Reprinted from The Washington Times, March 13, 1998
Clinton helped find job for Watkins in '94
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
President Clinton and a top adviser, Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, made calls in 1994 to help another Clinton aide, David Watkins, find work after he resigned in a controversy over his use of a presidential helicopter, the White House confirmed Thursday.
The calls went to Callaway Golf, a California company owned by a major contributor to the Democratic Party.
Mr. Watkins, a former Little Rock, Ark., businessman who went to Washington with the president in 1993 and headed the White House Personnel Office, resigned under pressure after it was revealed he had used a presidential helicopter to scout out golf courses for Mr. Clinton.
Mr. Watkins also used the occasion for a round of golf himself. He was hired as a vice president at Callaway, which is operated by Clinton supporter and longtime Democratic contributor Ely Callaway.
A Callaway spokesman Thursday said Mr. Watkins listed Mr. Clinton and Mr. McLarty as references on his application. The spokesman, Larry Dorman, said that after the company inquired about the president's support, Mr. Clinton personally called with an endorsement.
The company said Mr. McLarty, a former Little Rock businessman who went to Washington with Mr. Clinton in 1993, also offered an endorsement in what the White House said was "a recommendation out of a sense of civility and decency."
Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr already is investigating the White House's efforts in 1994 to help former Associate Attorney General Webster L. Hubbell find work after he resigned in disgrace from the Justice Department.
Mr. Starr wants to know whether $500,000 paid to Mr. Hubbell by supporters of Mr. Clinton was "hush money" intended to guarantee his silence in the Whitewater investigation. Mr. Hubbell pleaded guilty in a deal with Mr. Starr to stealing $482,410 from his Rose Law Firm partners.
Callaway attorney Robert Mathias dismissed suggestions that the job offer to Mr. Watkins was an effort to solicit his silence in the Starr probe.
"There's no evidence at all that anybody tried to buy David's silence or to color his testimony," said Mr. Mathias, adding that the president "felt bad about the circumstances under which David ended up resigning."
Mr. Watkins, at the time of his resignation, was actively involved in the White House Travelgate scandal. He ordered the firing of seven travel office employees, six of whom were later rehired, although he wrote in a confidential White House memo -- later discovered by a Senate committee -- that first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had pressured him to fire the workers.
Mrs. Clinton has denied ordering the firings.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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