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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johannes Pilch who wrote (34810)	2/21/1999 9:07:00 AM
From: JBL	Respond to of 67261

Fox News 07/07/97 By Kevin Galvin, Associated Press Whitewater probe turns to payments to Ruff firm, Palladino 8.49 p.m. EDT (049 GMT) July 7, 1997 By Kevin Galvin, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In a new twist to the Whitewater probe, investigators contacted a Teamsters union local Monday about payments involving White House counsel Charles Ruff and a private detective who worked for the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign, sources said. According to two people close to Teamsters Local 337 in Detroit, an FBI agent working for Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr demanded billing records of payments by Teamsters headquarters to the law firm of Ruff, who as a private lawyer assisted the union's anti-corruption efforts. Ruff, in turn, hired San Francisco private investigator Jack Palladino for $150,000. Palladino's name came up in the Senate Whitewater Committee investigation because of his contacts with people close to President Clinton, including longtime aide Betsey Wright and then-Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell. Starr's office has been looking into payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hubbell by political allies of the Clinton White House. The payments came after Hubbell left the No. 3 post in the Justice Department but before his guilty plea to tax evasion and mail fraud in 1994. Palladino said he was hired by Clinton's 1992 campaign to rebut rumors of the candidate's personal relationships with various women. Starr's office contacted Local 337 President Larry Brennan, who is suing Teamsters headquarters in Washington to learn why Ruff and Palladino were hired in 1994, according to the sources, who demanded anonymity. The records sought by Whitewater investigators consist mostly of bills from Ruff's law firm, Covington & Burling, which include about $150,000 in charges from Palladino's firm, Palladino & Sutherland. In his suit, Brennan alleges that union money was used to defend Teamsters President Ron Carey against charges of corruption and intimidate Carey's foes. Carey has denied the accusations, which grew out of his acrimonious re-election battle with challenger James P. Hoffa. Brennan was a vocal Hoffa supporter. Nancy Stella, spokeswoman for Teamsters headquarters, said union officials in Washington have not been contacted by the Whitewater prosecutor's office. Stella said Palladino & Sutherland was used in a successful corruption investigation of Teamsters Local 705 in Chicago. Federal officials placed Local 705 under trusteeship in 1993, and union headquarters subsequently brought racketeering sued local officials for alleged misuse of pension and health funds. The case was settled out of court. "The bottom line is we were able to get $13 million back into the funds,'' Stella said.