Civic Economics - Page A1
April 2, 1997
WHITE HOUSE PRESSURE ON FIRMS
By Howard Hobbs, JD PhD Economics & Legal Editor
TO HIRE WEB HUBBELL AFTER
HIS FRAUD GUILTY PLEAWASHINGTON DESK - Within days Webster Hubbell's guilty plea on criminal charges of fraud and tax evasion, the Clinton administration was contacting Truman Arnold, a Texas oilman to arrange another job for Hubbell.
In response numerous press questions before Clinton's trip to China, the White House acknowledged that Clinton was aware that his friends had hired Hubbell after his guilty plea on fraud charges and resignation from associate attorney general at the Justice Department.
It was White House counselor Thomas 'Mack' McLarty and Erskine Bowles, White House Chief of Staff who made the call in the spring of 1994, from the White House.
Shortly after that, Arnold gave work to Hubbell. Arnold then persuaded another longtime Clinton supporter, Texas insurance magnate Bernard Rapoport, to put Hubbell on the payroll.
At the time, Bowles, was the head of the Small Business Administration. Bowles made calls to pressure businessmen he knew to hire Hubbell, the White House said, Tuesday.
Tuesday's revelations pushed the Hubbell controversy to a new level, bringing it inside the White House and touching Clinton's closest advisers.
McLarty implicated Hillary Rodham Clinton in the he help for Hubbell, White House spokesman Lanny Davis said, but that the first lady doesn't remember what was said.
McLarty said he also contacted attorney Vernon Jordan, a close friend of president Clinton an adviser. McLarty says he doesn't remember what was said about helping Hubbell out when he spoke with Jordan. Jordan, who is a director of Dow Jones Co., was out of the country Tuesday, and couldn't be reached for comment. Dow Jones publishes The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition.
