitary, instead of attempting to defibrillate his heart with equipment on hand at the facility, he was driven over to John Peter Smith Hospital. Not the closest hospital to the Fort Worth Federal Medical Center, John Peter Smith hospital is a public hospital, where (in the words of one local) ,”They let
interns practice on deadbeats.”
The single most damning fact to come out of the McDougal death was his injection with Lasix, a diuretic, to force his giving of a urine sample for drug testing, even though McDougal was not a known drug user. Lasix is contra-indicated in cases of heart disease and can cause excessive diuresis, blood volume reduction, circulatory collapse and vascular thrombosis or blood clots. If a matching potassium supplement is not administered at the same time, Lasix can kill. McDougal may have been taking the heart medication Digitalin, which cannot be combined with Lasix. Several inmates had gone public with the claim that McDougal was given a heavy injection of Lasix right after he ate lunch, but the prison system has refused to allow those prisoners to be interviewed or to release McDougal’s medical records. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently acquired the official report of the McDougal death via a Freedom Of Information Act request, and found that doctors ignored McDougal’s signs of imminent death.
Ron Miller Witness Died Oct. 12, 1997
Ron Miller, investigated by authorities over the sale of his company, Gage Corp. to Dynamic Energy Resources, Inc. was the man who tape-recorded Gene and Nora Lum and turned those tapes (and other records) over to congressional oversight investigators. The Lums were sentenced to prison for campaign finance violations, using “straw donors” to conceal the size of their contributions to various candidates. Indeed, Dynamic Energy Resources, Inc. had hired Ron Brown’s son Michael solely for the purpose of funneling $60,000 through him to the Commerce secretary, according to Nolanda Hill’s testimony. Reportedly a healthy man, Miller suddenly took ill on Oct. 3, and steadily worsened until his death nine days later. (This pattern fits Ricin poisoning.) Owing to the strangeness of the illness, doctors at the Integris Baptist Medical Center referred the matter to the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office. The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office promptly ran tests on samples of Ron Miller’s blood, but has refused to release the results or even to confirm that the tests were ever completed.
Mary Mahoney White House intern Died July 1997
An attractive 25-year-old woman, Mahoney was a former White House intern for Bill Clinton working as the assistant manager at a Starbuck’s Coffee shop in Georgetown. Gunmen entered the Starbuck’s while the crew was cleaning up after closing. Mahoney’s two associates, Aaron Goodrich, 18 and Emory Evans, 25, were taken to a room and shot. Mary herself had five bullets in her, from at least two different guns, most likely with silencers. A total of 10 shots were fired; none of them heard by neighbors in the densely populated Georgetown section. Mahoney was shot in the chest, her face, and in the back of the head. Even though more than $4,000 remained in the store, the police have categorized the triple murder as a robbery, even as they acknowledge the “execution style” killings. There was no sign of forced entry. One report said the cafe was still locked when the bodies were found the next morning. George Stephanopoulos, Monica Lewinsky and Chelsea Clinton were all regulars at the Starbuck’s.
THE MOST FAMOUS
Vincent Foster White House Counsel Died July 21, 1993
Found dead in Fort Marcy Park in Virginia of a supposed suicide by gunshot. A suicide note was supposedly found a few days later, torn into 28 pieces, in his briefcase, after his office had been entered by White House staff and materials removed. The gun which he supposedly used to kill himself was reported to be still in his hand, but the person who first found the body reports that there was no gun at that time. Many irregularities surround the death and the investigation of it. Like Clinton, Foster was from Hope, Ark. He worked for the Rose Law firm with Hillary Clinton. London Telegraph reporter Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports a member of the Foster family has confirmed to him that Foster and Mrs. Clinton were lovers. Foster had intimate knowledge of the Clintons’ personal finances. Foster was involved in an investigation of their finances, and reportedly made a phone call to Hillary Clinton, in Los Angeles, just hours before his death. Recently, the signed report of medical examiner Dr. Donald Haut was uncovered at the National Archives. It stated that Foster had a previously unreported gunshot wound to his neck. Finally, an FBI memo has surfaced dated the day after the date of the official autopsy, in which the autopsist informs the FBI that there was no exit wound.
