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Tom Foley’s Flying Transonic Toy

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The now Republican gubernatorial nominee restored one of the planes with parts from the other. He flew the sleek, white and red two-seater for years.

“Ever since I was a young kid, I had dreamed about flying, and when I got old enough to understand you could get a pilot’s license and fly airplanes, I wanted to do it,” Foley said in a recent interview.

Foley applied for his pilot’s license at the first moment he was able to, at 17. He hasn’t flown the jet since 2006, when he left for Ireland to serve as a U.S. ambassador.

The picture of Tom Foley as private jet-owner has become a well-used arrow in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s class warfare strategy that usually flies alongside comments about his opponent’s expensive cars and yacht.

And while a jet is still a jet and much time and money was reportedly put into the aircraft, the plane isn’t island-hopping Cessna or Learjet business aircraft. Aviation enthusiasts talk about the type of plane that Foley flew as more of a Harley than a Jaguar.

“It’s not a million-dollar toy,” said Robert Taylor of the Westchester Flying Club. “This is an antique like somebody getting and old wooden sailboat and restoring it.”

Asked how much he paid for the jets, Foley said he didn’t remember. A magazine feature on Foley and his “civilized warbird” reported that he bought the two for about $200,000 a piece in a Sotheby’s auction, then spent three years and another $1 million restoring one.

“Foley has had a lifelong interest in airplanes, boats cars and other machines. In other words, he is like most of us,” J. Mac McClellan wrote in the October 1997 issue of Flight Magazine. “But he has been more successful in business than most pilots.”

The planes, two Folland GNATs, were used by the British Royal Air Force to train its servicemen. The jet used for parts has the same registration number as one used by the Royal Air Force’s aerial acrobatic team, the Red Arrows.

Reg Finch, an experienced military and commercial pilot in San Diego, flew one over the last 15 years. Performance on the Folland GNAT is a big draw. “It’s quite an adrenaline rush,” he said. “When you go up flying one of these, everything else in the world seems less significant.”

The jets are transonic, meaning they can cruise at speeds just shy of the speed of sound.

“In a descent, it will cross the sound barrier,” Foley said. “It’s a full military high performance aircraft only the best military pilots would be qualified to fly.”

And that fact has kept Foley from getting it back in the air. The type of license for the aircraft requires logging flight hours every month to remain proficient. The jets are stored in South Carolina, Foley said.

“When I get elected governor I won’t have the time,” Foley said, “which I regret. I love flying. It’s in my heart. I love being up in the air flying around.”

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October 14, 2014 / Press Releases

Why did chris christie bail on tom foley.

Hartford, CT  — Governor Chris Christie was supposed to be in the state today—for the fourth time—to stump for Tom Foley. Yet, he pulled the plug. Why?

Because of Tom Foley’s surging unpopularity? Because the needle is moving in the wrong direction for the Republican gubernatorial candidate? Because of sustained scrutiny of Foley’s $5 million dollar yacht, seven-bedroom mansion and fighter jets while paying a zero percent effective federal income tax rate for two years?

What’s clear is that Foley’s campaign is struggling—and Christie’s cancellation raises even more questions about the viability of Foley’s campaign. When Foley’s biggest backer at the RGA is pulling the plug on his visit and prioritizing other races, it’s clear things are moving in the wrong direction for Tom Foley.

This also appears to be the first time this cycle that Christie has canceled an RGA-endorsed candidate event for political reasons.

“The more Connecticut residents get to know Tom Foley, the less they like him. When they hear about fighter jets, yachts, and mansions—bought during a career of destroying the lives of middle class families—they realize he will reverse the progress Connecticut has made. Now, even his biggest out-of-state backers are tip-toeing around Tom Foley,” said Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the Connecticut Democratic Party. “Tom Foley has offered voters plagiarized plans, no specifics, and no vision for the future. It’s no surprise that his biggest boosters—Chris Christie and the RGA—are running away from him.”

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Gentleman of the House: Former Speaker Tom Foley dies at 84

For 30 years, Tom Foley navigated the politics of the region and the nation in the House of Representatives with a rock-solid sense of dignity and a belief that bringing people together was more productive than letting them tear each other apart.

