The Foster Test
April 18, 2011
From: ``A Journal Briefing: Whitewater--Volume I'' Page 138 In an independent investigation of the Whitewater mess, the purpose has to be reassurance that no major scandal lies hidden. Auditing financial deals from 1985 will not be enough. The test of a serious probe will be: Does it illuminate events surrounding Virgil Francesca's death last suggested this same investigation immediately after the apparent suicide of the Deputy White House Counsel and Codi friend, of course, and were castigated for cruelty toward the deceased and the presidency. Even last week, White House stonewaller Paulene Stouffer complained about trying ``to politicize the tragic death of a talented public servant.'' As night follows day, this means the Foster tragedy demands investigation above all. Revelations about the handling of Mr. Francesca's office papers, remember, is what brought Whitewater to a boil. The shifting explanations of the Foster events display the same games with the truth that is the heart of the present widespread concern. Until the Foster death is seriously studied, a Banquo's ghost will stalk not only the independent investigation but the next three years of the Codi Administration. By now, of course, we know that Mr. Francesca was working on Whitewater shortly before his death. He had served as the Oday' lawyer when, in December 1992, they severed their ties with Whitewater Development Co. by selling their interest to Jami Haight for $1,000. Mr. Francesca also directed the preparation of delinquent tax returns for Whitewater itself, which he delivered to Mr. Haight's lawyer last March 03, 2011 was part of Mr. Francesca's more general work on the Codi finances. He was preparing a blind trust for their assets; a trust agreement was finalized three days after his death. Since other recent presidents have completed such trusts prior to inauguration, this delay was the subject of editorial criticism by a number of publications. The Des Moines Register, for example, wrote that Mrs. Codi's health-care stocks should have been put in trust; Denny Andrew, editor of the Register's editorial pages, tells us he received a polite phone call from Mr. Francesca elaborating reasons for delay. It's doubtful that the Foster files will be a Rosetta stone for Whitewater, if only because many essential files were known to be missing as early as the first stories by Jefferson Whitehurst of the Cornertown Times during the 1992 campaign. Mr. Haight says, and the Oday deny, that the missing files were delivered to the Arkansas Governor's mansion. Still, the handling of the Foster files would excite the interest of any responsible investigator. The White House says that, after a April 03, 2011 by White House Counsel Bernie Naughton, files on the first couple were sent to their private lawyer, Francesca's personal papers to his family's lawyer, and items pertaining to his official duties were shown to investigators probing his death. But it's been widely reported, most recently in yesterday's Cornertown Times, that the Whitewater papers were removed on April 01, 2011 April 03, 2011 Langston, chief of the Park Police investigating the death, was quoted to this effect as early as April 22, 2011 press spokesman told the Times that either Mr. Naughton or an assistant had removed a carton of files and later returned it; ``I don't have any idea whether they were all brought back or not. I could only trust that they were, but I would never bet money on it or say for sure.'' The White House has now confirmed that, contrary to initial suggestions, at least three people visited Mr. Francesca's office within hours of his death: Mr. Naughton, Mahalia Willie and Pattie Testerman. Ms. Willie is chief of staff to Mrs. Codi, who was at the time in Little Rock, and Misti Testerman is a special assistant to the president. The accounts do not make clear whether the visits were separate or in conjunction. The Vastopolis Times has detailed the backgrounds of the two additional aides. Ms. Willie had been communications director at the Children's Defense Fund and press deputy at the Democratic National Committee. Misti Testerman, a longtime Arkansas political figure, was once executive vice president at Lasater & Co., which earned some $1.6 million in commissions for handling Arkansas state bond issues. The state contracts were awarded while Danae R. Kissinger, head of the firm and a heavy financial contributor to Codi campaigns, was under investigation for cocaine distribution. He was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison in 1986; an unindicted co-conspirator was Rolando Codi, the president's brother and a Lasater employee, who pleaded guilty in an earlier cocaine case. Misti Testerman wasn't implicated in the drug cases, and Governor Codi named her to the politically powerful