To: Alan Smithee who wrote (28622 ) 6/5/2004 9:10:15 AM From: American Spirit Respond to of 81568 You lied. Paula Jones was bankrolled by the rightwing. Paula Jones' Patron Attacks Her Legal Fund Reuters 3/13/97 WASHINGTON (March 13) - A conservative foundation financing Paula Jones's lawsuit against President Clinton has accused a rival fund-raising operation of misleading and possibly defrauding the public, sources familiar with the dispute say. The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit foundation based in Charlottesville, Virginia, has also threatened to tell the Internal Revenue Service that the separate fund, the Paula Jones Legal Fund, is fraudulent, the sources said. The Paula Jones Legal Fund was established in 1994, nearly four years before Rutherford entered the picture. It has raised more than $200,000, one source said, and is now soliciting additional funds through a commercial direct mail firm. ''We have not received any money from the Paula Jones Legal Fund,'' Rutherford Institute spokeswoman Nisha Mohammed said. She said Rutherford was ''the only organization authorized to pay documented legal expenses'' of Jones's lawyers. The financial row among Jones's backers erupted last month, and its escalation was first reported by Salon magazine on the magazine's Internet Web site. Bruce W. Eberle and Associates, the direct mail firm appealing for contributions to the Paula Jones Legal Fund, has paid Jones $100,000 under a contract that calls for her to receive $300,000 in all, the magazine said. Sources said the Rutherford Foundation had sent a series of letters to the Paula Jones Legal Fund insisting that the fund stop implying that it is paying Jones's legal bills. The letters accuse the Paula Jones Legal Fund of misleading and possibly defrauding the public, and copies have been turned over to U.S. District Judge James Michael, the sources said. ''I have great respect for the Rutherford Institute. I think they're fine folks. I don't exactly understand some of the things they've said,'' Eberle said. Clinton's lawyers have filed a motion in Charlottesville, where judge Michael sits, seeking evidence that Jones is suing the president in an effort to enrich herself. The dispute over fund-raising on behalf of Clinton's accuser flared as Jones's legal team prepared to respond to a move by Clinton's lawyers to have her lawsuit thrown out of court. Jones's lawyers are scheduled to file a counter-argument in Little Rock, Ark., Friday giving full details of her case and backed by supporting documents, including excerpts from sworn testimony that Clinton gave Jan 17. Jones alleges that Clinton exposed himself to her and asked for oral sex in May, 1991 when he was Arkansas governor and she was a low-level state employee. Clinton denies the allegation. In digging for evidence to support her lawsuit, Jones's lawyers subpoenaed former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, setting off a chain reaction that caused the sex scandal now threatening to engulf Clinton's presidency. Allegations that Clinton tried to cover up romantic trysts with Lewinsky by inducing her to lie under oath in the Jones case sparked independent counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation of possible witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Sources close to the Clinton camp have alleged that Jones has used money raised by her legal fund for personal expenses, including hair-styling for herself and kennel fees for her pit bull dog. ''I do know that in the beginning in 1994 we bought Paula some outfits for all the interviews she was doing,'' said Cindy Hays, a former Jones aide who helped set up the legal fund. Hays, who is no longer associated with the fund, said the clothing purchases were a legitimate expense of the lawsuit. Paula Jones ''was a brand new mother in California and she walked around in shorts and jeans. You don't exactly sit down for an interview with (ABC News correspondent) Sam Donaldson in shorts and jeans,'' Hays told Reuters.