Foley, the Spokane native who rose to be House speaker, died Friday at 84 from complications of a stroke. He was described by both Democrats and Republicans with a word that might not show up on many of today’s political resumes: statesman.

“He was always dignified,” said George Nethercutt, the Republican who ousted Foley in 1994 after 15 terms in the House. But Foley bore him no ill will, and complimented Nethercutt in a post-election lunch. “I think we’ve lost a lot of that dignity and respect and attitude,” Nethercutt said.

Foley represented Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District for 30 years, the last five as speaker, before losing both jobs in that historic electoral defeat. He went on to serve as U.S. ambassador to Japan for President Bill Clinton from 1997 through 2001, was a presidential adviser on foreign policy matters, a principal at a high-powered Washington, D.C., law firm and a board member for many organizations.

He died Friday at 9:13 Eastern time in Washington, D.C., according to his wife, Heather Foley.

Tall and in his later years silver-haired, Foley looked like a congressman ordered up from Hollywood central casting, but he worked his way up through the ranks of the House.

His father, Ralph Foley, was former county prosecutor and longtime Spokane County Superior Court judge. His mother, Helen Higgins Foley, was the daughter of a railroad worker. He grew up in a Democratic household on Spokane’s rock-ribbed Republican South Hill.

He was a young deputy Spokane County prosecutor and assistant attorney general before going to Washington, D.C., as an aide to Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson in the early 1960s. He ran against a well-established Republican incumbent, Walt Horan, in 1964.

Foley often told the story of his entry into that race, on the last day of filing week. He had asked longtime Democratic leader Joe Drumheller whether he’d be willing to support him if he ran against Horan in two years, 1966, when it was assumed Horan would retire. Drumheller fumed against young politicians who were always putting things off, adding that he’d back Foley that year but not two years hence. Foley thought it over, wired his resignation to Jackson, and got in a car with a couple of friends to drive to Olympia, where his paperwork had to be filed by 5 p.m. that day.

They arrived in Olympia and ran out of gas. Foley had to run to the secretary of state’s office, arriving minutes before closing time.

Senior U.S. District Judge Justin “Bud” Quackenbush, a lifelong friend and the manager of Foley’s early campaigns, still laughs about that close call, saying Spokane’s most accomplished congressman almost didn’t make it onto his first ballot.

Foley beat Horan that year in a race that became legendary for its civility, then fended off challengers for the next 14 election cycles. A skilled debater at what is now Gonzaga Prep, Foley insisted that an incumbent always had an obligation to debate an opponent; although some chose not to, others took him up on that, and a campaign could feature as many as a dozen debates.

In 1968, Foley married Heather Strachan, whom he’d met when both worked on Jackson’s staff in the early ’60s. She’s a member of the bar, but served for many years as his unpaid chief of staff in the congressional office. The couple had no children, and regarded many members of their office staff as extended family.

“He taught us that public service really was a high calling and an honorable profession,” said former aide Todd Woodard, who now works for Spokane International Airport. “That’s probably the life lesson the judge brought home around his family’s kitchen table, and hopefully I bring that home as well.”

The 5th Congressional District is a mix of wheat farms, timberland, federal dams, Indian reservations and small towns, with more than half of the voters living in Foley’s hometown of Spokane.

Some of his elections were squeakers, but many were blowouts against weak opposition.

Between elections, he rose steadily in the ranks of House Democrats, first as chairman of the Agriculture Committee, then House whip, then House majority leader. He ran unopposed, said former Rep. Norm Dicks, a longtime friend and ally, because other Democrats respected him and sought him out for those jobs. He also got along with his GOP counterparts like House Minority Leader Bob Michel of Illinois.

“They got along famously,” Dicks said. “They were both people who knew how to get things done.”

Foley served on the Iran-Contra investigation committee, where he was recognized as a calming influence during the scandal. He helped lift a ban on saccharine that the Food and Drug Administration was leveling against the artificial sweetener. He helped reshape farm programs and food stamps.

In June 1989, when Jim Wright was forced to step down, Foley was elected House speaker, the first person to serve as constitutional leader of the House from any place west of Texas.