William Colby Director of Central Intelligence (ret) Died April 27, 1996
William Colby had been the DCI from 1973 to 1976 under Nixon and Ford. At age 76, Colby had found a new career and had just started writing for Strategic Investment at the time of his death. This had worried many insiders in the intelligence community who felt that Colby had already divulged too many of the CIA’s secrets in the preceding years. Indeed, his dismissal by Ford because of his over-cooperation with congressional investigations into CIA wrongdoing. It was Colby who had revealed to Congress the plans to kill Fidel Castro, the spying on American citizens (in direct violation of the CIA charter) and the conducting of biological tests by the CIA on unsuspecting citizens. He was replaced by George Bush. According to the original CNN report, Colby was reported missing by neighbors who “recovered” his canoe, by one story from under the dock at Colby’s house, by another report, a quarter mile downstream. Colby was, by all reports, a methodical, tidy man, yet police found his home unlocked, his computer on, and a partly eaten dinner on the table. The official story is that Colby just put down his fork and decided to drop everything and go canoeing. Colby at 76 was still a world-traveler and consultant to many corporations. He recently became an editor of an important financial newsletter, “Strategic Investment,” which covered the Vince Foster “suicide” in detail. Its editors hired three renowned handwriting experts to investigate Foster’s suicide note, which hadn’t been found when his briefcase was first searched, but later materialized, torn into pieces, with no fingerprints on any of the pieces. Upon comparing this document with others of Foster’s writings, these experts declared it was a forgery, and a not very good one at that. Colby had old enemies as well as new, with plenty of motives for his extermination. He was in charge of the infamous Operation Phoenix during the Vietnam War, in which more than 20,000 South Vietnamese citizens — supposedly Viet Cong sympathizers — were rounded up, tortured and executed. In the 1970s he opened some of the secrets of the CIA to Congress: “Colby insisted on going public about the agency’s role in tapping the telephones and opening the mail of Americans; plotting the assassination of Fidel Castro, and using human guinea pigs for mind-control experiments involving LSD,” the Times reports. On Monday, May 6, Colby’s body was found just 20 yards from where his canoe had been recovered, in an area that had been thoroughly searched several times by helicopters and search teams. Most notable about the body was the absence of a life jacket, which according to his wife, Colby always wore on the water.
DEAD BODYGUARDS
Maj. Gen. William Robertson Deputy Commanding General, V Corps, Europe Died Feb. 23, 1993 Col William Densberger V Corps Chief of Operations and Plans Died Feb. 23, 1993 Col. Robert Kelly V Corps Chief of Intelligence Died Feb. 23, 1993 Spec. Gary Rhodes Crew Chief Died Feb. 23, 1993 All were killed when their Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crashed in Weisbaden, Germany. No cause was ever determined. V Corps figured prominently in the US Bosnia-Serbia peacekeeping operations, along with the carrier Roosevelt. These men, and eight others associated with Clinton’s visit to the Roosevelt all died within four months of each other.
Steve Willis Clinton bodyguard Died Feb. 28, 1993 Robert Williams Clinton bodyguard Died Feb. 28, 1993 Conway LeBleu Clinton bodyguard Died Feb. 28, 1993 Todd McKeehan Clinton bodyguard Died Feb. 28, 1993 Killed by gunfire in the Waco, Texas, assault on the Branch Davidians. All four were examined by a “private doctor” and died from nearly identical wounds to the left temple, so-called execution style. In his address to employees of the Treasury Department in the Cash Room on March 18, 1993, Clinton said: “My prayers and I’m sure yours are still with the families of all four of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents who were killed in Waco — Todd McKeehan and Conway Le Bleu of New Orleans; Steve Willis of Houston, and Robert Williams from my hometown of Little Rock. Three of those four were assigned to my security during the course of the primary or general election.” However, the Little Rock, Arkansas, office of the ATF confirmed that all four had at one point been bodyguards for Bill Clinton, three while he was campaigning for president, and one while he had been governor of Arkansas. In the autopsies of these agents, three had virtually identical wounds to the left temple that exited through the rear of the head, execution-style. All four were treated by a “private physician.”
Alan G. Whicher Died April 19, 1995 Oversaw Clinton’s Secret Service detail. In October 1994, Whicher was transferred to the Secret Service field office in the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. Whicher was the only agent killed in the bomb blast of April 19, 1995.
