A fact from Victor Gold (journalist) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 12 May 2009 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
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I know the principle is "verifiability, not truth", but a) the elections in question didn't happen until May 1990, and as the Communist regime fell at the very end of 1989, I doubt he was sent before 1990; b) there were a number of at least partly free elections in Romania prior to 1938, with the 1928 elections generally being regarded as the most free and fair, probably no less free than the 1990 ones. - BiruitorulTalk04:47, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Good to have your factual perspective. I freely admit that I accepted the source at face value. I've edited the article to say that (1) he was appointed in 1989 and (2) these were the first free elections after Nicolae Ceauşescu was ousted. The "appointed in 1989" is not strictly supported by the source, but it is a plausible interpretation of both the source (which says "In 1989 Gold served as a member of President Bush's election-oversight delegation to the first free Romanian elections") and your factual information on the date of the election. The "after Nicolae Ceauşescu" part is clearly true. (Meanwhile, I'm looking for additional sources.)