Whitewater Figure Speaks at Kennedy School

Assistant to the President and White House Director of Communications Mark D. Gearan '78--one of two Harvard graduates now tied to the presidential scandal known as Whitewater--spoke during a panel at the Kennedy School last night.

The panel--a discussion of how the media reports on the White House--did not touch on coverage of the President and Mrs. Clinton's involvement in the failed Whitewater Development Company in Arkansas.

But in an indication of the size of the growing scandal, ABC News and the Boston Globe sent reporters to what otherwise would have been a run-of-the-mill Institute of Politics event.

In an interview after the discussion, Gearan ducked questions about Whitewater scandal.

Gearan said he knew nothing of Law School Professor Alan M. Dershowitz's recent call for a full investigation of the Clintons' involvement with Whitewater.

Gearan is one of several White House aids who have been subpoenaed as part of an inquiry by a federal special prosecutor, Robert B. Fiske Jr.

Fiske is trying to determine whether the Clintons violated any laws when the president was governor of Arkansas and the First Lady was a partner in the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock.

The Clintons were partners with family friend James B. McDougal in the Whitewater company, which was a failed attempt to sell vacation homes in rural Arkansas. McDougal was also theowner of a failed savings and loan for which stateregulators who answered to Governor Clinton wereresponsible. Is addition, Mrs. Clinton wasMcDougal's lawyer.

This tangled web of connections has led someobservers to conclude that the Clintons trampledon ethics, if not the law, in their dealings withMcDougal and Whitewater.

The scandal has widened in recent weeks, asnews reports raised the possibility that WhiteHouse officials, including Gearan, attempted acover up.

Bernard W. Nussbaum, a member of the Law Schoolclass of 1961, was forced in resign as White Housecounsel last week after it was revealed thatTreasury department officials him on the status oftheir investigation into the matter. Suchbriefings are generally considered unethical, and,in accepting Nussbaum's resignation, PresidentClinton expressed regret that they had occurred

This tangled web of connections has led someobservers to conclude that the Clintons trampledon ethics, if not the law, in their dealings withMcDougal and Whitewater.

The scandal has widened in recent weeks, asnews reports raised the possibility that WhiteHouse officials, including Gearan, attempted acover up.

Bernard W. Nussbaum, a member of the Law Schoolclass of 1961, was forced in resign as White Housecounsel last week after it was revealed thatTreasury department officials him on the status oftheir investigation into the matter. Suchbriefings are generally considered unethical, and,in accepting Nussbaum's resignation, PresidentClinton expressed regret that they had occurred