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JGR/Inaugural Guidelines (11 of 11)
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118568592
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JGR/Inaugural Guidelines (11 of 11)
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Records of the Office of Counsel to the President (Reagan Administration)
John Roberts' Subject Files
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1986-12-31
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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections.
Collection: Roberts, John G.: Files
Folder Title: JGR/Inaugural Guidelines
(11 of 11)
Box: 29
To see more digitized collections visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection
Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected]
Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing
National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 21, 1985
MEMORANDUM FOR FRED F. FIELDING
FROM:
JOHN G. ROBERTS
SUBJECT:
Surplus Monies Raised by 50th American
Inaugural Committee Donated to Child Find
John Gill of Children's Rights of New York wrote you,
inquiring how Child Find of New Paltz, New York was chosen
to receive surplus inaugural funds, and how much Child Find
received. I recommended referring to Fred Ryan for
response, but you preferred responding from Counsel's
Office. Ryan's office has now advised me that (1) no
information on specific amounts is being released, and (2)
the charities chosen were chosen as good examples worthy of
emulation, with geographic and type of charity diversity in
mind. The attached draft reply incorporates this
information.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 21, 1985
Dear Mr. Gill:
Thank you for your letter requesting information on the
donation of surplus funds from the Presidential Inaugural
Fund to various charities, including Child Find, Inc., of
New Paltz, New York. You inquired now much money Child Find
received, and now Child Find was selected as a recipient.
The Committee for the 50th American Presidential Inaugural
decided not to release information about the specific
amounts donated to each of the 23 charities that shared some
$2 million of surplus inaugural funds. (One million dollars
of the surplus was paid to the United States Treasury to
reduce the national debt.) The funds involved are private
funds, and it was felt that releasing information about
specific amounts might be misinterpreted as indicating that
some of the charities were worthier or, more deserving of
support than others.
The charities chosen to receive surplus inaugural funds were
chosen as good examples of charitable activity that should
be encouraged and could possibly be duplicated elsewhere
across the country. The recipients were selected to repre-
sent all geographic areas of the country, as well as a
diversity of types of charitable organizations and activities.
I hope the foregoing is helpful.
Sincerely,
Fred F. Fielding
Counsel to the President
Mr. John E. Gill
President, Children's Rights
of New York, Inc.
19 Maple Avenue
Stony Brook, NY 11790
FFF:JGR:aea 10/21/85
bcc: FFFielding/JGRoberts/Subj/Chron
THE WHITE HOUSE
given
WASHINGTON
August 30, 1985
MEMORANDUM FOR FRED F. FIELDING
FROM:
JOHN G. ROBERTS 876
SUBJECT:
Surplus Monies Raised by 50th American
Inaugural Committee Donated to Child Find
John Gill, President of Children's Rights of New York, Inc
has written to ask you for information on the gift from the
surplus inaugural funds to Child Find, Inc., of New York.
In particular, Gill wants to know how much Child Find was
given and how Child Find was chosen. Gill's organization
publishes a newsletter, is very pleased that the President
has identified the missing children problem as important,
and would like to publicize the gift.
I think this letter should be referred to Fred Ryan, whose
office is familiar with these facts and has been following
up on the donation of the surplus funds. A referral memo-
randum is attached.
000
Attachment
LaN's to N from Camels
CHILDREN'S RIGHTS of NEW YORK, Inc.
19 Maple Avenue
Stony Brook, New York 11790
(516) 751-7840
343436 cu
August 20, 1985
Mr. Fred Fielding Esc.
Office of the Legal Counsel
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. Fielding:
This letter concerns part of the surplus monies raised by the
Committee for the 50th American Presidential Inaugural. We understand
from the enclosed press release that some of those funds were donated
to Child Find, Inc., of New Paltz, New York.
We would like to know how much money was donated to Child Find
and how that group was selected to receive such funding. There is a
newsletter, "Hotline", which we publish twice a year and we'd like
to include information on that gift to Child Find in our next issue.
The President's kindness towards a group dealing with missing children
is appreciated and signifies that such an issue has received wide
support and recognition. We'd like to circulate as much information
as possible about that contribution. It would be encouraging to other
groups dealing with missing children to learn that the White House
has identified the issue as an important one.
Any information, then, about such a donation would be appreciated.
