Jerry Parks (cont.)
alt.ww
The mystery surrounding the 1993 murder of Luther Gerald
Parks deepens. Parks, whose firm provided security to
Clinton campaign headquarters in 1992, was shot dead at a
rural intersection just west of Little Rock on September
23,1993. The local police investigation into the murder has
focused on personal feuds -and ignored Parks's political
ties. As reported in the June TAS, in 1989 Parks received a
large SBA backed loan financed by the Arkansas Teachers
Retirement System, a sign of some political clout. Parks's
loan file, newly obtained by TAS, contains another surprise.
After making monthly payments on the loan for two and a
half years, Parks prepaid the $32,000 balance in June 1993,
three months before his murder. According to his widow,
this sudden- cash flow came from the first installment of
long-delayed payments from the Clinton campaign. It thus
appears that Parks, who was trying to collect a much
larger sum for his services, began to receive some of it
earlier than previously reported. Meanwhile, one would
think that large and unusual cash flows were relevant facts
in a murder investigation, but local police may not have
heard of them. When told of the ATRS loan, Tom James of
the Little Rock police Special Investigations Division said, "I
didn't know about that."
But someone else apparently did. Shortly after the murder,
Mrs. Parks says, a team of eleven agents from four
separate federal agencies showed up at her house to
inspect her late husband's papers. Why haven't local
homicide investigators been given access to these
records? Why didn't the pension funds officials come
forward to help in the investigation, or for that matter
Clinton campaign officials Dee Dee Myers and Betsey
Wright, whom Parks had dunned for his money?
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr is looking into the
Parks murder. Does he have an obstruction of justice case
in the works?
THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
AUGUST 1996
Warwick Hayes
Swop...@aol.com (Swopa) wrote:
> >
> > THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
> > AUGUST 1996
> >
> > The mystery surrounding the 1993 murder of Luther Gerald
> > Parks deepens. Parks, whose firm provided security to
> > Clinton campaign headquarters in 1992,
>
> This statement is further proof of the nonexistence of any
> fact-checking department at the American Spectator.
> If Park's firm "provided security to Clinton campaign
> headquarters," how come we've never heard from any
> employees who actually stood guard there? Or from
> any Clinton campaign staffers who saw Parks or any
> employee of his firm?
>
Come on Swop, you know as well as the the rest of us --
this entire administration suffers from memory deficit
disorder (MDD). I understand this is quite common in
in longterm substance abusers.
Swopa
In article <4ten1u$k...@ren.cei.net>, Tim Watson <"Tim...@cei.net"@mail.cei.net>
wrote: <<post to which Tim replied is printed in full below>>
> I hate to interrupt a closed mind at work, but the local papers have
> repeatedly stated that Parks was involved with security work for the Clinton
> campaign and transition team. I have read this many, many times, in
> reputable newspapers. It is discussed at length in Roger Morris' Partners in
> Power. Would you please post the facts behind your insistence that that is
> incorrect? I would truly like to see what you have, as it will help me judge
> what I'm reading. Thanks.
Tim, in order to judge what you're reading, the first thing you'll need is
either a better pair of eyes or a better sense of honesty.
I stopped by a bookstore and wasted a few minutes thumbing through
"Partners in Power" today. Jerry Parks's name DOES NOT APPEAR in
the index, and as far as I could tell, not in the text either. The name
of Jane
Parks shows up once, where Morris recycles the Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
story about Roger Clinton's cocaine use. Jerry Parks is not mentioned. I then
flipped toward the end of the book, where the 1992 election and its aftermath
are discussed **very** briefly. No Jerry Parks there either.
So you say Parks's connections to Clinton are "discussed at length," but in
fact, it appears, they are not mentioned AT ALL. If so, this is the umpteenth
misstatement of fact I have caught in your posts in the past couple of months
alone. I have tried to give you the benefit of the doubt on these, but it is no
longer possible for me to blame your rushed typing. You, sir, are simply a
liar.
