LITTLE ROCK -- Whitewater corporate documents obtained Tuesday support President Clinton's contention that Whitewater was a legitimate, money-losing real estate venture - but show a more active role by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
James McDougal, a Whitewater partner, sold copies of 2,300 pages of corporate records - provided to him by the White House last week.
"These documents . . . totally exonerate (the Clintons) from all charges that this is some sort of cash cow or some sort of Mafia front or whatever fantasy the Republicans have been able to create," McDougal said.
Ten media outlets, including USA TODAY, paid $ 1,000 per set - less than the 50 cents a page the federal court here charges for copies.
The records reveal Whitewater Development Co. lost $ 127,000 from 1979-88, was often late on mortgage payments, overdrew its checking account and was as many as three years late filing federal tax returns.
McDougal said Hillary Clinton, on his advice, used Whitewater losses to reduce taxes she had to pay on her commodity trading profits.
The documents, mostly hand-written, include:
-- Whitewater Development Co. tax returns from 1979-88, mostly unsigned and undated. They show the corporation lost $ 127,669 in its first 10 years, paying no income taxes.
-- Most checking account statements and deposits at the Citizens Bank and Trust of Flippin, Ark., where the Clintons and McDougals borrowed $ 200,000 to buy the 230-acre Whitewater property.
-- Contracts for land sales from the Whitewater property.
Some of the records were removed from White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster's office after his death last July. The White House fought to keep them secret until January, when they were turned over to prosecutors looking into Whitewater.
But McDougal said the White House didn't give him everything. Missing: bank records for the Whitewater checking account at Madison Bank and Trust, which he owned.
Rep. James Leach, R-Iowa, says the account was used to funnel taxpayer money to Whitewater from Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, whose failure cost taxpayers $ 47 million. McDougal owned Madison S&L.
Also missing: information on Whitewater Lot 13, used in transactions that Leach says netted Hillary Clinton an improper $ 20,000 profit - a charge the White House denies.
McDougal's records show Hillary Clinton had an active role in Whitewater, contrary to her original claim they were passive investors.
The Rose Law Firm, where Hillary Clinton was partner, was listed as Whitewater's address on 1986-88 tax returns, prepared in 1990. Some Whitewater buyers sent monthly checks directly to her there.
"Jim McDougal ran the company," said David Kendall, the Clintons' lawyer. "In its later years, with Jim McDougal unavailable and (his wife) Susan McDougal in California, Mrs. Clinton, by default, took certain necessary steps to wrap up and wind down the company's affairs."
