Arkansas Governor, Wife to Testify Before Whitewater Grand Jury

Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and his wife will testify this afternoon before a federal grand jury investigating the Whitewater affair, an aide to Tucker confirmed Wednesday night.

Max Parker, Tucker’s press secretary, said the Tuckers, who spent Wednesday night meeting with attorneys and aides at the governor’s mansion, would appear at the U.S. Courthouse in Little Rock.

For months, Tucker, a Democrat who succeeded President Clinton as Arkansas governor, has sparred with Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr.

Starr has been investigating President and Mrs. Clinton’s personal finances, but his probe has widened to include many Arkansas business and political figures who had dealings with Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan.

Madison Guaranty financed the Whitewater project, and the S&L;’s owner, James B. McDougal, joined the Clintons as original investors in the resort. Starr has been trying to learn if depositor’s funds were improperly channeled to the Whitewater account and to Clinton’s campaigns for governor of Arkansas in the 1980s.

Earlier Wednesday, Tucker’s lawyers tried to persuade a federal district judge in Little Rock to quash Starr’s subpoena, claiming that the special prosecutor was exceeding the scope of his powers.

Tucker’s lawyers did win a stay of a subpoena by the RTC.