
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 4, 1995                   TAG: 9502060034
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON'S FUND TOPS $600,000

President Clinton's fund to defend himself against legal problems has passed $600,000, including $1,000 contributions from old Arkansas chums and Washington lobbyists, political friends such as Jimmy Carter and such celebrities as Garrison Keillor and Barbra Streisand.

In its first six months, the fund collected more than 5,000 gifts of less than $200 each from sympathetic Americans in all 50 states. It paid out $321,134 to lawyers in Washington and Little Rock, Ark., defending Clinton in a sexual harassment suit and in the Whitewater land deal.

Radio personality and writer Keillor donated $1,000 - the maximum amount the fund would accept - as did Streisand and actors Sean Penn and James Garner.

Clinton's campaign consultants, James Carville and Paul Begala, gave $1,000 each, as did pollster Peter Hart, adviser Lloyd Cutler and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. Clinton himself and his wife, Hillary, started the fund with $1,000 each, and Tipper Gore, wife of Vice President Al Gore, gave a like amount.

Business figures also dotted the list: Lew Wasserman, chairman of entertainment giant MCA, donated $1,000, as did hair-care magnate Vidal Sassoon. And Arthur Coia, president of the Laborers International Union, gave $1,000.

At least two dozen Washington lobbyists gave to the fund. The donor list showed a $1,000 donation from lobbyist Michael Berman, president of the Duberstein Group, and $500 from associate Steve Champlin; $1,000 each from John Orlando and William Cable of Timmons & Co.; and gifts totaling $4,200 from people connected with public relations firm Hill & Knowlton, where former Clinton legislative chief Howard Paster is chairman and CEO.

But many of the donations appeared to be from people like Cathy Henrie of Pettisville, Ohio, a babysitter who said she saw Clinton ask for help on television last summer and sent in $300.

by CNB