We'd like to thank you in advance for your cooperation and look forward
to hearing from you.
Respectfully
Platel John E. Gill, President
JG/bs
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
April 11, 1986
MEMORANDUM FOR FREDERICK J. RYAN, JR.
DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND
DIRECTOR OF PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENTS
AND SCHEDULING, DIRECTOR OF
PRIVATE SECTOR INITIATIVES
FROM:
JOHN G. ROBERTS 826
ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
Inaugural Funds
You have asked for our views on a response to a letter to Tom
Dawson from Robert Lawrence Balzer, concerning the participation
of winemakers and restauranteurs in the Inaugural festivities.
Mr. Balzer's letter also makes reference to the pending legal
dispute concerning William Anton's claim for lost profits and
other damages arising from the Taste of America. Since that
matter is still pending in litigation, you should make no
mention of it in any reply you might send. Indeed, I would
recommend not sending the Presidential letter of thanks
requested by Balzer. It has been well over a year since the
Inaugural, and any letters from the President, however carefully
crafted, could be seized upon by interested parties to the Taste
of America dispute.
ID # 379953
CU
WHITE HOUSE
FG001-03
CORRESPONDENCE TRACKING WORKSHEET
0 * OUTGOING
H INTERNAL
J.R.
I - INCOMING
Date Correspondence
Received (YY/MM/DD)
/
/
Name of Correspondent:
tred Ryan
MI Mail Report
User Codes: (A)
(B)
(C)
Subject:
Inaugural Funds
ROUTE TO:
ACTION
DISPOSITION
Tracking
Type
Completion
Action
Date
of
Date
Office/Agency
(Staff Name)
Code
YY/MM/DD
Response
Code
YY/MM/DD
WS
CUHOLL
ORIGINATOR
86,01,27
/ /
I
Referral Note:
creat 18
D
86/01/28
5 86 102108 S
Referral Note:
WS
/ /
/ /
I
Referral Note:
/ /
/ /
-
Referral Note:
/ /
/ /
Referral Note:
ACTION CODES:
DISPOSITION CODES:
A Appropriate Action
I Info Copy Only/No Action Necessary
A Answered
C Completed
C and Comment/Recommendation
R Direct Reply w/Copy
B Non-Special Referral
S Suspended
D Draft Response
S For Signature
F Furnish Fact Sheet
X Interim Reply
to be used as Enclosure
WS
FOR OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE:
Type of Response = Initials of Signer
Code = "A"
Completion Date = Date of Outgoing
Comments:
Robert Lardrence Balzer
Keep this worksheet attached to the original incoming letter.
Send all routing updates to Central Reference (Room 75, OEOB).
Always return completed correspondence record to Central Files.
Refer questions about the correspondence tracking system to Central Reference, ext. 2590.
5/81
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
January 27, 1986
379953 CU
MEMORANDUM FOR FRED FIELDING
FROM:
FREDERICK J. RYAN, JR.
FR
SUBJECT:
Inaugural Funds
This letter was forwarded to me for a recommendation. What should we
say regarding the $72,094. claim? Would you advise sending the letters
he is requesting?
Robert Laurence Balzer
10551 HILLSBORO ROAD
SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA 92705
January 22nd 1986
Thomas C. Dawson, Deputy Assistant to the President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. Dawson,
I am indebted to my friend Holmes Tuttle for your kind
consideration of the long unresolved problems surrounding
The Taste of America and its part in the Presidential Inaugural
of 1985. As you may possibly know, my great-grandfather, .A.Balzer
catered the Presidential Inauguration Ball for the Second
Inaugural of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, the menu for which is in
the National Archives. So it was particularly significant for me
in my appointment as the Chairman of the Food & Wine Selection
for President Ronald Reagan's Inaugurals in both 1981 and 1985.
As the wine columnist for the Los Angeles Times for the past
twenty-one years, and Food & Beverage Editor of Travel-Holiday
Magazine, in charge of the Restaurant Dining Awards program for
the last fourteen years, I have enjoyed the close friendship of
our country's most prominent winemakers and restaurateurs. It
became my role to extend them the invitation to participate in
The Taste of America, for each of them a proud, but very expensive
gesture of support for the President. This contribution from
the private sector, 30 wineries and 40 restaurants, the costs
varying from $20,000 to as much as $45,000 each, as you can see,
amounts to a multi-million dollar contribution, which, to this
very late date, one year after the event, has not been recognized
in any way, despite the promise made to me by Bill Sittman, the
Administrative Assistant of the Presidential Inaugural Committee,
before I left Washington last January, that each of the participants
would receive a letter of thanks from the President, as was
most graciously done in 1981.