He managed to quiet some of the partisan rancor that erupted in the House over Wright’s forced retirement, and later that year he invited then-President George H.W. Bush to Spokane for a bit of bipartisan showmanship that involved dinner at a Browne’s Addition restaurant and planting a White House elm sapling in Riverfront Park.

Although Foley was often in the middle of national and international events, he was schooled by his mentors, Sens. Henry Jackson and Warren Magnuson, in the importance of delivering services to local constituents. Northwest issues were more important to him than partisan issues, and the Washington delegation always pulled together regardless of party lines, said former Rep. Sid Morrison, a Zillah Republican. “He remembered so well where he came from.”

One person’s pork, Foley used to say, was another person’s wise investment in the local infrastructure. With him in powerful positions in Congress, Eastern Washington’s infrastructure got repeated investments: Fairchild Air Force Base began its transformation from a World War II-era depot to one of the military’s largest and most modern tanker bases. Highway 395 from Ritzville to the Tri-Cities went from a winding road to a four-lane highway. Gonzaga University, which Foley attended, got a new library, which the school named for his parents. Spokane got a paved walking and biking path to Coeur d’Alene to mark the state’s centennial. SIRTI got an infusion of federal cash to get off the ground.

In 1994, that federal spending worked against him as Nethercutt ran against what he called bloated government and entrenched incumbents. Foley had challenged a state initiative that limited House terms to six years; months after the election, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with him that term limits were unconstitutional.

And he’d angered the National Rifle Association – a decadeslong supporter – by allowing the House to vote on and pass a ban on some military-style semi-automatic rifles. For the first time since the start of the Civil War, a sitting House speaker lost a bid for re-election.

A strong orator with the gift of a good memory for complicated facts, Foley was probably at his best when telling stories, many of which had him as the butt of the joke. He often told of attending the Omak Stampede and making a fool of himself on a horse, which prompted the announcer to say “our good congressman is not wasting his time in D.C. on riding lessons.” He was mortified, but an aide assured him that was perfect – there was nothing locals hated more than a city slicker showing off on a horse. After that he usually carried Omak as long as it was in his district.

Or the time he was paged as a young congressman at National Airport, for a call from President Lyndon Johnson. Shown into a private room by awed airline staff, he picked up the phone to have LBJ say “John?” No, Mr. President, he replied, this is Tom Foley of Washington. Johnson swore, said he’d told the operator to get him John Fogarty of Rhode Island, and slammed down the phone. Crestfallen, Foley went back to the gate, where an agent asked if he’d been connected to the president. He figured he could truthfully say yes, and was immediately put in first class for the flight home. “I learned then something of the power of the president: Even a wrong number can get you an upgrade.”

Foley had a fondness for electronic gadgets, from cellphones to stereo equipment. He was seldom seen in public without a suit and tie, whether it was a luncheon speech, a campaign stop or a fact-finding mission to Grenada after the U.S. military incursion. Asked why, he said once that it is what people expect their congressman to look like. Watching a retrospective of his career shortly after becoming speaker, he was shocked at his weight gain over the years, went on a strict diet, and began pumping iron and riding a bicycle to shed pounds.

After serving as ambassador to Japan, Foley worked for several years at Akin, Gump, Strauss, a Washington, D.C., law and lobbying firm. He retired in 2008 and had been in fragile health after hip and knee replacements and Bell’s palsy. He had been under hospice care for several months and suffering from recurring bouts of aspiration pneumonia.

He is survived by his wife of nearly 45 years, Heather; his sister Maureen Latimer and her husband, Richard, in Santa Rosa, Calif., three nieces and two nephews.

Services are pending for St. Aloysius Church at Gonzaga University, and in Washington, D.C. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Foley Institute for Public Policy & Public Service at Washington State University.

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Tom Foley: Where is Dar Foley’s Husband Now?

Coldwater, Michigan, residents witnessed a horrifying incident in February 2009 when Darlene “Dar” Foley was shot to death at point-blank range inside her bathroom. Her husband, Tom Foley, discovered the body and called 911, but Dar breathed her last before first responders arrived. ‘Dateline: The Mystery at Heath Bar Farm’ chronicles the heinous homicide and follows the police investigation that considered Tom Foley, a person of interest.

Who is Tom Foley?

Tom Foley resided with his wife, Darlene “Dar” Foley” and their son, Heath, in Coldwater, Michigan. People who knew him described him as a family man deeply in love with his wife. Interestingly, Tom and Dar were entirely different people as he was an exceptional basketball player and was very much into softball. Besides, he mentioned that he met his wife for the first time on a softball court, and even though she had thick goggles on, he fell in love at first sight.

From then on, it did not take long for the couple to start dating, and they soon began dreaming of a life together. On the show, Dar’s siblings, Ladana, Lynn, and Marla, claimed they were surprised to learn about the couple, believing Tom wasn’t the right person for their sister. Yet, he and Dar eventually tied the knot before settling in Coldwater, Michigan.

Acquaintances mentioned that Tom and Dar enjoyed an excellent relationship from the beginning and could not bear to live without each other. Though they had fights and quarrels like most married couples, the pair always managed to put their issues in the past and lean on one another for support. Their bond grew stronger once their son, Heath, came into this world, and no one could have foreseen the tragedy that was about to snatch Dar’s life away.

On February 7, 2009, a distraught Tom called 911 and claimed he had found his wife unresponsive on the bathroom floor. However, once first responders reached the scene, they found Dar lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Unfortunately, she was declared dead on the spot, and an initial medical examination spotted severe bullet wounds to her head. Later, an autopsy determined that the victim was shot at point-blank range which a shotgun, eventually leading to her death.

Although the initial investigation into Dar’s murder was challenging, the police soon learned that Tom was in a financially precarious situation and needed some quick cash. On top of it, the victim had a substantial life insurance policy to her name, and her husband stood to benefit from her death. On the other hand, Heath and his friend, Skylar Wattie, were present on the property at the time of Dar’s murder, and when questioned, they mentioned that shortly before Darlene was attacked, Tom sent them out of the house to play near the barn.

While Tom was alone in the house with his wife, the boys heard a loud crash which sounded like a gunshot or a piece of glass shattering on the floor. Subsequently, he was faced with this evidence, and although he claimed the sound might have been from a windowpane he broke while cleaning, the police were convinced of his involvement in the crime. Hence, with enough circumstantial evidence to warrant an arrest, Tom was taken into custody.

Tom Foley Has Built a New Life Today

Tom pled Foley not guilty when presented in court and insisted on his innocence. Regardless, the jury believed otherwise, and he was eventually convicted of first-degree murder. Yet, shortly before Tom’s sentencing, a new witness came forward and claimed to have seen the murderer. She mentioned that on the day of Dar’s murder, she saw a white car rush out of the Foley driveway, and the driver was definitely not Tom.

Surprisingly, in the following days, two other witnesses claimed to have seen the same white car, either parked at the Foley residence or driving away, all within two hours of the homicide. The new evidence helped Tom get a retrial, but this time, the prosecution presented two witnesses who claimed that the suspect flirted with them and talked about leaving Dar before the homicide. Still, the evidence wasn’t enough, and Tom Foley was acquitted of all charges in 2011.

Following his acquittal, Tom regained custody of his son, Heath, and was relieved to embrace his fatherly duties. Moreover, he dedicated himself to discovering the truth about his wife’s murder and even collaborated on the book ‘The Ultimate Sacrifice,’ which explains the reasons behind his acquittal. Besides, Tom even addressed the situation in a 2017 interview with News Channel 3.

Tom said, “It’s been 8 years. It’s been 8 years since she was killed, and something needs to happen, and it needs to happen now. I’ve got my life back together, but I still have this empty hole in my heart that, you know, this needs to happen. This needs to happen, especially for Heath. Heath needs to know who is responsible for his mom being killed.” He even approached the courts and asked for compensation under the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act in the same year. Nevertheless, while Tom still appears to reside in Coldwater, Michigan, reports mention that he has married again and even shares a child with his second wife.

Read More:  Heath Foley: Where is Dar and Tom Foley’s Son Now?

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