Five Navy aviators Clinton bodyguards/escorts (names not determined) Died March 26, 1993 All died in the crash of an E-2C Hawkeye in Italy. The crash occurred shortly after the plane was “waved off” from a landing attempt on the Carrier Roosevelt, due to a “foul deck.” All five men had been Clinton’s escorts during Clinton’s visit to the Roosevelt two weeks prior. Three other men, who had flown Clinton to the Roosevelt for that visit also died later in a helicopter crash.
Staff Sgt. Brian Haney Clinton bodyguard Died May 19, 1993 Marine Sgt. Tim Sabel Clinton bodyguard Died May 19, 1993 Maj. William Barkley Clinton bodyguard Died May 19, 1993 Capt. Scott Reynolds Clinton bodyguard Died May 19, 1993 All four men died when their helicopter crashed in the woods near Quantico, Va. Reporters were barred from the site, and the head of the fire department responding to the crash described it by saying, “Security was tight,” with “lots of Marines with guns.” A videotape made by a firefighter was seized by the Marines. All four men had escorted Clinton on his flight to the carrier Roosevelt shortly before their deaths.
Unknown SS agent Killed when the C-130 carrying the presidential limos crashed near Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
DEAD FUNDRAISERS
C. Victor Raiser II National Finance Co-Chairman, Clinton for President Campaign Died July 30, 1992 Montgomery Raiser Son of C. Victor Raiser II Died July 30, 1992 Both men died in a private plane crash in Alaska, en route to a fishing expedition. No cause was ever determined. Five others not connected to Clinton died with them. DeeDee Meyers described Raiser as a “major player” in the Clinton organization. Victor raiser was also chairman of Mobile Telecomm Technologies Corp., whose subsidiary, SkyTel Corp. is an international paging company used by federal police agencies such as the FBI. Victor Raiser was a Washington lawyer and he was counsel to the Washington law firm of Jones Day Reavis & Pogue until 1991. At his death, he was the national finance co-chairman of the Clinton for President campaign. He and his wife had been friends of the Clintons for ten years. He was the past national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He served on the boards of the Democratic Business Council and the Center for National Policy and the board of advisers of the Democratic Leadership Council. On May 29, 1993, President Clinton announced that he had selected Raiser’s widow, Molly Raiser, 50, former Democratic co-chair of the Women’s Campaign Fund, to be his protocol chief and stated that he planned to nominate her for confirmation as an ambassador.
Paul Tully Democratic National Committee Political Director Died Sept. 24, 1992 Found dead in a hotel room in Little Rock Arkansas of “unknown causes.” No autopsy allowed. Described by Clinton as a “dear friend and trusted advisor. Tully authored several key strategies for Clinton and the party. Paul Tully, 48, Democratic National Committee political director and architect of a strategy to make the party competitive again in presidential elections, was found dead in his hotel room on September 24, 1992, in Little Rock, Arkansas of unknown causes. Authorities speculated his death was from a heart attack or stroke. Tully devised a strategy of targeting states based on their value in the Electoral College, and coordinating the presidential campaign with state and congressional races.
Ed Willey Real Estate Attorney, Clinton Fund Raiser Died Nov. 30, 1993 Died of a shotgun blast to the head. Body found in deep woods in Virginia. Ruled a suicide, no note was found. Died on the same day his wife was allegedly sexually accosted in the White House by Bill Clinton. Intimately involved in several Clinton fund raising events.
Hershell Friday Attorney and Clinton fund raiser. Died March 1, 1994 Killed when his plane exploded. Cause unknown.
Larry Lawrence Ambassador to Switzerland nominee. Larry Lawrence was a fundraiser, made famous by his burial at Arlington which revealed not only the special treatment given him but the depths of his legal troubles prior to his being nominated as ambassador to Switzerland. Less well known is that at the time of his death, allegedly from a heart attack, Larry Lawrence had just come under criminal investigation by the State Department and had (as had Ron Brown) indicated a willingness to cooperate.