---------------------------------------------
Swopa wrote:
>
> In article <31F85A...@ix.netcom.com>, "alt.ww"
> <wha...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
> > AUGUST 1996
> >
> > The mystery surrounding the 1993 murder of Luther Gerald
> > Parks deepens. Parks, whose firm provided security to
> > Clinton campaign headquarters in 1992,
>
> This statement is further proof of the nonexistence of any
> fact-checking department at the American Spectator.
> If Park's firm "provided security to Clinton campaign
> headquarters," how come we've never heard from any
> employees who actually stood guard there? Or from
> any Clinton campaign staffers who saw Parks or any
> employee of his firm?
>
> Parks's firm DID NOT provide security for Clinton campaign
> headquarters. Like Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and the
> "Clinton Chronicles" video, the American Spectator is
> lying. Not that they care.
>
>
> > was shot dead at a
> > rural intersection just west of Little Rock on September
> > 23,1993. The local police investigation into the murder has
> > focused on personal feuds -and ignored Parks's political
> > ties. As reported in the June TAS, in 1989 Parks received a
> > large SBA backed loan financed by the Arkansas Teachers
> > Retirement System, a sign of some political clout. Parks's
> > loan file, newly obtained by TAS, contains another surprise.
> > After making monthly payments on the loan for two and a
> > half years, Parks prepaid the $32,000 balance in June 1993,
> > three months before his murder. According to his widow,
> > this sudden- cash flow came from the first installment of
> > long-delayed payments from the Clinton campaign. It thus
> > appears that Parks, who was trying to collect a much
> > larger sum for his services, began to receive some of it
> > earlier than previously reported.
>
> "Earlier than previously reported"? What could that mean,
> you ask? Well, here's an earlier version of the legend:
> ---------------------------------------------
> The money finally came in July. Just a few days later the secret
> file was stolen from the Parks's dresser in a sophisticated
> burglary. The telephone wires were cut to disable the house's
> high-tech alarm system, and the file was the only item taken.
> Shortly after the burglary, Mr Parks received two telephone calls
> which, Mrs Parks said, left him in a state of paranoia. "He was
> popping my valium. He took a pistol with him everywhere, even to
> collect the post from the end of the driveway," she said.
> Two months later he was shot several times at short range at a
> suburban intersection outside Little Rock.
> A police source in Arkansas said that Mr Parks had made
> duplicates of the secret file and entrusted them to people in
> Little Rock.
> One set has been passed on to a federal law enforcement agency.
> The contents, he said, supported Mrs Parks's account.
> --------------------------------------------
> This loan that the American Spectator apparently came across
> showed a payment in June, so the legend had to be changed.
> And why not? It's only FICTION.
>
> (Please note that the most recent versions of the Jerry Parks
> legend no longer mention the "sophisticated burglary" and the
> "duplicates of the secret file." The anti-Clinton industry figures
> its target audience is too gullible and too stupid to actually compare
> different versions. Judging from this newsgroup, it's hard to
> blame them.)
>
>
> >Meanwhile, one would
> > think that large and unusual cash flows were relevant facts
> > in a murder investigation, but local police may not have
> > heard of them. When told of the ATRS loan, Tom James of
> > the Little Rock police Special Investigations Division said, "I
> > didn't know about that."
> >
> > But someone else apparently did. Shortly after the murder,
> > Mrs. Parks says, a team of eleven agents from four
> > separate federal agencies showed up at her house to
> > inspect her late husband's papers. Why haven't local
> > homicide investigators been given access to these
> > records?
>
> Because the "records" don't exist, and never did. (Neither
> did the "team of eleven agents," which has replaced the
> "sophisticated burglary" in retellings of the legend.)
>
>
> > Why didn't the pension funds officials come
> > forward to help in the investigation, or for that matter
> > Clinton campaign officials Dee Dee Myers and Betsey
> > Wright, whom Parks had dunned for his money?
>
> ROTFL! Yeah, the *press secretary* handles *all* the bills
> for the campaign!! And if I'm not mistaken, Wright had *no
> official role whatsoever* in the campaign. This is a
> laughable attempt at name-dropping; any genuine bills
> would have gone to a faceless functionary in the accounts-
> payable department. But you can't come up with a good
> legend if you insist on mundane realism.
