-Caveat Lector-
Ex-FBI man files lawsuit under FOI
TRACI SHURLEY
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
The former head of the FBI's Little Rock office is suing the
Arkansas
State Police and a former attorney for former President Clinton
because
the retired agent claims they've violated the state's Freedom of
Information Act.
Ivian C. Smith, who was agent in charge of the Little Rock
office from
1995 until he retired in 1998, filed a Freedom of Information Act
request with the state police May 8 asking for copies of "all
notes,
reports and other written information provided by your agency to
the
Office of the Independent Counsel, Washington, D.C., in
connection with
its investigation of former President Bill Clinton and others."
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Pulaski County Circuit Court says
10
boxes of documents delivered to the independent counsel after a
1995
subpoena were due back at state police headquarters May 10. But,
so
far, Smith has not been given access to any of the documents in
the
now-finished investigation into the Clintons' role in the
Whitewater
land development.
Smith, who now lives in Laneview, Va., said in a telephone
interview
Thursday that he was particularly curious about the state police
records
used in the high-profile case because he was in Little Rock
during the
investigation, had been an FBI agent for more than 20 years and
had
strong family ties to Arkansas.
"It's clear to me that they are going to great lengths to keep
the
public from viewing these records," Smith said in an interview
with The
Associated Press.
He said that he wanted to ensure the public's right to view
records
created at taxpayers' expense as part of government operations.
Smith said his interest also was piqued when he learned that
boxes of
documents found by the state police in an attic of a building
near the
Governor's Mansion were turned over to Kenneth Starr's office in
1995,
years after Clinton left the governor's office and became
president.
Smith said a claim now by Clinton's lawyer, John Tisdale of
Little Rock,
that the records are private whetted his interest further. Smith
is
writing a book about his career in the FBI, but he said Thursday
that
his interest in the Whitewater records was unrelated to the book.
Michael Teague, spokesman for Attorney General Mark Pryor's
office, said
Thursday that neither his office nor the Arkansas State Police
has been
served with a copy of Smith's lawsuit yet.
"We serve as counsel for the Arkansas State Police so they've
asked us
to assist them in trying to determine what to do with this, but
right
now the Arkansas State Police has not received anything back from
the
office of the independent counsel that belongs to them," Teague
said.
Teague said state police have received documents seized from the
"pump
house" on the Governor's Mansion grounds and handed them over to
the
independent counsel, but those records belong to the governor.
As such,
Teague said, they've been turned over to Tisdale, who acts as a
custodian of records for Clinton's time as governor.
Tisdale said he has received about 10 boxes that were delivered
to the
state police from the independent counsel's office. However, he
said,
those wouldn't be accessible to Smith under Arkansas law.
"They are clearly exempt as working papers of the governor,"
Tisdale
said.
In a May 11 letter attached to Smith's lawsuit, Senior Assistant
Attorney General Wendy K. Michaelis said the two "categories" of
records are expected to be returned by the independent counsel --
Clinton's records from the Governor's Mansion and records
maintained by
the state police.
Michaelis told Hampton in the letter that the latter records
would be
reviewed when received. Then they would be made available if
they fell
under the FOI Act.
Teague said state police haven't received any of the records they
maintained yet.
"We are not aware of anything they've received, and we certainly
haven't
reviewed anything for them yet," he said.
Arkansas Code Annotated 25-19-105 gives access to records not
exempt
from the Freedom of Information Act to Arkansas residents.
Teague said
he wasn't sure what effect Smith's residency in Virginia would
have on
the request, which was made for Smith through his attorney, an
Arkansas
resident.
Circuit Judge John Ward set a hearing on the lawsuit for May 25.
Others
named as defendants in the suit were the state of Arkansas,
acting state
police Director Steve Dozier and state police Lt. Darrell
Stayton.
Clinton's impeachment by the House was a fallout of the
Whitewater
investigation, but neither he nor former first lady Hillary
Clinton was
charged with a crime. During the investigation, Paula Jones of
Cabot
pursued a sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton that spurred
allegations of sexual misconduct while Clinton was governor.
The lawsuit became entangled with Starr's inquiry when Clinton
was
accused of lying about his sexual relations with former White
House
intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton eventually agreed to a
settlement in
the Jones lawsuit. He was impeached but not removed from office
over
the Lewinsky scandal.
Information for this report was contributed by The Associated
Press.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH,
TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
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