-Caveat Lector- [Please note the emphasized (*****) dates in two places below.] <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41621-2001Feb7.html> Clintons Return $28,000 In Donated Furnishings Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 8, 2001 Page A21 Former president Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) sent more than $28,000 worth of furnishings back to White House custodians yesterday as officials confirmed that all the items had been legally accepted as government property in 1993. The National Park Service, which by law administers the White House as a unit of the national park system, said it was taking custody of the property in light of questions that had been raised about its status. The furnishings were delivered by truck yesterday from the Clintons' home in Chappaqua, N.Y. A knowledgeable source said they included all five contributions identified by The Washington Post earlier this week as having been given to the Park Service for a 1993 White House redecoration project plus "some additional items" from the Clinton home that had been previously designated as part of the White House collection. A Park Service official, James McDaniel, the agency's liaison with the White House, said yesterday that an inventory of the shipment would not be available until today. He said it consisted of 18 to 20 items. They were unloaded at a warehouse in suburban Maryland that houses the valuable White House collection. Still unexplained was how the furnishings wound up on a White House gifts office list of presents that the first family says officials told them they could keep. White House usher Gary J. Walters asserted earlier this week on CNN that "we are not aware of anything that left the executive residence that was executive residence property. "Everything that belongs to the government is still here," Walters declared. However, Walters was sent copies of the five letters that then-Park Service Director Roger G. Kennedy sent on *****July 20, 1993*****, acknowledging receipt of two sofas from a New York furniture maker; a custom-made rattan breakfast set and table from a Cincinnati company; a sofa from a North Carolina manufacturer; a needlepoint rug from a Little Rock rug dealer; and a set of lamps from a Hialeah, Fla., manufacturer. "It is with a great deal of pleasure that we acknowledge receipt of your gift . . . to be used in the executive residence at the White House," Kennedy said. "Your generosity will enable us to further enhance the decor of the White House, a unit of our National Park System." Walters did not respond to a call seeking comment. Copies of the Park Service letters were also sent to Vincent Foster, the then-deputy counsel to the president. He was found dead on the night of *****July 20, 1993*****, at Fort Marcy Park in McLean. A note he left behind at the bottom of a briefcase contained an allegation that the White House usher's office had "plotted" to embarrass the Clintons by allowing higher than estimated costs on renovations then underway. Foster, whose death was ruled a suicide, said in the note that he was "not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington." Kennedy's letters confirmed the furnishings' status as White House property. Only the Park Service has legal authority to accept gifts for the White House, McDaniel said. Personal gifts for the current occupants of the White House are handled by the gifts office, where employees change from one administration to another. In another controversy involving Clinton, Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. (R-Okla.) protested yesterday that the landlords of a midtown Manhattan skyscraper had sent the General Services Administration a proposed lease that would install Clinton on the 56th floor for $811,000 a year for the next six years. Istook, who is chairman of a House appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over GSA and the White House, urged GSA not to sign the lease. Istook said the cost had leaped above earlier estimates and was unacceptable even if Clinton's presidential foundation offsets the cost to taxpayers by chipping in $300,000 a year. Congress last year had set aside $285,000 for a Clinton office, enough to put him on par with Ronald Reagan, whose quarters are currently the most expensive. Clinton, Istook protested, is trying to get "one of the most expensive floors in one of the most expensive buildings in the most expensive area" of New York City. He said Clinton could save about a third of the cost by giving up a sweeping view of Central Park and moving down a few floors and could find space for about half the price elsewhere in midtown Manhattan. Istook said he would also like to see the Clinton Foundation sign a separate lease, making it legally liable for its $300,000 commitment. With $1.83 million in transition funds to carry Clinton's office expenses through late July, he said, "there's no need to rush into a bad deal." � 2001 The Washington Post Company ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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