DEAD WITNESSES
Luther Parks Head of Clinton’s ecurity team in Little Rock. Died Sept. 26, 1993 Gunned down in his car at the intersection of Chanaul Parkway and Cantrell Road, near Jacksonville, Arkansas, (near Little Rock). Parks was shot through the rear window of his car. The assailant then pulled around to the driver’s side of Park’s car and shot him three more times with a 9mm pistol. His family reported that shortly before his death, they were being followed by unknown persons, and their home had been broken into (despite a top quality alarm system). Parks had been compiling a dossier on Clinton’s illicit activities. The dossier was stolen. When news of the discovery of Vincent Foster’s body was reported, Parks is reported to have said, “Bill Clinton is cleaning house.”
Bill Shelton Arkansas state trooper and fiancee of Kathy Ferguson Died June 1994 He allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head at the grave site of his fiancee. Officer Shelton was the fiancee of Kathy Ferguson, who was the ex-wife of Trooper Danny Ferguson. Kathy Ferguson also committed “suicide” a month earlier by allegedly shooting herself in the back of the head. Oddly, next to the body were her packed bags, as if she was expecting to be going somewhere. Danny Ferguson is a co-defendant along with Bill Clinton in Paula Corbin Jones’ sexual harassment suit. His ex-wife was reported as a corroborating witness for Ms. Jones.
Kathy Ferguson Ex-wife of Trooper Danny Ferguson Died May 1994 Died of a supposed gunshot suicide in her living room. There was a suicide note found by the body. However, friends were surprised at having noticed nothing wrong previously. And even more curious, found nearby were several packed suitcases, as if she expected she was going somewhere. She was the former wife of Trooper Danny Ferguson, who is the Arkansas state trooper alleged to have escorted Paula Corbin Jones to the hotel room for her alleged episode of sexual harassment by then-Governor Clinton. Ferguson’s wife was reported as a possible corroborating witness for Jones.
Gandy Baugh Died Jan. 8, 1994 Attorney representing Dan Lasater in a case concerning alleged financial misconduct. Died in an alleged suicide by jumping out of a window of a multi-story building. Lasater was a close associate of Gov. Clinton, and was convicted of cocaine distribution. Baugh’s law partner was also “committed suicide” one month later on Feb. 9, 1994.
Dr. Ronald Rogers Dentist from Arkansas Killed in plane crash as he was on his way to an interview with a London Sunday Telegraph reporter to reveal information about Clinton scandals.
Stanley Huggins Partner in Memphis law firm Investigating Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, he was reported to have succumbed to viral pneumonia. His 300-page report has never been released.
Calvin Walraven A key witness in Joycelyn Elder’s son’s drug case. Ten days after Elder’s son was convicted of trafficking in cocaine, Walraven was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot blast to the head. Tim Hover, a Little Rock police spokesman, said no foul play is suspected.
Neil Moody Died Aug. 25, 1996 Following Vincent Foster’s murder, Lisa Foster married James Moody, a judge in Arkansas, on Jan 1, 1996. Near the time Susan McDougal first went to jail for contempt, Judge Moody’s son, Neil, died in a car crash. There were other reports that Neil Moody had discovered something very unsettling among his stepmother’s private papers and was threatening to go public with it just prior to the beginning of the Democratic National Convention. Witnesses said they saw Neil Moody sitting in his car arguing with another person. Then his car sped off and hit a brick wall.
Johnny Franklin Lawhon Died March 29, 1998 In the spring of 1997, a tornado ripped through some junked cars at Johnny’s Transmission shop and opened up the trunk of a car that proved to have a box of Whitewater records in it, including a copy of a $27,000 cashier’s check drawn on Madison and payable to Bill Clinton. Lawhon realized what he was looking at and turned the box of documents over to the FBI. According to police, Lawhon and a friend hit a telephone pole at a high rate of speed after their car had become airborne and left the road. They had driven less than a quarter mile at the time of the impact.
Eric Butera An informant who came forward offering information regarding the murder of White House intern Mary Mahoney. He was then sent into a known crack house to make an undercover buy for the police and was beaten to death.
DEAD WOMEN
Suzanne Coleman Had affair with Clinton when he was attorney general. Died of “suicide” with gunshot wound to the back of her head. No autopsy allowed. Was seven months pregnant at time of her death. She had told friends it was Bill Clinton’s child.
