Clinton Discussed State Job With Backers, Witness Says

After two political supporters gave him more than $13,000 in campaign money, then-Gov. Bill Clinton asked whether a friend of theirs would make a good highway commissioner, a witness in the Whitewater trial testified Wednesday.

During a 10- to 15-minute meeting in his state Capitol office, Clinton meticulously thumbed through the checks “kind of like he was memorizing the names,” Carlton Kent Dollar testified.

As Dollar and Perry County Bank co-owner Robert M. Hill prepared to leave, Clinton posed the question: “Do you think Herby Branscum would make a good highway commissioner?” Dollar said.

“Mr. Hill told him he thought he would make a good, excellent, highway commissioner,” Dollar said. “I did likewise.”

Branscum, Hill’s partner in the Perry County Bank, was appointed to a 10-year term on the commission five weeks later.

Branscum and Hill are accused of misapplying money from their bank to reimburse political contributions made by themselves, relatives and employees--including at least $7,000 delivered to Clinton Dec. 14, 1990. Prosecutors do not allege a quid pro quo, but say political ambition motivated the bankers to break the law.

“There’s nothing wrong with Mr. Clinton receiving funds,” lead prosecutor W. Hickman Ewing Jr. said outside court. “What they’re charged with is misapplying funds of the bank. One of the motivations we contend is that they generated $7,000 of the money . . . illegally.”

The bankers also are accused of conspiring to hide from federal regulators large cash withdrawals by Clinton’s 1990 gubernatorial campaign.

According to a memo setting up the appointment, Hill and Dollar wanted an appointment with Clinton to drop off campaign contributions and discuss Hill’s desire to see his partner named to the Arkansas Highway Commission.

Hill brought $10,000 to $12,000 to the meeting, Dollar said. Dollar brought $3,000. Clinton had issued a call for post-election contributions to pay off $125,000 in loans taken from Perry County Bank just before the Nov. 6, 1990, election in order to buy advertising.

Two weeks before meeting Clinton in his office, Dollar had written to the governor asking him to consider Branscum for the highway post. He testified, however, that delivering the $3,000 had nothing to do with his wish to see the appointment made.

“They’re not connected at all,” said Dollar, who in 1987 was named to the state Oil and Gas Commission six months after giving Clinton $1,000.

Clinton is not charged with any wrongdoing in the case.