New GATA offensive starts in the morning

11:15p EDT Friday, May 12, 2000

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

On Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. the Gold Anti-Trust Action
Committee -- consisting of Chris Powell, Reginald Howe,
Frank Veneroso, a state senator, and myself -- met with
one of the most powerful officials in Washington. It
was supposed to be only a 15-minute meeting. It lasted
45 minutes.

Toward the end of the meeting we were excused from the
room for several minutes. When the people we met with
returned, we were told that they were going to try to
set up a meeting with another influential official at 2
p.m., but that we would have to call at 1:30 p.m. to
confirm it.

We were stunned to learn at 1:30 that this official had
said, quot;I am aware of the issue,quot; and that he wanted to
meet with the GATA delegation. The meeting quickly took
place and six members of his staff attended as well.

What was most remarkable is that this official left the
floor of Congress to attend our unscheduled meeting.

This official asked many questions and was very focused
on what we had to say. So much so that he was annoyed
when a staff member left to deal with another issue,
saying that what we were discussing was more important.
This official told us he had read our biographies
before coming to the meeting and was a bit taken aback
when he was handed the quot;Gold Derivative Banking Crisisquot;
document with his name on it.

This official said he and his staff would look into our
contentions and suggested that we meet again. The
meeting was intense and lasted an hour.

From there we went on to meet with Dr. John Silvia,
chief economist of the Senate Banking Committee. I
could tell he had spent some time on our presentation
because he had highlighted material I had sent to him.

Frank, Reg, and Chris did a terrific job at all the
meetings, explaining what we have learned through our
extensive research. We met with Dr. Silvia for an hour
and he took copious notes.

Yesterday I distributed 88 copies of quot;Gold Derivatives
Banking Crisisquot; to the staff of all senators and
representatives on the congressional banking
committees. They were asked to look for an open letter
to them in Monday's issue of Roll Call.

That was some schlep. For the Senate I went to the
Dirksen, Russell, and Hart buildings. For the House I
went to the Rayburn, Longworth, and Cannon buildings.
It took me the whole day but was well worth it. Rep.
Lee Terry of Nebraska in particular could not have been
nicer and said he would read the document on his way
back to his native state this weekend.

I was struck by how different all the buildings were,
and how big. Most were about 100 yards long and were
circular for traffic flow. I made the mistake of buying
new shoes for the trip. Now my feet are all blistered.
Big booboo.

My last stop was the Rayburn Building and I smiled as I
went by the Gold Room.

It was the opinion of the entire GATA delegation that
the trip was far more fruitful than we had dreamed
possible. But this was just our first salvo. There is
much to be done to win the day and we are already
planning our next actions.

When our adversaries realize how far we have come, we
know they will go all out to discredit us. If this
week's meetings were any indication that we are making
a serious impact on those who count in Washington, the
other side has their work cut out for them.

BILL MURPHY, Chairman