>
>
> > Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr is looking into the
> > Parks murder. Does he have an obstruction of justice case
> > in the works?
>
> I don't know which reading of this is more pathetically
> humorous -- that the American Spectator **made up**
> the notion of a Starr investigation, or that good-soldier
> Starr **really is** looking into the Parks death. The
> latter could be true -- after all, with Clinton looking like
> a shoo-in to serve four more years, Starr's got to extend
> the investigation somehow.
Tim Watson
His name is Luther Parks, and I'll get my copy of Partners in Power from my
wife and see if I can find the mention of Parks' involvement with Clinton's
security in 1992, and I'll post it.
But you didn't answer my question, and may be avoiding doing so the way so
many Clintonites do on this board - by attacking the integrity of the person
asking the question. (If that's your intent, you may be following your
patron's frequent use of the same tactic).
I recall reading in several different places - primarily in local newspapers
when Parks' was killed - that Parks was attached to the Clinton campaign and
transition security. You have stated categorically that that is not true. I
asked for your source. You respond by calling me a liar.
Please understand that I am not answerable to you. I try - and sometimes
fail, I admit; but not often - to avoid ad hominem attacks of the nature you
and Hanson and so many others (on both sides) engage in far too frequently,
to the great diminution of your own effectiveness, in my opinion. But try to
understand that I am at least your equal, and that I have no intention of
being silenced by the sort of tactic you have just employed. You may
continue this thread, or not, at your choice; I actually am interested in
learning were you received the information that Luther Parks was not involved
in Clinton security in 1992. If it is beneath your dignity to converse with
a "liar", that's fine; I would suggest that you not sully your typewriter
further. Otherwise, I look forward to obtaining the source of your post.
Where did you read that Luther Parks was not engaged in security for
Clinton's '92 campaign and transition team?
Tim Watson
Swopa
In article <4tjmun$8...@ren.cei.net>, Tim Watson <"Tim...@cei.net"@mail.cei.net>
wrote:
> His name is Luther Parks, and I'll get my copy of Partners in Power from my
> wife and see if I can find the mention of Parks' involvement with Clinton's
> security in 1992, and I'll post it.
Duh, Tim. I checked for "Luther Parks" too. Not there. No Gary Parks, either.
Unless Morris shoehorned it into a discussion of Clinton's life at Oxford and
forgot to index it, you lied.
And what's the deal about your wife? Does she live in the next county or
something?
> But you didn't answer my question, and may be avoiding doing so the way so
> many Clintonites do on this board - by attacking the integrity of the person
> asking the question. (If that's your intent, you may be following your
> patron's frequent use of the same tactic).
>
> I recall reading in several different places - primarily in local newspapers
> when Parks' was killed - that Parks was attached to the Clinton campaign and
> transition security. You have stated categorically that that is not true. I
> asked for your source. You respond by calling me a liar.
Well, I was *going* to call the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette to get copies of
any articles they might have on the subject, but since you can't accurately
remember a book you've read within the past couple of months, why should
I give any credence to newspaper articles you claim to have read nearly 4
years ago? It's clear that your hatred of Bill Clinton colors just about every
thought that you express in this newsgroup, to the point that you cannot
distinguish between fact and fiction.
If any employee of Parks' security company (personally, I'll bet it was a one-
man show) or of the Clinton transition team corroborated the "fact" that Parks
was indeed hired by the campaign/transition staff, and was cited to this effect
by the local Arkansas press, it is a reasonable assumption that Ambrose
Evans-Pritchard, the "Clinton Chronicles" video, or Roger Morris would have
mentioned it. None did. Based on this analysis, I deduce that there was NO
connection between Jerry Parks and Bill Clinton. The relevance of your being
a liar is that I'm not going to be sent on a wild goose chase for nonexistent
evidence by someone for whom false statements are standard operating
procedure. How about this: you track down the articles, post what they say,
and then I'll call up the paper and see if you're lying again. Okay?
