Democrats’ Treasurer Resigns to Raise Funds for Gov. Clinton

The Democratic Party’s treasurer resigned Wednesday to become chief fund-raiser for the likely 1992 presidential campaign of Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

Robert A. Farmer said Clinton had offered no assurances that he would enter the race, but the governor is widely expected to do so next month.

“If Bill Clinton decides to run, the resources will be there for him,” said Farmer, who helped the Democratic National Committee to back-to-back fund-raising records in 1989 and 1990. He was also the top fund-raiser for 1988 Democratic nominee Michael S. Dukakis.

Farmer, who becomes treasurer of Clinton’s presidential exploratory committee, immediately flew to Little Rock to meet with Clinton and to assemble a team of fund-raisers.

“Bob Farmer is a gifted man with a lot of friends and supporters around the country,” Clinton said through a spokesman. “I’m very grateful that he’s willing to help me in the exploratory process.”

Several Clinton advisers were on hand at party headquarters for Farmer’s announcement, and several said they had every reason to believe that Clinton will run. The governor almost ran for the 1988 nomination but decided against it at the last minute.

Farmer said he believes Clinton is the best qualified of the party’s 1992 prospects. Farmer had offered to raise money for House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, but the Missouri Democrat decided not to run.

Farmer said he thought that an all-out primary campaign would cost about $15 million, slightly more than half of the $28 million that Dukakis spent in 1987-88 to obtain the nomination.