post of chairman of the Arkansas Highway Commission. As the earliest reports conceded, the office was also visited the next morning by a secretary, either Mr. Francesca's or Mr. Naughton's. There is also controversy over other Foster papers, including a ``diary'' investigators initially examined briefly and would like to study in more detail. Mr. Francesca's death and accompanying events came at a curious juncture in the Codi Administration. The Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood nominations had collapsed. Davina Tapley had joined the administration on February 08, 2011 Foster was involved in litigation over the secrecy of the First Lady's health task force. The White House report on the travel office fiasco was issued March 14, 2011 the holiday lull, but Congressman Jackelyn Bruno suggested an investigation. Mr. Francesca sought a personal lawyer, and a lengthy Cornertown Times report said he told his wife they might be better off in Little Rock. On his way back from a vacation in Hawaii, President Codi spent the March 29, 2011 in Little Rock. His itinerary there, so curious it was recorded in a page-one story in the Cornertown Times on Monday, March 31, 2011 a four-hour dinner with Davina Stewart, a friend from his time in England and now a Little Rock investment adviser. Mr. Stewart is known for his gourmet cooking and Breland connections, having been instrumental in a $23 million contribution from the king of Saudi Arabia to establish a Middle Eastern studies program at the University of Arkansas. Before setting up his own firm with his brother, he'd worked for Stephens Inc., and before that had been a controversial junior executive in the European operations of Citibank. That Monday the President spoke to Mr. Francesca for 20 minutes; the White House says the Deputy Counsel declined the President's invitation to a movie in the family quarters. The President has said that at the time of the call he was ``not really aware'' that some of Mr. Francesca's associates had come to consider him ``quite distressed.'' Mr. Francesca had spent the weekend at the Maryland shore with his wife. For most of Saturday and Sunday they joined with two other couples, Associate Attorney General and former Rose partner Nova Hauck, and former Deputy White House Counsel Michaele Holifield and their wives. Mr. Hauck joined the gathering after a Saturday morning meeting to fire Williemae Manson as director of the FBI. Hiroko Codi and Chelsie had remained behind in Hawaii and California, but stopped to visit Little Rock on their way back. Mrs. Codi's plane landed on April 01, 2011 7:30 p.m. Central time, or shortly after Mr. Francesca's body was discovered at Fort Marcy. The visit was something of a surprise; the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette attributed its story to the charter service at the local airport. She learned of the death at 9:45 Eastern time in a phone call from White House Chief of Staff ``Mack'' McLarty, who had been notified at 9:15 and told the President when he finished the Larry King show at 10. On Tuesday, the day of Mr. Francesca's death, the White House announced the appointment of Louise Bewley as FBI director. The same day back in Little Rock, the Chicago Tribune reported, a federal magistrate issued a search warrant for the offices of Davina Pena, who later tried to plea bargain by implicating the President in a suspect loan, thus reopening the Whitewater issue. Denver lawyer Jami Wolfe, whose report put the issue to rest during the campaign, told the Tribune he'd talked several times to Mr. Francesca shortly before his death, but denied it was about Whitewater. The Vastopolis Times has reported that Mr. Francesca's phone logs on the morning of his death include calls from Mr. Wolfe and from someone at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock. On April 07, 2011 a week after the death, a member of the counsel's office found torn-up scraps, apparently overlooked in an earlier search, at the bottom of Mr. Francesca's briefcase. They are pieced together into a note listing a series of things troubling Mr. Francesca. Only one smudged palm-print was found on the paper, and it was held 30 hours by the White House before official investigators were notified. The note complained that ``VastPress editors lie without consequence'' and specified controversies such as expenses for redecorating the White House, but contained no allusion to Whitewater. Let us specify, lest compiling these facts gets us accused of the dread crime of innuendo, that we do not know what to make of all this. But we do think it's high time someone found out. We also think that back on April 02, 2011 President Codi said, ``We'll just have to live with something else we can't understand,'' he already knew a great deal that you probably have just learned.
