Clinton’s Accuser Goes on the Interview Circuit : Arkansas: Paula Jones seeks to bolster her credibility. She admits getting pay raises, contradicting a claim in her sex harassment suit.

Paula Corbin Jones, the woman who filed suit accusing President Clinton of sexual harassment while he was governor of Arkansas, has broken a silence of six weeks with a number of interviews apparently in an attempt to drum up financial support and address questions about her credibility.

Jones’ allegations of a crude sexual advance by Clinton in a Little Rock hotel room in May, 1991, has been challenged in recent weeks by the Arkansas state trooper who she says set up the encounter and by her own sister, who accuses her of fabricating the story in hopes of enriching herself.

In the interviews--with ABC, CNN, CBS and several publications--Jones sticks to the main elements of her story but undercuts one of her key claims by acknowledging that she received cost-of-living and merit pay raises in her low-level job with the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission. In her suit against Clinton, she claimed that she had been denied advancement and salary increases after rebuffing Clinton’s request for sex.

Jones repeatedly denies that her motive is to get rich or to embarrass the President. But she does say that she registered to vote for the first time 1992 so that she could vote against Clinton and that she thinks Clinton is morally unfit for the presidency.

“The reason I filed the complaint is because I asked for an apology and I didn’t get an apology, and instead he (Clinton) called me ‘pathetic’ and ‘a liar,’ ” she told Sam Donaldson in an interview for the ABC program, “Prime Time Live,” which was broadcast Thursday night. “I’m not trying to hurt the President. . . . He needs to come forth and he needs to tell the truth and he needs to pay for what he’s done.”

Jones said she did not complain immediately after the incident with Clinton because she was afraid of the governor’s power and feared losing her job.

“I had a job that paid very good for Arkansas, I thought. I needed a job. . . . I was scared,” Jones said in an interview with CNN to be broadcast tonight. “I didn’t know if I could tell Dave Harrington (her supervisor). He was the director; he was also a dear friend of the governor’s.”

Jones’ attorney, Gilbert K. Davis of Fairfax, Va., said that Jones consented to the interviews because “it is important to let the American people know who she is.

“We want to allow the American people to determine for themselves that she is believable, that she deserves a good reputation, that she is credible,” Davis said.

The lawyer also said that, at his urging, Jones took a polygraph examination earlier this month which he said demonstrated that she is telling the truth about her encounter with Clinton.

And, he said, the 27-year-old former clerk now living in Long Beach received “not a penny” for the interviews she did this week.

Jones’ sister, Charlotte Brown, and state trooper Danny Ferguson, who says he escorted Jones to Clinton’s hotel room, have alleged separately that Jones told them she believed she could make money by selling the story of her encounter with Clinton.

But, she said in the CNN interview, “I haven’t received any money. I don’t want any money. I’ve turned down offers for money.”

The White House referred all questions to Robert S. Bennett, the attorney who is handling the matter for Clinton. Bennett refused to comment but a source familiar with the case contended that Clinton and his advisers are pleased that Jones has decided to do a tour of the talk shows. They believe she will damage her credibility and may draw a rebuke from the judge for trying the case in the press.