> Please understand that I am not answerable to you. I try - and sometimes
> fail, I admit; but not often - to avoid ad hominem attacks of the nature you
> and Hanson and so many others (on both sides) engage in far too frequently,
> to the great diminution of your own effectiveness, in my opinion. But try to
> understand that I am at least your equal, and that I have no intention of
> being silenced by the sort of tactic you have just employed. You may
> continue this thread, or not, at your choice; I actually am interested in
> learning were you received the information that Luther Parks was not involved
> in Clinton security in 1992. If it is beneath your dignity to converse with
> a "liar", that's fine; I would suggest that you not sully your typewriter
> further. Otherwise, I look forward to obtaining the source of your post.
I am not attempting to silence you. I am just identifying you, for the sake
of other readers, as what you are: a man whose words cannot be trusted.
> Where did you read that Luther Parks was not engaged in security for
> Clinton's '92 campaign and transition team?
I have explained this above. Had he been so "engaged" -- and let's make
clear, the legend states not merely that he was _employed_ by the Clinton
staff, he was _in charge of_ security for them -- there should be evidence
of it in the form of business records, bank account records, and testimony
of Parks and Clinton employees. None of the foregoing exists, with the
absence of the first two "explained" by wild and inconsistent tales of sudden
vanishings. Because I'm not a gullible anti-Clinton partisan, I look at this
and say, "This is bull. Jerry Parks never worked for Bill Clinton." Happy??
If not, you provide me with *your* sources.
Oh, and say hi to your wife for me when you find her.
msch...@isd.net
In article <SwopaTwo-270...@ppp068-sf2.sirius.com>,
Swop...@aol.com (Swopa) wrote:
> In article <31F85A...@ix.netcom.com>, "alt.ww"
> <wha...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
> > AUGUST 1996
> >
> > The mystery surrounding the 1993 murder of Luther Gerald
> > Parks deepens. Parks, whose firm provided security to
> > Clinton campaign headquarters in 1992,
>
> This statement is further proof of the nonexistence of any
> fact-checking department at the American Spectator.
> If Park's firm "provided security to Clinton campaign
> headquarters," how come we've never heard from any
> employees who actually stood guard there? Or from
> any Clinton campaign staffers who saw Parks or any
> employee of his firm?
I fail to see how your rejoinder lessens the reliability of the article.
(I love the illogic: the article can't be true because the Clinton's won't
confirm the information. !?!?!)
--
"Impending doom takes all the fun out of decadent living!" - Yago
Wayne Mann
Swop...@aol.com (Swopa) wrote:
Sept. 26, 1995
Clinton security chief's murder still unsolved
By Christopher Ruddy
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
At the Little Rock Police Department the murder of Jerry
Luther Parks might as well have never occurred.
Odd, since the killing has gained folklore status on the
``Clinton Chronicles,'' a video viewed by millions. The
death
is also a major selling point for direct-mail operators who
hawk newsletters. Talk radio remains abuzz about the
enigmatic death. Today marks the second anniversary of the
murder of Parks, the security chief of President Clinton's
campaign headquarters in Little Rock in 1992 and 1993."I
can't find him in my computer," Lt. John Hutchinson, Little
Rock police spokesman said. "Are you sure it's a Little Rock
case? "Hutchinson, his memory refreshed about Parks,
promised to check on the status of the case with his
homicide unit. The details of the murder are not in dispute:
Early Sunday evening on Sept. 26, 1993, Parks was
returning to his suburban Little Rock home, making a left
turn on Arkansas's Highway 10, when, without warning, a
white Chevrolet raced into the intersection from behind. An
assassin jumped from the passenger seat of the Chevrolet
and fired his 9mm pistol, hitting Parks at least seven
times.
He died soon thereafter, his body sprawled across the
highway. Parks' effort to use a pistol he had begun keeping
between the front seats of his car were apparently futile.
