Jim Hatfield's 1999 Phone
Records.
Scans of the relevant
phone records appear below.
The following is a file
that explains those scans, below, written
by Jim Hatfield for Publisher Sander Hicks:
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
AND DETAILS OF PHONE RECORDS
SEPTEMBER 2, 1999
Item
27 (Sprint long distance): 12:49 p.m. Hatfield
called frequent source, Robert Grijalva
with the Democratic Party in El Paso, Texas,
to question him about the possibility that
Bush had had been arrested in 1972 for cocaine
possession and performed community service
at Project P.U.L.L. in Houston. (Time
elapsed: 12 minutes).
Item
28 (Sprint long distance): 2:55 p.m. Hatfield
called directory assistance in Houston,
Texas to obtain the phone number of the
Martin Luther King Community Center.
Salon online magazine reported that
rumors were circulating that Bush did community
service at the inner-city youth center for
Òillicit drug useÓ in the Òlate 60s or early
70s.Ó (Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item
29 (Sprint long distance): 2:56 p.m. Hatfield
spoke to Madge Bush, MLK director of 31
years, questioning her about Bush and the
possibility that he performed community
service at Project P.U.L.L., which at one
time was located in the same Houston Third
Ward neighborhood. Curt and short conversation.
(Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item
30 (Sprint long distance): 3:02 p.m. Hatfield
called directory assistance in Houston,
Texas in an effort to obtain telephone numbers
of two (2) persons (quoted in earlier passages
in the book) who had spoken with reporters
years ago about BushÕs time spent at Project
P.U.L.L. No listings for the two (2) persons.
(Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item
31 (Sprint long distance): 3:04 p.m. Hatfield
called Madge Bush back with a another question
as detailed in the Afterword of Fortunate
Son. (Time elapsed:
1 minute)
Item
32 (Sprint long distance): 3:38 p.m.
After spending approximately 30 minutes
planning an investigative strategy and penning
questions for confidential sources, Hatfield
telephoned his editor, Barry Neville, at
St. MartinÕs Press and received his voice
mail. (Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item 33 (Sprint long distance): 3:40
p.m. Two minutes later, Hatfield called
and left another message for Barry Neville.
(Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item 34 (Sprint long distance): 3:42
p.m. Two minutes later, Hatfield called
and left another message for Barry Neville
(Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item
35 (Sprint long distance): 3:47 p.m. Five
minutes later, an urgent Hatfield called
and left yet another message on NevilleÕs
voice mail at St. MartinÕs Press.
(Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item
36 (Sprint long distance): 3:50 p.m. Hatfield
called Madge Bush back again at MLK Community
Center in Houston to ask if anyone working
for her might have had one time been employed
at project P.U.L.L. (when it was in existence).
Negative results. (Time elapsed: 1
minute)
Item
37 (Sprint long distance): 3:56 p.m. Hatfield
called directory assistance in Houston once
again in an effort to obtain numbers of
possible former P.U.L.L. workers.
(Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item
38 (Sprint long distance): 4:01 p.m. Follow-up
question for Robert Grivjalva at the Democratic
Party in El Paso, Texas, in an attempt to
locate former Project P.U.L.L. workers.
Hatfield received GrijalvaÕs voice mail.
(Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item
39 (Sprint long distance) 4:02 p.m. Hatfield
called Austin, Texas directory assistance
to obtain the telephone number for the Bush
Presidential Exploratory Committee.
(Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item
40 (Sprint long distance) 4:03 p.m. Hatfield
called the Bush Presidential Exploratory
Committee to obtain names of spokespersons
to question. (Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item 41 (Sprint long distance) 4:04
p.m. Hatfield called and left another message
on his editorÕs voice mail. (Time elapsed:
1 minute)
Item
42 (Sprint long distance) 4:07 p.m. Hatfield
finally reaches Barry Neville and the two
discuss a quick strategy for confirming
the Bush arrest/community service allegation.
(Time elapsed: 2 minutes)
Item
43 (Sprint long distance) 4:42 p.m. After
spending approximately 30 minutes composing
questions, Hatfield telephoned his former
co-author on six (6) previous books, George
T. Burt, in Dallas (GrandPrairie suburb),
to confer and ask if he believed he was
Ògetting in way over his head.Ó (Time
elapsed: 2 minutes)
Item
001 (Alltel cellular service) 4:45 p.m.
Hatfield called Clay Johnson, BushÕs Òchief
executiveÓ at the GovernorÕs office in Austin,
Texas on his cell phone. (Neville
asked Hatfield to keep his office line ÒfreeÓ
because he was going to confer with his
boss, publisher Thomas Dunne, and Celeste
Phillips in California, the ÒoutsideÓ attorney
who vetted the manuscript). Clay Johnson,
the first confidential source called, attended
Phillips Andover Aacademy and Yale with
longtime friend, George W. Bush. Hatfield,
who from 1979 to 1987, was a vice-president
of a real estate management company based
in downtown Dallas, was acquainted with
Johnson, president of the Horchow catalog
mail order business in the Texas city from
1983 to 1991. Because HatfieldÕs employer
was married into the Zales Jewelry family,
Johnson and Hatfield attended many of the
same Dallas social functions. Their discussion
regarding the 1972 Bush drug arrest/community
service is detailed in the Afterword to
Fortunate Son. (Time elapsed: 4 minutes)
Item
002 (Alltell cellular service) 4:56 p.m.
