Letter from Allan J. Favish to The New York Times
February 22, 1997

Allan J. Favish
Attorney at Law
18645 Hatteras St., #289
Tarzana, CA  91356-1802

Voice & Fax:  (818) 343-9095


February 22, 1997


Editor
Magazine
The New York Times
229 West 43d Street
New York, NY  10036


Dear Editor:

In 1992 I was a subscriber to the Times and a lifelong democrat who
voted for Bill Clinton.  When Vincent Foster died I did not suspect
anything other than suicide because the Times did not give me any reason
to do so.

In late 1995 I learned that Mr. Fiske wrote that Mr. Foster's widow,
Lisa, said that the official death gun "looked similar to one that she
had seen in their home."  However, Mr. Fiske wrote this despite official
government documents showing Mrs. Foster had not made any valid
identification of the official death gun.

The documents also show that prior to the death, Mrs. Foster knew Mr.
Foster had a silver-colored handgun.  Yet the official death gun was
black in appearance and several days after the death Mrs. Foster could
not identify the official death gun from a photo shown to her by the
park police because the gun depicted in the photo was not
silver-colored.

Yet, ten months later she was shown a gun by FBI agents working on Mr.
Fiske's staff who reported she said the gun they showed her "may be the
silver gun" that was Mr. Foster's.  Mr. Fiske used Mrs. Foster's
reported statement in his report, without mentioning any color, to make
it appear she gave a valid identification of the official black death
gun.

If Mrs. Foster was shown a silver-colored gun at the later interview,
then obviously she failed to give a valid identification of the official
black death gun.  Likewise, if she was shown the official black death
gun at this later interview and identified it as being silver-colored,
then equally obviously, she failed to give a valid identification of the
official black death gun.  No matter what color gun Mrs. Foster was
shown at this later interview by Mr. Fiske's FBI agents, given her
reported response, it was clearly deceptive for Mr. Fiske to use her
response as if it were a valid identification of the official black
death gun.

A more detailed presentation of this issue, that includes the cited
documents, is posted on my web site 
(http://members.aol.com/AllanF8702/page1.htm).

Sadly, in "Clinton Crazy" (Feb. 23) Philip Weiss writes that former
Independent Counsel Robert Fiske "concurs with the park police that
Foster's right thumb was looped in the trigger guard of the gun -- a .38
Colt revolver -- when the body was found, and that the gun was one that
Foster's wife recognized."

But there is no evidence for Mr. Fiske's conclusion that Mrs. Foster
recognized the official black death gun.  Also, there is no evidence for
Mr. Weiss's statement that Mr. Fiske "concurs with the park police ...
that the gun was one that Foster's wife recognized."  As far as the park
police are concerned, Mrs. Foster never recognized the official black
death gun.

Much to my displeasure, I did not learn about the lack of evidence for
Mr. Fiske's statement from the Times.  Rather, I learned this from
Michael Rivero's web site and Hugh Sprunt's report.

Criminality in our government disturbs me greatly.  But more disturbing
is that I couldn't get the truth from the Times and had to get it from
amateur journalists on the Internet and today the Times still can't get
it right even when it has Mr. Sprunt's report.

I am no longer a democrat, I did not vote for Clinton in 1996 and I no
longer take the Times.

Sincerely,


Allan J. Favish
Attorney at Law