Paula Grober Clinton’s speech interpreter for the deaf. Died Dec. 9, 1992 Died in a one-car accident with no known witnesses. Her body was thrown 33 feet from the car, indicating a very high speed. A very attractive woman, Paula traveled extensively with Clinton from 1978 until her death. Clinton, through a spokesman, called Gober’s death “a great personal loss.” He also said, “Hillary and I extend our sincere sympathy to Paula’s family. I had the privilege of working with her over many years.”
Judy Gibbs Penthouse model and call girl Judy Gibbs, who appeared in the December 1979 issue of Penthouse, and her sister Sharon were part of a house of prostitution in Fordyce, Arkansas, that also engaged in blackmail of its more powerful clients. Linked to Bill Clinton by both her own family and by one of Bill’s bodyguards, Judy had just decided to cooperate with police in an investigation of Arkansas cocaine trafficking when she burned to death inside her home from a fire of undetermined origin.
DEAD INVESTIGATORS
Paul Wilcher Washington attorney investigating gun running out of Mena, Arkansas. Died June 22, 1993 Found dead on a toilet in his Washington apartment. No cause of death was ever reported by the coroner. At the time of his death, he was investigating connections between the “October Surprise” during the 1980 federal election campaign and drug and gun-running out of Mena, Arkansas, as well as the assault on the Waco, Texas, Branch Davidians. Was planning on producing a television documentary on his findings. He had delivered a 105-page affidavit to Janet Reno detailing the evidence he had collected regarding the drug operation at Mena, just three weeks before his death.
Jon Parnell Walker Resolution Trust Commission investigator Mysteriously fell to his death from an apartment balcony.
COMMERCE DEPARTMENT DEATHS
Ron Brown Former Chairman, DNC; Commerce Secretary Died May 3, 1996. Ron Brown died along with 39 other people when the T-43 (a converted 737 used by the Air Force) carrying the group on a trip to Bosnia crashed while approaching the Dubrovnik airport. On the verge of being indicted and having stated his willingness to make a deal with prosecutors, Ron Brown’s death brought to an end his ability to testify. Military investigators concealed from the public the fact that a perfectly cylindrical hole, the size of a .45-caliber round, was found in the top of his head. No autopsy was performed.
Barbara Wise Commerce Department staffer Died Nov. 29, 1996 As the scandals continued to swirl around the Commerce Department, and most of all about John Huang, one of Huang’s associates, Barbara Wise, was found dead in her locked office at the Department of Commerce, partially nude and covered with bruises. No cause of death has ever been announced.
Charles Meissner Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Economic Policy. Following Ron Brown’s death, John Huang was placed on a Commerce Department contract that allowed him to retain his security clearance by Charles Meissner. Shortly thereafter, Charles Meissner died in the crash of a small plane.
THE HENRY – IVES DEATHS A.K.A. THE “TRAIN DEATHS”
Kevin Ives & Don Henry Initial cause of death was reported to be the result of falling asleep on railroad tracks in Arkansas on Aug. 23, 1987. This ruling was reported by the state medical examiner Fahmy Malak, appointed at the pleasure of Gov. Bill Clinton. Later it was determined that Kevin died from a crushed skull prior to being placed on the tracks. Don had been stabbed in the back. Rumors indicate that they might have stumbled upon part of the Mena drug operation.
Keith Coney Keith had information on the Ives/Henry deaths. Died in a motorcycle accident in July 1988 while being chased by a car. Ruled a traffic accident.
Keith McKaskle McKaskle had information on the Ives/Henry deaths. He was stabbed to death in November 1988. He had told his family someone was out to kill him and told them “goodbye.”
Gregory Collins Greg had information on the Ives/Henry deaths. He died from a gunshot blast to the face in January 1989. Declared a suicide.
Paul Olson A federal witness in investigations to drug money corruption in Chicago politics, Paul had just finished two days of FBI interviews when his plane ride home crashed, killing Paul and 130 others on Sept 8, 1994. The Sept. 15, 1994, Tempe Tribune newspaper reported that the FBI suspected that a bomb had brought down the airplane.
Jeff Rhodes He had information on the deaths of Ives, Henry & McKaskle. His burned body was found in a trash dump in April 1989. He died of a gunshot wound to the head and there was some body mutilation, specifically that his hands and feet had been partially sawed off, leading to the speculation that he was tortured prior to being killed. The body was then burned.