Hatfield called Rev. Jim Mayfield, pastor
of the Tarrytown United Methodist Church
for the past ten (10) years in Austin, Texas.
Bush had attended the church since January
1995, after he was inaugurated as governor.
Rev. Mayfield had previously detailed to
Hatfield BushÕs in-depth conversation with
family friend and spiritual adviser, Billy
Graham, which led to his religious conversion
(as described in Fortunate Son, pages
70-74). Rev. Mayfield had publicly chastised
Bush for failing to support the proposed
Hate Crimes Bill in the Texas legislature
in 1999. Mayfield, who is described
in the Afterword as a Òlongtime Bush friend
and unofficial political adviser,Ó confirmed
the drug arrest, telling the author that
Bush had once ÒconfessedÓ to him regarding
the incident. Ironically, Rev. Mayfield
cursed a couple of times in describing the
incident, as detailed in the bookÕs Afterword.
Mayfield had previously stated publicly
that if Bush needed spiritual guidance,
he talked to him. Hatfield referred
to him as a Òa political adviserÓ to protect
his identity, when, in reality, Òspiritual
adviserÓ would have been more appropriate.
(Time elapsed: 6 minutes)
Item
003 (Alltel cellular service) 5:06 p.m.
Hatfield telephoned the Bush Presidential
Exploratory Committee and queried spokesman
Scott McClellan in regards to the allegation
that Bush had been arrested in 1972 for
cocaine possession. His almost inaudible
ÒOh, shitÓ and then Òno commentÓ is detailed
in the Afterword. (Time elapsed: 1 minute)
Item
004 (Alltel cellular service) 5:08 p.m.
After McClellan terminated the call, Hatfield
once again telephoned the presidential exploratory
committee. Megan Moran answered and
informed the author that either Karen Hughes
or Mindy Tucker, two other Bush campaign
spokespersons, would return his call, which
never occurred. (Time elapsed 1 minute)
Item
005 (Alltel cellular service) 5:10 p.m.
Hatfield called BushÕs chief campaign strategist
and longtime friend of the family, Karl
Rove, on his private, unlisted telephone
number (as previously supplied to Hatfield
when they met on Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma
a few months earlier). Rove cursed
Hatfield for using a Ògoddamn cordless phoneÓ
and stated he would call the author back
in thirty (30) minutes. (Time elapsed:
2 minutes)
Always
punctual, Rove returned HatfieldÕs call
in approximately thirty minutes. Their
conversation (Rove is referred to in the
book as the ÒEufaula connectionÓ) is detailed
on pages 308-311 of Fortunate Son
It should be noted that Rove had
been publicly rebuked by Bush for leaking
information about his possible run for president
just prior to Hatfield and RoveÕs conversation
and there was a tone of anger and bitterness
in the campaign strategistÕs voice.
Upon Celeste Phillips (St. MartinÕs ÒoutsideÓ
attorney) recommendation, Hatfield removed
descriptive details from the manuscript
that would have hinted to the confidential
sourceÕs true identity. In addition,
Hatfield (as told to Slate online magazine) added the spitting Òtobacco juice into the
ever-present Styrofoam cupÓ reference in
an effort to mislead readers searching for
tips to the true identity of the ÒEufaula
connection.Ó
As explained on page 305 of the re-published
edition of Fortunate Son by Soft Skull Press, Inc., Hatfield
detailed in a new paragraph how he obtained
the cooperation of his three (3) sources
and the subsequent confirmation of the 1972
Bush drug arrest:
To confirm my suspicions regarding
BushÕs community service, I chose three
confidential sources whom had been extremely
helpful with other sections of the book
to follow up with in telephone inquiries.
If I was going to get any one of them to
talk about the governorÕs youthful past,
a poker game was certainly in order.
With each of them I would have to claim
that I had numerous sources who were confirming
the allegations Òon the record,Ó but I would
be willing to give my confidential sources
an opportunity to put a positive spin on
the potentially damaging revelations before
the book was published. Basically,
I would tell them I was holding a royal
flush, when in reality I would be sitting
at the table with nothing at all.
[Note:
On the Sprint long distance phone records,
there are numerous calls in the following
days between Hatfield, his editor Barry
Neville (New York), and attorney Celeste
Phillips (Sausalito, CA), as the Afterword
was legally vetted and editorially revised
(dramatically enhanced upon the request
of John Murphy, Publicity Director
for St. MartinÕs Press.]
Click
on Images for Bigger Scan of Phone Records:
