# ASHERS FOIA Response 3-27-26 The Arkansas State Highway Employees Retirement System produced 5 files totaling approximately 52 megabytes on March 27, 2026. The production is the wiki's first ASHERS source page and documents the system's response to the Berman/Young DCI institutional sales pitch that ATRS and APERS accepted. ASHERS is the control case in the cross-agency Berman/Young pitch pattern: same DCI representatives, same pitch deck, different outcome. ASHERS held zero Israel Bonds prior to the pitch and continued to hold zero through the documented post-vote period. The production reaches the wiki via the chronological FOIA registry placement; the same five files were previously held as the proof-of-concept ingest before the chronological reset. The wiki's entity and concept framework is now sufficiently developed to receive the ASHERS evidence at its proper chronological position. ## The five files The production contains: 1. **APPROVED PPT 2.6.25 JH.pdf** (22.5 MB, 8 pages). DCI's "State of Israel: Economic Overview FEBRUARY 2025" institutional pitch deck. The "JH" suffix in the filename most plausibly refers to Jim Hudson; the deck circulated as the Hudson-approved version for the April 15, 2025 DFA-side meeting and subsequently to ASHERS via Babbitt's introduction. Content summary: debt-to-GDP trajectory (60% pre-war 2023 → 69% in 2024 per Israeli Ministry of Finance), external current-account surplus history, GDP growth comparison versus OECD peers, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange 2024 performance (TA-125 +27.2% versus S&P 500 +23%), Israel high-tech capital raising 2015-2024 ($9.6B in 2024 across 453 deals), Israel Bonds raised $4 billion globally since October 7 2023, and Israeli Accountant General Yali Rothenberg's "consistent and reliable sources of any sovereign in history" quotation. The Rothenberg quotation cross-confirms the DCI's 1/15/2025 Rothenberg briefing documented at [[dci-promotional-pipeline]]. 2. **RE_ Virtual Introductions.eml** (31 MB, 4/17/2025). The Berman pitch email to ASHERS Executive Secretary Robyn Smith, with the APPROVED PPT 2.6.25 JH.pdf and two inline images as attachments. The introduction chain begins one day earlier with [[andy-babbitt]] (DFA Deputy Director and State Controller) forwarding the "Virtual Introductions" email to Smith on 4/16/2025 9:25 AM CDT, cc'ing Berman and Young. 3. **FW_ wickline's questions.eml** (~80 KB, 5/15/2025). Smith forwards the Wickline FOIA inquiry thread to Dave Parker (ahtd.ar.gov) at 5/15/2025 10:53 AM CDT. The thread captures Mike Wickline's 5/14/2025 5:21 PM inquiry to Smith and Smith's 5/15/2025 8:32 AM response. 4. **RE_ wickline's questions.eml** (~80 KB, 5/15/2025). Smith's parallel thread to Jared Wiley (ASHERS-related ARDOT staff) about the Wickline inquiry; captures the same Wickline thread with Wiley's "Thank you" and Smith's "You're welcome. Have a good day!" close. 5. **RE_ Arkansas Times article about state retirement systems purchasing Israeli bonds.eml** (~8 KB, 7/14/2025). Crystal Woods (ARDOT staff at [email protected]) forwards her own personal-AOL inquiry ("Israeli bonds?" with Facebook link, sent from [email protected] to her work account on 7/12) to Smith and asks "Just curious... Are we also purchasing Israeli bonds?" Smith replies "We are not." The exchange is the second-stage public-curiosity test from internal ARDOT staff after the Lenow Arkansas Times article published 7/11/2025. ## The Berman approach to ASHERS via DFA The 4/16/2025 9:25 AM Babbitt introduction email is the documented Berman approach to ASHERS. The verbatim Babbitt introduction: > "Robyn, I would like to introduce Larry Berman and Brad Young from Israel Bonds. Secretary Hudson and I met yesterday with Larry and Brad to discuss the potential advantages and opportunities to purchase Israeli bonds. A little information on Israel Bonds. Development Corporation for Israel/Israel Bonds ranks among Israel's most valued economic and strategic resources, with a record of proven success spanning over 70 years..." > Andy Babbitt to Robyn Smith, RE_ Virtual Introductions.eml, 4/16/2025 9:25 AM CDT The chronology established by the production: - **4/15/2025**: Babbitt and DFA Secretary Jim Hudson meet with Berman and Young at the Auditor's office Room 230 (3:00 PM per Milligan's calendar capture at [[auditor-foia-r2-milligan]]). The meeting is one of the eight bilaterals documented in [[auditor-multi-official-capitol-tour]]. The ASHERS production newly documents that Babbitt attended this meeting alongside Hudson; the previously-documented framing of "Jim Hudson