Will Hertz

Will Hertz was an investigative journalist with the Washington Gazette.

Marc Cerasini hired Hertz to provide an analysis of the Keith Palmer scandal for his report on the events of Super Tuesday. As he worked on the piece, Hertz's own personal interest led him to conduct some original research on the death of Keith's therapist, Dr. George Ferragamo. He learned that Ferragamo, who was suffering from money troubles, had received a deposit of $750,000 to an offshore bank account from the Committee to Elect Hodges. Hertz deduced that Senator Palmer's primary rival, Governor Mike Hodges, had paid Ferragamo to violate doctor-patient confidentiality and divulge Keith's involvement in Lyle Gibson's death to the press. In turn, Carl Webb arranged for Ferragamo to be killed in an office fire to silence him.

In an article for the Gazette that ran the same week that Cerasini's report was published, titled "Two Judges, Two Juries," Hertz provided a detailed account of the entire scandal. After the recording of his conversation with Webb was released, Keith Palmer was tried and exonerated of wrongdoing in the death of Lyle Gibson, and became a much-in-demand college speaker. By contrast, Webb was tried for the death of Dr. Ferragamo and acquitted due to lack of evidence, but was forced to resign from politics and retired to Cancun. Hertz closed by mentioning that Maureen Kingsley, the CNB reporter who had left her job to avoid retribution from Webb, had accepted a job as a Washington reporter for Fox News. (Findings at CTU)