Despite several eyewitnesses to the killing, Parks' death
remains unsolved. "The case is at a standstill. The
investigators have exhausted all their leads. There's no new
information," Hutchinson reported after checking.
Hutchinson would not permit the detective handling the case
to speak to a reporter, and a call to Little Rock Police
chief
Louie Caudell was referred to Hutchinson. FAMILY
UNHAPPY Parks, a former Arkansas police officer, private
investigator and the owner of a security firm whose services
were used by the Clinton-Gore campaign, left behind his
wife, Jane, and 24-year-old son Gary. Neither is happy
about the police's handling of the case. Save two feature
articles on the case in the Sunday London Telegraph, Parks'
death and the allegations made by the Parks family have
been ignored in the mainstream press. The Telegraph
reported in March 1994 that Mrs. Parks and her son feared
Parks had been killed because of incriminating information
he had gathered on Clinton. Clinton's own relationship with
Parks remains murky, though Clinton had appointed Parks
to the state police's Board of Private Investigators and
Security Firms in 1987. His company had a contract for
security services at the building used by the Clinton
campaign, and later the campaign contracted with Parks
directly. Parks, at the behest of an anonymous third party,
had been keeping surveillance on Clinton for five years
beginning in the mid-1980s when the governor's brother,
Roger, lived temporarily in an apartment in the same
complex as Parks. Mrs. Parks managed the complex and had
an office that was once a bedroom in the apartment used by
Roger Clinton. "During the time (Mrs. Parks) worked next
to Roger's apartment, she could hear the conversations in
B107 very clearly," the Telegraph reported, adding, "Gov.
Clinton was a frequent visitor." Parks told the Telegraph
that
drug use took place in the apartment often, and at one point
she saw cocaine on a coffee table. Mrs. Parks is suffering
from multiple sclerosis and has declined to comment on the
case to the Tribune-Review. Her friend, Little Rock attorney
Harvey Bell, said her health condition is "serious" and she
is
under a doctor's orders to "disengage" from the case and the
controversy. As for the police's handling of the case, Bell
said, "Nothing's been done. "Gary Parks, a former Navy
submariner, still finds that irksome. Both he and his mother
allege that an investigative file on Clinton compiled by his
father may have led to his demise. They say that just weeks
before Parks' murder, their home was burgled in a
sophisticated operation that included cutting phone lines.
Taken was the investigative file (which allegedly included
photos) stashed in the master bedroom. The Parks family
seems to have some credibility with Sgt. Clyde Steelman, the
detective handling the case. "If they say that some files
were
missing, then I can tell you those files were missing," he
told
the Telegraph last year. "The Parks family aren't lying to
you."
To be sure, Parks had dealt with a number of shady
characters through his business, casting a wide net over
those who may have wanted him dead. The Parks family has
offered no evidence to support insinuations about the
president. The family has also charged that the Clinton
connection has prevented a proper police investigation. Lt.
Hutchinson didn't deny the charge, saying in a plain-spoken
manner, "I don't know. "THE MURDER Parks' murder
took place just over two months after the suicide of White
House counsel Vincent Foster on July 20, 1993. This would
be simple coincidence, were it not for more allegations made
by the Parks family. Gary said his father became noticeably
agitated immediately after Foster's death, and suggested
just
a day after the suicide that Foster had been murdered. Parks
soon began carrying a gun, even taking it with him to his
mailbox. He also carried a cellular phone and checked in
with his wife five or six times a day - something he had
never done before. He changed his typical route home and
began taking medication to sleep. Parks, according to his
family, had a major disagreement with the Clinton-Gore
campaign, complaining he had not been paid for his
company's services months after the election. Parks had
borrowed tens of thousands of dollars to meet his payroll
while his invoices to the campaign went unpaid, the family
said. Campaign officials claimed to Parks that he had in
fact
been paid. An inquiry into the matter, Parks told his
family,
indicated that someone had improperly diverted campaign
funds, and with apologies he was promised full restitution.
