Whitewater Investigation Seeks Teamsters Records, Sources Say

In a new twist to the Whitewater inquiry, investigators contacted a Teamsters union local Monday about payments involving White House Counsel Charles F. C. Ruff and a private detective who worked for the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign, sources said.

According to two people close to Teamsters Local 337 in Detroit, an FBI agent working for Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr demanded billing records of payments by Teamsters headquarters to the law firm of Ruff, who as a private lawyer assisted the union’s anti-corruption efforts.

Ruff, in turn, hired San Francisco private investigator Jack Palladino for $150,000.

Palladino’s name came up in the Senate Whitewater Committee investigation because of his contacts with people close to President Clinton, including longtime aide Betsey Wright and then-Associate Atty. Gen. Webster L. Hubbell.

Starr’s office has been looking into payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hubbell by political allies of the Clinton White House. The payments came after Hubbell left the No. 3 post in the Justice Department but before he pleaded guilty to tax evasion and mail fraud in 1994.

Palladino said he was hired by Clinton’s 1992 campaign to rebut rumors of the candidate’s personal relationships with various women.

Starr’s office contacted Local 337 President Larry Brennan about the issue, according to the sources, who demanded anonymity. The records reportedly sought by the investigators consist mostly of bills from Ruff’s law firm, Covington & Burling, which include about $150,000 in charges from Palladino’s firm, Palladino & Sutherland.

No other details were immediately available.