Clinton pals financed Arkansas prosecutor after he charged Hale ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Less than a month after announcing plans to charge Whitewater witness David L. Hale on state fraud charges, a Little Rock prosecutor seeking election to Congress began receiving campaign donations from Democratic fund-raisers loyal to President Clinton, including Charles Yah Lin Trie. Federal Election Commission records show that Pulaski County Prosecutor Mark Stodola accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Clinton benefactors after he announced plans in January 1996 to charge Hale. Among his friends are Mr. Clinton and convicted Whitewater felons Jim Guy Tucker and thrift owner James B. McDougal. The donations included a $1,000 gift from Mr. Trie, under indictment in the Justice Department's campaign-finance probe; $3,000 from officials at Tyson Foods Inc., including the firm's president, Don Tyson, and its general counsel, James Blair; and $3,500 from a political action committee operated by Stephens Inc., an Arkansas investment firm that has long supported Mr. Clinton's political career. Mr. Stodola also received $500 from Ernest G. Green, managing director at Lehman Brothers Inc. in Washington, a staunch Clinton supporter who made significant contributions to the Democratic National Committee; and $500 from Rush Deacon, who is tied to United Pacific Trading Co. with James Riady, an executive at the Lippo Group, a key focus of the Justice Department's campaign-finance probe. The state charges against Hale -- which are still pending -- angered Whitewater prosecutors, who said in court papers they had been sought to punish Hale for his cooperation in the federal probe. Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr said at the time it was "highly unusual, if not unprecedented," for the state to bring charges against a cooperating witness "in an important federal investigation." Little Rock police also warned Mr. Stodola against charging Hale, saying that it would be "a big mistake," and that Hale was "cooperating with authorities in other matters." In a letter to Mr. Stodola, Little Rock Police Chief Louie C. Caudell warned the prosecutor that "nothing should be done [in the Hale case] that would hinder the progress of their investigation concerning other parties." Mr. Stodola, defeated in his 1996 race, did not return calls to his office for comment. He has a long history of support for Mr. Clinton, beginning as a scheduling coordinator for Mr. Clinton's unsuccessful 1974 congressional race against Rep. John Hammerschmidt. Mr. Green and Mr. Trie, who also have long-standing ties to Mr. Clinton, wrote letters of endorsement to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for Chinese arms dealer Wang Jun to visit the president in the Oval Office in 1996. A day after Mr. Wang's February 1996 visit, Mr. Green made a $50,000 contribution to the DNC. Mr. Trie attended the Oval Office meeting and introduced Mr. Wang as his guest. Less than a month later, Mr. Trie delivered $640,000 to the president's legal defense fund, which was later returned when its source could not be determined. The donations included checks with signatures that matched those on other checks and money orders numbered sequentially but supposedly originating from people in different cities. Mr. Trie was named Jan. 29 in a 15-count indictment accusing him and a business associate, Antonio Pan, of obstructing justice, conspiring to defraud the government and wire fraud in their transfer of money from U.S. banks to illegally reimburse contributors. After surrendering to FBI agents at Washington Dulles International Airport, Mr. Trie pleaded not guilty Feb. 5 to charges of conspiring to buy political influence through the illegal diversion of campaign cash to the DNC. An Oct. 7 trial date has been set. The state charge, filed just days before the statute of limitations expired, said Hale made a false 1993 report to regulators regarding National Savings Life Insurance Co., a firm he controlled that provided burial plots for low-income Arkansans. He was accused of failing to set aside enough cash reserves required under the law to cover 2,000 policyholders. None of the policyholders lost any money. State records show no other Arkansas insurance official has even been charged criminally in a similar case. "Given the number of receiverships and similar procedures against insurance companies of all kinds in that time frame, this can hardly be attributed to a lack of such cases to pursue," David Bowden, Hale's attorney, said. Mr. Bowden said Mr. Stodola felt no "particular need to pursue" other cases against Whitewater figures, noting that former Rose Law Firm lawyer Webster L. Hubbell was convicted on federal tax-evasion charges but no effort was made to investigate state tax returns he filed the same year. "Only David Hale, whose testimony in a federal case brought down a sitting Democratic governor and threatens to do the same to a presidential administration, is targeted for this treatment," he said. Hale's testimony in the first Whitewater trial led to the convictions of Tucker and James and Susan McDougal, who owned Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association and were partners with the Clintons in Whitewater Development Corp. He was sentenced on unrelated fraud charges to 28 months in prison in a deal with Whitewater prosecutors and has since been released. Tucker pleaded guilty last week in a second Whitewater indictment and has agreed to cooperate in the Whitewater probe. ==========================================================================