When Robert Fiske ran the Whitewater probe, he focused on Washington's recent past, from Vince Foster's death to improper contacts between the White House and the Treasury Department. By contrast, his successor, Kenneth Starr, is delving into Whitewater's ancient Arkansas history. Indeed, the first victim of Starr's inquiry was a real-estate appraiser named Robert Palmer who pleaded guilty last week to falsifyingdocuments for Madison Guaranty in 1986. Madison was then owned by Jim McDougal, Bill and Hillary Clinton's partner in the Whitewater real-estate venture. Palmer did hundreds of appraisals for Madison, so Starr is likely to ask him for details about the thrift's finances and its ties to the Clintons.
Starr also reached a plea agreement with Webster Hubbell, the ex-associate attorney general and Clinton friend charged with mail fraud and tax evasion stemming from his work at Little Rock's Rose Law Firm. Starr will want to pick Hubbell's brain about Whitewater matters in Arkansas and Washington alike. Starr's next target may be Jim McDougal. Last week, his lawyer received a letter from Starr alerting him that McDougal is a subject of "numerous investigations."