at 2:00-2:30 PM" is refined to Hudson plus Babbitt at the 3:00-3:30 PM Room 230 slot. - **4/16/2025 9:25 AM**: Babbitt sends "Virtual Introductions" email from his DFA address ([email protected]) to Smith at ASHERS ([email protected]), cc Berman and Young. Babbitt's signature: "Andy Babbitt, MBA, CPA, CFE / Department of Finance and Administration / Deputy Director and State Controller / Office: (501) 682-1515 Cell: (501) 681-9100 / https://www.dfa.arkansas.gov/office/budget/revenue-reporting/" - **4/17/2025 18:02 UTC (1:02 PM CDT)**: Berman replies-all from [email protected], attaching the APPROVED PPT 2.6.25 JH.pdf and two inline image files. Berman's pitch language: "Hi Robyn, I look forward to connecting with you soon. I may be coming back to Little Rock in the next month or so, and if that happens, I hope we can visit in person. In the interim, I would like to arrange a short conference call or Zoom meeting at your convenience." **Smith never responded to Berman.** The production captures no further correspondence in the thread. No Zoom meeting was scheduled. No phone call was logged. No subsequent Berman re-engagement was sent. The decline mechanism documented at ASHERS is passive non-engagement: Smith received the pitch, did not reply, and the thread terminated. The routing distinction with the ATRS/APERS pattern is structurally important. ATRS and APERS were approached through the Auditor's office (Brady's 10/23/2024 seed email to Fecher and White) within the same Auditor-orchestrated channel documented at [[auditor-as-dci-channel]]. ASHERS was approached through DFA's Babbitt, on a track parallel to but operationally separate from the Auditor's-office channel. The same 4/15 Capitol tour bilateral with DFA Secretary Hudson at the Auditor's office Room 230 produced two distinct routing outcomes: the Hudson-Babbitt DFA track to ASHERS (passive non-engagement decline), and the Auditor's-office track to APERS via Brady at the 5/15/2025 IFSC (active motion and vote). ## ASHERS's actual Israeli holdings as of 5/15/2025 Smith's 8:32 AM response to Wickline on 5/15/2025 documents ASHERS's actual Israel-related portfolio exposure as of that date: > "Good morning, Mike: ASHERS does not hold any Israeli bonds. ASHERS does hold: Cyber-Ark Software LTD - $504,000.00 / Camtek LTD - $690,000.00 / Cellebrite Di LTD - $773,000.00" > Smith to Wickline, FW_ wickline's questions.eml, 5/15/2025 8:32 AM CDT Three Israeli technology equity positions totaling $1,967,000. CyberArk Software (NASDAQ: CYBR), Camtek (NASDAQ: CAMT), and Cellebrite DI (NASDAQ: CLBT) are all NASDAQ-listed Israeli companies traded as standard US-listed equities, not as direct sovereign instruments. The three positions are direct Israeli-company equity exposure but are not "Israel Bonds" in the DCI sovereign-debt sense. ASHERS distinguishes between Israeli equity exposure (which it has) and Israeli sovereign bond exposure (which it does not) in Smith's framing to Wickline. The distinction tracks the wiki's [[atrs-pre-existing-indirect-exposure]] framing for ATRS's SSgA CMX6 indirect Israeli sovereign holdings: equity-versus-sovereign-debt is the analytical line both systems use to characterize Israel-related exposure. ## The Wickline-Smith chronology Wickline's 5/14/2025 5:21 PM inquiry to Smith: > "1. does ASHRS have any Israeli-related investments or Israeli bonds? and if so how much? / I am covering APERS tomorrow and expect a push to invest in Israeli bonds so hence the question for ASHERS / respectfully, mike Wickline" > Wickline to Smith, FW_ wickline's questions.eml, 5/14/2025 5:21 PM CDT Wickline anticipated the APERS IFSC's 5/15 1:00 PM Israel Bonds authorization the day before it occurred and pre-emptively gathered comparative context from ASHERS. Smith responded the next morning, three hours and 28 minutes before the APERS IFSC convened, with the no-bonds-three-equities answer documented above. Smith forwarded the resolved Wickline thread to internal ASHERS-related ARDOT staffers Jared Wiley (5/15 9:38 AM, then re-forwarded with discussion notes at 11:38 AM) and Dave Parker (5/15 10:53 AM). Smith's 11:38 AM context note to Wiley: > "He asked if we had any Israeli bonds or Israeli related investments and how much. Apparently, he heard that APERS may push for an investment in Israeli bonds at their meeting today. When he has situations like that, he normally reaches out to all the systems. In the next few days, I expect there will be an article in the newspaper, so I just wanted you to be aware." > Smith to Wiley, FW_ wickline's questions.eml, 5/15/2025 11:38 AM CDT Smith's internal-channel