ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LITTLE ROCK, ARK.
SOURCE: Associated Press
Jury selection began Monday in the fraud and conspiracy trial of President Clinton's Whitewater partners and the man who succeeded him as governor, with Clinton himself subpoenaed to testify.
In this presidential election year, the trial could prove a liability to Clinton, though his name is not even mentioned in the indictment against Jim and Susan McDougal and Gov. Jim Guy Tucker.
The McDougals and Tucker are accused of misusing nearly $3 million borrowed from a pair of federally backed lending companies. They allegedly lied to the bankers about how the money would be used.
The McDougals have subpoenaed Clinton, saying he can counter claims made by David Hale, who ran one of the lending companies. Hale is expected to testify for the prosecution that Tucker and then-Gov. Clinton pressured him to make bad loans, including one for $300,000 to Susan McDougal 10 years ago.
Clinton has called Hale's allegation ``a bunch of bull'' and has said he doesn't recall talking to Hale about money.
Bobby McDaniel, a lawyer for Susan McDougal, said Monday he expects the president to testify in person. Clinton's lawyers prefer he testify by videotape. No decision has been made.
If convicted on all counts, Tucker could get up to 52 years in prison and fines of $2.75 million, and faces possible removal from office. Jim McDougal faces up to 95 years and $4.75 million in fines, and Susan McDougal faces up to 40 years and $2 million in fines.
Jury selection started from a 185-member pool, which was narrowed to 148. Ten potential jurors were tentatively accepted by the end of the day.
In a 12-page questionnaire filled out two weeks ago, prospective jurors detailed their political leanings and whether they or their spouses had given money to or worked for a campaign. U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. ordered their responses sealed.
The president and Hillary Rodham Clinton were 50-50 partners with the McDougals in the Whitewater land development in Arkansas. Tucker became governor when Clinton went to the White House.
Clinton and his wife said they were only passive investors in Whitewater and had no irregular dealings with the McDougals' Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan. Its collapse cost taxpayers $65 million.
Jim McDougal faced similar charges with two of Susan McDougal's brothers in 1990. The charges against one brother were dropped during the trial, and McDougal and the other brother were acquitted.
``It's the same courtroom, the same judge. I expect the same result,'' Jim McDougal said on entering the courthouse.
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