U.S. Capitol Police -- Letter No. 29

January 3, 2000
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#136
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 two documents that support and elaborate information I have previously provided to the U.S. Capitol Police. I was recently cleaning out my apartment, and I came across several documents that may be pertinent to your interests.

DAVID HARDEE, Esq.

Hardee was a partner at Akin Gump during my tenure, but left the firm following my termination, in October 1991. He was a member of the firm's tax practice group; I believe he had started his law career as a congressional staff attorney. He was active in Democratic Party politics, and I recall his mentioning that he attended the Democratic Party Presidential Nominating Convention that nominated Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bensen, in 1988. (Akin Gump senior partner Robert S. Strauss, Esq. is a former Democratic Party Chairman).

During the period June 1988 to March 17, 1989 I was assigned to a private office roughly adjacent to that of Hardee, on the firm's 5th floor. Hardee's secretary during the period June 1988 to September 1988 was an individual named Lisa Jackson. Jackson was succeeded by a secretary named Lisa Hassell (who was married to an attorney named Christopher Hassell, who worked elsewhere).

My contacts with Hardee were all casual and sporadic--but routinely hostile. There was no basis for Hardee's attitude toward me. For example, one morning as I walked toward my office at the start of business, I said to Hardee, who was walking directly in front of me, and who was carrying a plastic bag--"Is that your breakfast, Mr. Hardee?" He responded in a hostile tone: "No, it's drugs." All of my interactions with Hardee carried a vaguely hostile quality.

At the firm's All-Attorney Dinner on the evening of May 3, 1989, I recall Hardee walking toward me in the Westin Hotel Ballroom in a peculiar way; he seemed to shake his hips in a sexually-provocative manner. You can question my interpretation of this "incident"--but the question remains: Why would I recall, out of hundreds of people, that a particular attorney was even present at this firm gathering (more than ten years ago)? Obviously, he did something that made me recall him.

Indeed, one of the 10 incidents of harassment I reported to the D.C. Department of Human Rights concerned Hardee (see Letter dated June 30, 1993, p. 3-4 issued by the DOHR). Paragraph (c) details an incident relating to Hardee that occurred in June 1988.

In early November 1992, following the election of William Clinton to the presidency, the Washington Post published an article about Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esq., a senior Akin Gump partner, who had just been named by President-elect Clinton to head up the President's transition team. The article cites David Hardee as having close ties to Jordan. Jordan was a member of the Board of Directors of RJR Nabisco; I vaguely recall that RJR Nabisco was one of Hardee's clients.

I found it interesting and odd that an individual I had identified as having a peculiar reaction to me during my employment (David Hardee) did in fact have close ties to the firm's senior management; and I only learned about that after I left the firm.

Incidentally, a young associate named Stephen Wrapp, also a tax attorney, worked in the office directly adjacent to Hardee; Hardee and Wrapp shared secretaries (Jackson and Hassell). Wrapp later left the firm. He would remember me. I recall chatting with Wrapp on Connecticut Avenue during the summer of 1993, near the Giant Supermarket. It was Wrapp who told me, at that time, that the firm's banking practice was shot to hell. (I recall reporting this to Craig Dye during a telephone conversation with Dye on July 14, 1993--the interaction with Wrapp must have been around the same time). Another young associate named Linda Fletcher, also a tax attorney, worked in the office directly adjacent to mine, near the offices of Wrapp and Hardee. On occasion I would hear Hardee chatting with Fletcher in Fletcher's office. Fletcher later left the firm.

RICHARD CRAIG ROTHMAN

A previous letter I forwarded to the U.S. Secret Service dated June 22, 1998 refers to an individual named Richard Craig Rothman. Rothman was a friend of my brother-in-law (Edward Allan Jacobson, now deceased). Both parties used to cook up various business schemes (or scams). They thought about forming partnership to be named Allan Craig Associates, for which they had some stationery printed up. Enclosed is a copy of a letter that my sister wrote to me on that stationery (handwritten letter dated September 12, 1983.

Incidentally, I continue to struggle with severe mental illness. I am in once per week psychotherapy with Nancy Shaffer at the P Street Clinic. Dr. Shaffer can be reached at (202) 282-0400. Dr. Shaffer believes I have a poor memory. I'm trying to work on that, Mr. Horan.

Sincerely,

Gary Freedman