Suit filed to open up Foster files

Another lawsuit has been filed in the continuing effort to release evidence from the investigation of the death of former White House Counsel Vincent W. Foster. Foster’s death has been officially ruled a suicide by the Office of Independent Counsel, led by Kenneth Starr.

Allan J. Favish, an attorney from Tarzana specializing in civil litigation, filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in Federal District Court in Los Angeles. He submitted a 35-page pretrial motion Wednesday. A hearing is scheduled for March 9.

Favish originally requested several color photograph copies from the OIC. After Favish filed the suit, the office released most of the photos in the form of black and white photocopies. These copies, according to Favish, were of poor quality.

The dispute now is over the request that OIC provide color copies of the released photos. In addition, OIC is refusing to release 11 photos which have not been officially published by the government. These photos were listed and described on an FBI evidence receipt, which was published in the Senate Whitewater Hearings Book in January 1995.

All 11 unreleased photos were taken while Foster’s deceased body was still at Fort Marcy Park. One photo is of Foster’s eyeglasses, lying on the ground near his body. Another is described as “photograph depicting,

post-mortem, Mr. Foster’s right hand clutching a gun.” The other nine photos are described as “post-mortem photographs of Mr. Foster’s face and/or body.”

The OIC is refusing to release the 11 photographs based on an exemption for “privacy,” which is allowed in the Freedom of Information Act. The office claims that releasing the photos will violate the privacy of Foster’s surviving family members. The OIC contends that the exemption applies to family, while Favish claims that the privacy only applies to the individual in question.

Favish uses prior court rulings to argue his case against the privacy interest issue. He cites the Third Circuit, who defined privacy as “control over knowledge about oneself.” Favish also quotes the U.S. Supreme Court, who stated that “both the common law and the literal understandings of privacy encompass the individual’s control of information concerning his or her person.”

Favish’s argument is that since none of the withheld photographs contain information about Foster’s family members, they “do not have any privacy interest in these photos.”

Favish further claims in his pretrial motion that the government investigations of Foster’s death “are grossly incomplete and untrustworthy.” He explains ten flaws of the investigations by both Starr

and Robert Fiske, Starr’s predecessor as Whitewater Counsel. Among the inconsistencies Favish touches upon:

o Differing reports between the initial examination of Foster’s body and the official autopsy. The first report is internally inconsistent, saying the death shot was “mouth-head” on page one, but on page two saying it was “mouth to neck.” Favish also cites an apparent alteration to the first report in which the word “head” conceals another word approximately the same size, which he speculates could be the word “neck.”

o Foster’s widow, Lisa, misidentifying the wrong gun as the one used as the “official death gun.”

o Dr. Henry Lee finding bloodstains on Foster’s eyeglasses after the FBI found no blood on them earlier.

o Several witnesses failing to see Foster’s car in the park between 4 p.m., when he likely was already dead, and just before 6 p.m., when his body was found.

In summarizing his argument, Favish cites prior court cases to support his claim that “any privacy interest is outweighed by the public’s need to know.” He further writes that “the central purpose of the FOIA is to give ordinary citizens the power to keep the government honest in order to preserve our constitutional democracy.”

Favish is pursuing the evidence as a private citizen, using his own funds. While he is more than willing to see the process through, he firmly believes that the press are the ones who should be examining the case. He believes that too many people, especially Republicans, aren’t willing to look closely enough at the inconsistencies in the investigation of Foster’s death.

“This is a job that the press should be doing,” said Favish. “I shouldn’t have to do this. I should be doing other things. But since the dominant media have abdicated their responsibility, then you have to have private citizens … to fill in the holes.”

Favish’s complete filing can be found at his website, http://members.aol.com/AllanF8702/page1.htm.