framing characterizes Wickline's inquiry as a routine pre-publication multi-system canvass. Smith anticipated a published article "in the next few days," consistent with Wickline's actual 5/15 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article on the APERS IFSC vote documented at [[apers-foia-r1-7-7-25]]. The ASHERS production does not capture any subsequent Wickline-Smith correspondence; whether Wickline followed up after publication is not in this production. ## The 7/14/2025 Crystal Woods internal-curiosity exchange The post-publication test of ASHERS's Israel Bonds posture comes via Crystal Woods, an internal ARDOT staffer who initially encountered the Lenow Arkansas Times article through a Facebook share posted to her personal account ([email protected]) on 7/12/2025 7:32 AM. Woods forwarded the Facebook link to her own work address on Saturday morning, then on Monday 7/14/2025 10:35 AM emailed Smith: "Just curious... Are we also purchasing Israeli bonds?" Smith replied at 10:35 AM the same day: "We are not." The exchange is structurally significant for two reasons. First, it documents that ASHERS's no-bonds posture persisted through the post-Arkansas-Times-article curiosity window without internal reconsideration. Smith's two-word reply communicates institutional stability — ASHERS is not on the Berman/Young trajectory, and remained off it through July 2025. Second, the exchange documents that the published Arkansas Times article reached internal ARDOT staff and triggered staff curiosity about ASHERS's posture, but did not produce a substantive ASHERS reconsideration. The contrast with the Brady/Spadoni-mediated APERS-side response to the same article (the 7/11/2025 7:28 PM Brady iPhone forward to Milligan's personal AOL account documented at [[auditor-foia-r3-3-3-26]]) is structurally informative: ASHERS internal staff route public reporting through standard work-account inquiries to the executive secretary; APERS-side and Auditor's-office handlers route the same article through personal-AOL accounts that are not subject to standard FOIA at the agency level. ## Cross-references [[ashers-declined-pitch-control-case]] new concept page documenting the cross-agency declined-pitch finding [[robyn-smith]] ASHERS Executive Secretary [[jared-wiley]] ARDOT staff in Smith's internal-ASHERS channel [[dave-parker]] ARDOT staff at ahtd.ar.gov receiving the Wickline-thread FYI forward [[crystal-woods]] ARDOT staff who initiated the 7/14 internal curiosity exchange [[andy-babbitt]] DFA Deputy Director and State Controller (note: prior wiki framing as Auditor's-office staff is in tension with this production's email signature evidence) [[jim-hudson]] DFA Secretary present with Babbitt at the 4/15 Auditor's-office Room 230 meeting with Berman/Young [[lawrence-berman]] [[brad-young]] DCI representatives who pitched ASHERS and received passive-non-engagement decline [[mike-wickline]] Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter who included ASHERS in the 5/14 pre-publication multi-system canvass [[auditor-multi-official-capitol-tour]] companion concept page on the April 14-15 Capitol tour [[auditor-as-dci-channel]] companion concept page on the Auditor-office-mediated channel [[dci-promotional-pipeline]] companion concept page on the DCI pitch deck and promotional materials [[jennifer-lenow]] Arkansas Times reporter whose 7/11 article triggered the 7/14 Woods internal-curiosity inquiry [[auditor-foia-r3-3-3-26]] source page documenting the Auditor's-office-side response to the same article ## Open follow-up questions - The production does not capture any Smith communication to ASHERS Board members about the Berman pitch or the decline. Whether ASHERS Board-level deliberation occurred is not knowable from this production. - The production does not capture any Babbitt re-engagement after Smith's non-response to Berman. Whether Babbitt sought a status update from Smith is not documented. - The production does not capture any ASHERS Board-meeting agenda items on Israel-related investments. The wiki has no documented ASHERS Board meeting recordings, packets, or minutes. - The production does not capture any Berman re-engagement to ASHERS after the 4/17 pitch. Whether Berman pursued ASHERS via alternative channels is not documented. - The Babbitt-at-Auditor-office-versus-Babbitt-at-DFA discrepancy is a follow-up question. The APERS R2 minutes attribute Babbitt to "Auditor's Office" at 6/11/2025 and 9/10/2025; the ASHERS production attributes Babbitt to DFA at 4/16/2025. Whether Babbitt moved between offices or holds parallel roles is open.