Despite the promise, Parks' son said the payment didn't
come easy, and led to some wrangling with the campaign in
the months after Clinton was inaugurated. How Foster
possibly plays into this is unclear. What is clear is that
Foster
and Parks were well aware of each other. An associate of
Foster's in Little Rock told the Tribune-Review that Foster
had once recommended Parks as a private investigator.
Foster's death has been looked into by Independent Counsel
Kenneth Starr, but a homicide investigation has never taken
place as police procedure demands. Starr, unwilling to fully
investigate Foster's death, seems unlikely to begin
examining
Parks' murder. A source close to Starr's investigation said
that at the request of Mrs. Parks, one of Starr's Little
Rock
prosecutors met with her and Bell at a Little Rock
McDonald's for coffee last year. "It certainly should be
jumped on, if there's a hint that the two cases may be
related," said veteran homicide investigator Vernon Geberth.
Geberth, former lieutenant commander of New York's
Bronx homicide task force, is the author of the
authoritative
text on death investigations, Practical Homicide
Investigation. "If someone's telling they are related, I
would
expect it would be picked up as part of the investigation,"
he
said, noting that federal authorities, having investigated
Foster's death first, should have looked into the matter.
\\/ayne //\ann
"A politician who commends himself as 'caring' and
'sensitive' because he wants to expand the government's
charitable programs is merely saying that he's willing
to do good with other peoples' money." - PJ O'Rourke
Wayne Mann
"Hired Detective to Spy on Clinton"
Ambrose Evens-Pritchard
Electronic Telegraph
07/14/96
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Little Rock reports on the
latest twist in the saga of the former White house aide.
Vincent Foster, the Arkansas lawyer whose mysterious
death is still the subject of official investigation,
orchestrated secret surveillance of Bill Clinton in 1990,
two years before he became deputy counsel in the
Clinton White house. The claim is made by the widow of
Jerry parks, a little rock investigator allegedly contracted
to do the work. what is more, Mrs. Park's husband told
her the operation was instigated by fosters law partner,
Hillary Rodham Clinton. the allegations have to be
treated with great caution. They are based on the word
of one person and are almost impossible to corroborate..
even so, Jane Park's story deserves to be reported.
Her husband went on to become chief of security at the
Clinton-gore headquarters during the presidential
campaign few months later, in Sept. 1993 , he was
murdered, gangland-style, in a case that has never been
solved by the little rock police.
Vince foster had died 2 months earlier in circumstances
that have led to formal accusations by the US senate of a
white house cover-up. His body found in Virginia park,
next to the civil war cannon, with an unidentified revolver
lodged in the right hand. His death was recorded as
suicide at first, but the case has been re-opened by the
independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
After 2 years, Starr has still not concluded whether it
was suicide or murder.
Jane Parks, 43, has never sought out the press. she
reluctantly told me about her former husband ties with
foster during a dinner at her house 2 months ago. She
has now finally consented to go on the record, saying she
is weary of living with secrets.
She said that her late husband, Jerry, respected Vince
Foster. Around 1985, he started taking sensitive
assignments for him. These appear to have involved a
variety of strange activities - including 2 mysterious trips
to the town of Mena, west Arkansas, during the 1992
presidential campaign.
"Jerry had a reputation for doing high-profile cases for
prominent people. He knew how to keep his mouth shut,"
she said. Nevertheless, he confided in his wife, and told
her about the covert surveillance of the state governor in
1990.
She said: "Jerry asked Vince why he needed this stuff
on Clinton. He said he needed it for Hillary."
She believes that Hillary Clinton was trying to gain
leverage over her husband, possibly in relation to future
divorce proceedings. It is possible Mrs. Clinton wanted to
get to the bottom of the persistent rumors about her
husband's philandering before subjecting herself and her
daughter to the media glare of a presidential campaign.
At the time, Mrs. Clinton and Vince Foster were
partners at the Rose Law Firm. The two were so close, in
fact, that they even shared a brokerage account called
Midlife Partners. Several new books claim that the two
were lovers for many years.
Mrs. Parks said that Foster had telephoned her husband
over a hundred times at their home outside little rock, and
when she met him at a political function Foster
complimented her by saying: "You must be Jerry's wife,
I'd heard he'd robbed the cradle."