James Milan Milam had information on the Ives & Henry deaths. He was decapitated. The state Medical examiner, Fahmy Malak, initially ruled death due to natural causes, claiming that the victim’s small dog had eaten the head, which was later recovered from a trash bin several blocks away.
Richard Winters Winters was a suspect in the deaths of Ives & Henry, and had offered to cooperate. He was killed by a shotgun blast to the face during a “robbery” in July 1989. Dan Harmon, the prosecutor to whom Winters reportedly made the offer, has been accused of involvement in the Kevin/Ives deaths and is now in jail for running his office as a racket.
Jordan Kettleson Kettleson had information on the Ives & Henry deaths. He was found shot to death in the front seat of his pickup in June 1990.
© 1998 Western Journalism Center
Larry, I NEVER said that Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson brought up Vince Foster, I said that YOU did. Are you denying it?
anonster.
Can you be clear. First you reference an interview we conducted (in post #19)where you include a reference to Vince Foster. So I respond naming four Cutting Edge programs we produced and told you where to find them. I have not mentioned Vince Foster nor did anyone else in these interviews. Therefore, before making accusations please go thru the Juice archives and find the exact blog story written by me where your allegation is written. As of now I have posted around 700 stories so I have no desire to engage in that witch hunt simply to prove you wrong.
Larry, actually someone does mention Vince Foster in one of those interviews, I can’t tell if it’s you or “Buzz”. Again, if it wasn’t you, my apologies.
Hmmmm,why would anyone bring up Vince Foster?
anonster.
Although not necessary, apology accepted
Larry, GUESS WHAT? I got a better feed on my computer and it turns out that the interviewer brought up Vince Foster. Who conducted the interview, my impression was that it was you.
anonster.
If the program you refer to is our Feb 2008 interview of Buzz Patterson, which I have not viewed in quite some time, can you tell me roughly how far into the 60 minute program you find any reference to Vince Foster I will watch it and be able to respond as to who asked the question if in fact one of us raised it in the first place. For the most part my main function in the Cutting Edge efforts is the research of topics and speakers that we review prior to the interviews However, in watching the programs you will discover that I do jump in with questions if there is a break that enables me to do so without interrupting the flow. Generally we have a primary interviewer and one or two others participating in different roles when its a two camera shoot.
PS: As you have watched the cost and commercial “free” program what did you think of the content?
Larry, I would say the Vince Foster question is about 20 minutes or so in to the interview.
As to the content, I find Lt. Col. Patterson so biased that it has colored his perceptions. For instance, he characterizes Howard Zinn’s book, A peoples History of the United States as being from a communist, socialistic, blah blah blah (not his exact words) perspective when it is actually from the “losers” perspective, it’s a wonderful book for teaching, as it sets our “conventional wisdoms” on their ear. Isn’t that what education should do, make kids think? That he shows such disdain for any line of thinking that doesn’t jibe with his militaristic, authoritarian world view leads me to discount him and any opinions he may have.
anonster.
Producer Ron W is interviewing Buzz at around 13 minutes into the 60 minute interview. In discussing the “nuclear football” Buzz tells us that President Clinton lost the credit card size nuclear codes around the time of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. They scoured the White House and couldn’t find the card which had never happened before. They did not want this loss to leak out to the media. Congratulations Bill. You are the first president to lose them. Ron then commented about Vince Foster passing away (around the 15 minutes mark)asking Buzz if he had any knowledge of that death to which Buzz said he did not. That’s it. Period. No comments about any ties between Vince Foster and the First Lady.
Anonster. Can you please tell us why you take offense when a producer asks someone who worked inside the White House, with top secret clearance, about a name yet you have no comment about the president losing the nuclear codes?
How about president Clinton being on the golf course and causing an Iraq airborne mission to be scrubbed because he was too busy to take a vital call from his staff requesting a green light to proceed. The commasnder-in-chief felt that it was too important to simply hang out during a local tournament with his golfing buddy,former Head of the National Urban League, Vernon Jordan.
Read Buzz’s “Dereliction of Duty” from which we prepared for that interview.
Bottom line. Back to your first question. I did not ask Buzz about Vince Foster.