On my desk, as I write this sad letter, is a correspondence
file on this matter one inch deep. In April of 1985, my good
colleague, William Anton, who served as the Chairman of The
Taste of America most capably, wrote to me of his optimism, that
the deficit of this sanctioned Inaugural Event (detailed fully
in Anton's letter of March 1, 1985 to Mr. Fred Hale, Chief
Financial Officer of the Presidential Inaugural Committee) would
be resolved from the $3 million surplus of the PIC, This 5-page
letter clearly demonstrated the facts accounting for the $72,094.00
deficit of The Taste of America. As of April 30, 1985, a number
of wineries contributed $22,269.68 toward the retirement of this
debt, BEYOND the amounts spent originally for their parts in the
event in the Washington Convention Center.
Robert Lawrence Balzer
10551 HILLSBORO ROAD
SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA 92705
-2-
My memories of the wonderful Taste of America event of the
1981 Inaugural, held in the (non-union) restored Union Railway
Station accounted for my enthusiasm in inviting my friends in
the wine and food industry to participate in the 1985 Inaugural.
It is tragic to relate that for many of them, the experience in
the arbritrary union-operated Convention Center, with supposed
24-security was not only exorbitantly costly, but damaging; hundreds
of cases of wine were stolen, valuable equipment including chef's
knives, silver serving trays, chafing dishes, etc. which disappeared
while the premises were occupied overnight only by security forces.
Mr. Anton and I were both SO convinced that the 1985 Taste of
America would be a great success, we were confident that the
expenses of the New England Culinary Institute and their donation
of the masterpiece cake reproduction of the National Capitol (similar
to that provided for Lincoln's Second Inaugural by my great grandfather
would easily be met, some $10,000, and as well, $5,000 for the
professional services of Chef Louis Szathmary as guiding consultant-
participant. These costs remain unresolved in the deficit, which,
against the surplus of the PIC seem an almost barbarous inequity,
especially in light of some of the arrogance accorded Mr. Anton
by some of the members of the PIC. This despite the contributions
not only to the staff and cast members® of both Galas, and the
evening in which the participants of The Taste of America hosted
the black-tie visit of The Eagles, the main financial contributors
to the Republican Party in this victorious moment.
The majority of the participants, winemakers and restaurateurs,
responded to the expensive invitation to become a part of this
historic event, upon my ardent and sincere personal urging, with
of course, the promise that they would have a letter of gratitude
from the President. Though I have had a wonderfully warm letter
from President Reagan myself, in recognition of my participation,
and for the generous contribution of artist James Paul Brown,
no word has come from The White House to the 40 restaurateurs or
30 wineries. It is not too late, and on this anniversary date,
one year after the Inaugural, I know each of them would still be
pleased to have some recognition of their most generous contributions.
Thank you for your consideration of the matters taken up in
this letter. Should you need any documentation of the deficit,
and the reasons why it should not be resolved from the surplus of
the PIC, I'm sure Mr. William C. Anton, now opening the Loyal
Opposition Restaurant in Washington, D.C. (400 1st St. S.E. (202)
546-4545) can provide you with full records.
With the hope of an early resolution of this matter, I am
Robert Sincerely Lawrence Lawsence yours, Balzer Belger
file
Bob Banker
1
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BB will
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DGH
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(inderth unitity)
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[ PIC business only ]
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(c.50) mility aide: mut misined
(III * and FAMILY)
2. arter
(Govs) (MRO and
OFFICIAL
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INAGINAL
RARTICIPANTS
(SINATUA)
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cordon, cerenail mit
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[no purely personal tacks not valata]
[ Air to lision]
3. panade
- cammed ant [ m] [nsety inits: no]
- floots
FB',
[80 sign a maller] ]
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communitive (indent)
to me public
5. when (no mob)
and
PIC if mind
8. bolls (md int)
7. accountants (4) for PIC