U.S. Capitol Police -- Letter No. 24

June 1, 1999
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008-4530

Stephan J. Horan, S.A.
United States Capitol Police
Threat Assessment Section
Room 605
119 D Street, NE
Washington, DC 20510-7218

Dear Mr. Horan:

I submit the name of a former Akin Gump attorney who may have information pertinent to law enforcement concerns about me:

ERIC D. WITKIN, Esq. (born 1948)

Benetar, Bernstein, Schair & Stein
330 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017-5001
(212) 697-4433

Witkin was associated with Akin Gump in the capacity Of Counsel during the period 1988-1990. (My own employment extended from 1988-1991).

I believe that some of his time was devoted to the client Eastern Airlines, the major client to which I was assigned as legal assistant. Witkin and I had no contacts and I have no objective reason to believe that he knows anything specific about me.

I recall that in the year 1989 we both attended a telephone training session that was taught by System 85 manager Richard (Dick) Stanke. I recall that Witkin had a problem with the term "telephone buddy," which he found ridiculous. I also recall that Stanke made a comment that I found odd for an employee to make openly about a senior management partner. In order to put everybody at ease Stanke said: "Everybody makes fun of Malcolm Lassman. But even Malcolm's got the hang of this."

Witkin's area of specialty is employment law; he authored an article on hostile work environment sexual harassment. That is, my own employment problems at Akin Gump related to his field of professional expertise.

Witkin is a trustee of his synagogue, Temple Emanu-El in Westchester, NY. One of his hobbies is the piano.

He was a very brainy guy, with degrees from Harvard and Columbia -- apparently not Akin Gump material.

Sincerely,

Gary Freedman