She said her husband started having dealings with
Foster around 1981, when the Rose Law firm
represented Guardsmark, the security firm that Parks was
working for at the time. Later, Parks set up his own
business and took on personal assignments for foster.
On one occasion, Parks was asked to provide a home
security for Foster's
brother-in-law, Lee Bowman, whose house was damaged
in a fire. Mr. Bowman, confirmed the story, saying that
he was struck by the way Foster insisted that Parks was a
man who could be trusted.
It appears that Parks collected extensive surveillance
files on Bill Clinton over the years - though not always
for Foster.
Some of it was clearly undertaken for other clients.
Park's son Gary, now 25, accompanied him on several
night missions in 1987 which involved watching the
apartment of Gennifer Flowers and other women. using
long-range cameras.
Parks also did some spying on Clinton in 1984 when
the Governor attended a number of cocaine-and-sex
parties given by his younger brother, Roger, at the
Vantage Point apartment complex where Jane Parks was
manager.
Roger Clinton went to prison shortly afterwards for
dealing cocaine. In a police surveillance video taken at the
time, Roger can be heard saying that he must get some
cocaine for his brother : "he has a nose like a vacuum
cleaner."
Parks kept a set of photos and hand written notes at his
home. The files were stolen in a burglary in July 1993,
about the time of Fosters death. "That's when Jerry got
paranoid," said Mrs. Parks. "He believed that Foster had
been murdered and he was afraid he'd be next."
His paranoia was vindicated. Two months later, on
Sept. 26, Parks was shot several times at a short range
outside Little Rock. An eye-witness told Mrs. Parks that
he saw an Arkansas state trooper leaving the scene of the
crime. No charges have been brought.
During the early part of 1993, Parks constantly battled
with the White House. He told his wife that the Clinton
campaign owed him more than $60,000 for work done
by the firm. Asked if it was possible that her husband
could have played "hardball" with the White House to
recover his money, Mrs. Parks replied: "he would never
have been so stupid as to try and blackmail the President
of the United States."
During the summer of 1993, the debt was suddenly
paid in full. Mrs. Parks
has trouble finding out what happened in those months -
and which White House telephone numbers her husband
may have called - because police have removed records
from Mr. Parks office.
She says her home was also ransacked, with as many as
8 federal agents in
her house at one time - flashing FBI, secret Service, IRS,
and, curiously, CIA credentials - not to mention visits by
Little Rock police officers. A computer was purged by an
expert, files went missing and 130 tapes of telephone
conversations were confiscated.
"I've asked them to give it all back, but the police
refuse
to relinquish anything," she said. "They told me there's
nothing they can do about the case as long as Bill Clinton
is in office."
When she was told the FBI agent in charge that the
murder could have a political dimension because her
husband had dealings with Vince Foster and Bill Clinton,
the man cut her short. "He threw up his hands in the air
and said 'I don't want to hear anything about that'," said
Mrs. Parks.
The FBI office in Little Rock seemed surprised at the
suggestion that its agents were involved. "It's a homicide.
We don't have a jurisdiction," said an official.
Mrs. Park's allegations clash with the usual description
of Foster as a well-meaning lawyer, out of his depth in
the cut-throat world of Washington.
But revelations that the White House Counsel's Office,
where Foster worked,
was behind the illicit request of over 900 FBI files has
changed the picture dramatically.
The White House is now leaking information that
Foster was responsible for
hiring Craig Livingstone - exposed as a dirty tricks
operative - to head security. If Foster did indeed hire
Livingstone, it is not farfetched to suggest he previously
hired Jerry Parks.
As for Mrs. Parks, it is hard to see why she might
fabricate this story. She has shunned the media spotlight
for the past three years, refusing substantial offers of
money from the
tabloid publications. She is a Pentecostal Christian, has
remarried and retreated to the Arkansas hills, where she is
seeking a quieter life, having developed multiple sclerosis.
The White House has refused to comment.