‘84 Clinton Campaign Listed in RTC Probe : Whitewater: Investigators had named the gubernatorial reelection committee as a suspect in their inquiry into Madison Guaranty.

Investigators for the Resolution Trust Corp. last year named the 1984 Clinton gubernatorial campaign committee as a suspect in their criminal probe of Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan. They cited evidence in a detailed referral that the campaign may have conspired to illegally benefit from depositor funds, according to a source familiar with the case.

One of the RTC’s 10 “criminal referrals” on Madison, which have been forwarded to special counsel Robert B. Fiske Jr., seeks further investigation into whether $60,500 in Madison funds was diverted to the campaign with the knowledge of campaign officials.

The investigators’ interest centered on an April 4, 1985, fund-raiser held by Madison owner James B. McDougal at Bill Clinton’s request to help the then-governor pay off a $50,000 personal loan used for the 1984 campaign. They also noted that some contributions exceeded legal limits and urged further investigation of $10,500 in Madison funds that may have ended up in the Clinton campaign after passing through Madison accounts. One of those was in the name of the Clintons’ Whitewater real estate venture.

The RTC referrals have been widely reported, but their contents have not been known. The disclosure of the language used in describing the campaign’s activities is the first indication of a specific allegation of possible wrongdoing involving the campaign.

The referral names Hillary Rodham Clinton as a possible witness, citing the close timing of the fund-raiser with her legal representation of Madison before state regulators appointed by her husband.

The Clintons were partners with McDougal and his wife in Whitewater, and McDougal has said he paid Hillary Clinton’s law firm $2,000 a month to help him win state regulatory approval for a novel stock plan.

President Clinton and the First Lady have said they did nothing wrong in connection with Madison. They described her legal work for the thrift as minimal, and former Clinton aides have said he had no involvement with handling proceeds from the 1985 fund-raiser.

The White House said Friday it could not comment. “The special counsel’s looking into it,” Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said. “We don’t know what’s in the referral.”

Betsey Wright, Clinton’s chief of staff as Arkansas governor and manager of the 1984 campaign, said Friday she was unaware that the campaign committee was named as a suspect. She declined to say if she had received a subpoena from Fiske but said she is furnishing campaign records at his request.

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Wright and other Clinton aides have said that records documenting contributions from the 1985 fund-raiser cannot be located.

A second RTC criminal referral that mentions the Clintons said it appears Madison funds were diverted to the Whitewater Development Corp. and describes the Clintons as “potential beneficiaries” but not criminal suspects. Whitewater was an Arkansas real estate venture.

The RTC, the federal agency charged with disposing of failed S&Ls;, routinely investigates the thrifts for potential civil claims that could help recoup some of the cleanup cost. The agency also looks into suspected criminal wrongdoing and refers evidence it develops to the FBI and federal prosecutors.