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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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072489
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07248900.032
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1990-09-17
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NATION, Page 24Washington's Man from NowhereWho is Craig Spence, and why were all those VIPs at his parties?
"Hang a lamb chop in the window," was the advice legendary
hostess Perle Mesta gave those who wanted to make a place for
themselves in the capital. Craig Spence, a would-be power broker
with a taste for Edwardian suits, took that advice to heart when
he arrived in Washington in the late 1970s and hurled himself into
high-intensity party-giving at his elegant town house in the
fashionable Kalorama section of town.
Before long, the man from nowhere (he was, in fact, briefly a
reporter for ABC in Viet Nam, and was said to have ties to Asian
businessmen who were paying for his house, two bodyguards and
Mercedes) had reportedly been host to John Mitchell and William
Casey, journalists Ted Koppel and William Safire, and several
Congressmen. By 1982 he had served enough lamb chops to merit a
profile in the New York Times. The story trumpeted his ability to
open doors all over town, even though the paper could not quite
put its finger on who he was. It called him an international
business consultant, party host, foreign agent and research
journalist.
A city that remakes itself every four years is perfect for a
Gatsbyesque creature like Spence, with a past he is unwilling to
talk about and a present that consists of convincing mysterious
clients that he has plenty of influence. Spence would probably
still be throwing dinners at the posh Four Seasons Hotel for people
like Donald Gregg, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, as he did last
spring, if the police had not raided a male prostitution service
in February. The raid turned up thousands of dollars' worth of
credit-card receipts signed by Spence. Though he was not the only
Washington figure to use the service (the Washington Times, which
broke the story, says some White House and congressional aides will
be implicated), Spence must have been among its best customers. He
ran up a $1,525 tab in one day, $20,000 in a month.
To show off his clout last year, Spence took two clients and
a pair of male prostitutes on a midnight July 4 tour of the White
House.That same weekend, Spence gave Secret Service agent Ronald
deGueldre, who arranged the tour, his $8,000 Rolex; deGueldre gave
Spence his $22 Casio -- all out of friendship, says deGueldre. The
agent's house in Virginia was searched last week for pieces of
Truman china, a set of presidential cuff links and a tie-pin that
disappeared mysteriously after the tour. Officials will not say if
anything was found.
Evidence is being presented to a grand jury that will decide
whether indictments are warranted. But Spence's days of trading on
his guest list have ended, and he has gone underground. Those who
once dined at his table are wondering out loud about the curious
8-ft.-long two-way mirror in his house, and the young men, and what
exactly Craig Spence did to earn all the money he was throwing
around. They wonder only now that the party is over.