1ST LADY RELEASES BILLING RECORDS FOR WHITEWATER.

Byline: Pete Yost Associated Press 

WASHINGTON - Saying the long sought records were "discovered" Thursday in a White House office, Hillary Rodham Clinton's attorney Friday released 116 pages of billing records documenting her legal work for her Whitewater partner's savings and loan.

Whitewater prosecutors first asked for the papers more than two years ago, but were told they could not be found.

Clinton's attorney, David Kendall, said some of the records bore the handwriting of deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster, who killed himself in 1993. "The records were discovered yesterday," Kendall said.

The documents indicate that Clinton did about 60 hours of work for Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan, with about 50 meetings and phone calls in all. The billings refer to more than two dozen meetings by Clinton with Madison owner James McDougal and other executives at the failing savings and loan. In addition, they refer to more than two dozen other meetings between her and lawyers at her firm regarding Madison.

Senate Whitewater Committee chairman Alfonse D'Amato expressed doubt that the White House previously had been ignorant of the whereabouts of the records. "They have a history of having incredible discoveries on Friday in the afternoon . . . I think it was well-choreographed,' ' D'Amato said.

Kendall answered "no" when asked whether he knows the whereabouts of the newly produced records before Thursday, when they were found by presidential assistant Carolyn Huber. He said a search of Huber's office in 1994 failed to turn up the billing records.

Justice Department attorney Donald MacKay, the first special prosecutor for Whitewater, asked the White House for the billing records in December 1993, the White House said.

Since the 1992 presidential campaign, Clinton has described her work for Madison as minimal, and Kendall asserted: "These records confirm our earlier statements about the nature and amount of Mrs. Clinton's work."

But D'Amato said there appears to be a conflict between the billing records and the sworn statements by Clinton in written answers she gave government investigators.

There was "much more communication" between Clinton and Madison executives than previously admitted, said D'Amato, R-N.Y.

The House Banking Committee issued a statement saying that "contrary to past statements . . . Mrs. Clinton's legal work . . . was extensive and detailed."

The release of the Rose Law Firm records came on the same day that the White House expressed regrets for failing to surrender a key document sooner in another Clinton controversy - the firing of the White House travel office staff - and promised to investigate why it took so long.

D'Amato sarcastically described Friday's release of the savings and loan billings as the "second miraculous discovery within the past 24 hours."

Kendall said he does not know for certain, but he thinks that the newly produced records represent the full picture of Clinton's work for Madison while she was at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock. The papers were requested in mid-1994 by then-Whitewater counsel Robert Fiske.

Kendall said the papers were found "among correspondence, memorabilia and other materials that Mrs. Huber was cataloging."

The disclosure, coupled with the discovery a week ago of a memo linking Clinton to the 1993 travel office firings, once again make the first lady's influential role at the White House a political problem for the president.

The earlier memo from former White House aide David Watkins claimed Clinton was behind the 1993 firings. She denies the charge.

Aides said the first lady, in conjunction with an upcoming book tour, was considering several forums - including a news conference - to address some of the questions raised about her.

In his letter to the Senate committee, Kendall said the documents "appear to be copies of Rose Law Firm billing records for the firm's Madison Guaranty representation in the mid-1980s. . . . The copies appear to have been collected early in the 1992 presidential campaign."

D'Amato demanded an explanation by Monday of who had custody of the records since 1992 as well as "the circumstances surrounding their apparent discovery."

He said he would recall Huber before the committee, saying he has serious questions about the truthfulness of her earlier testimony. But he said he doesn't plan to call Clinton as a witness before the committee.

A "cursory glance would indicate there was a minimum of $21,000" in billings by the Rose Law Firm to Madison Guaranty, D'Amato said. When reporters asked how much of that work was done by Clinton, he said only that "Mrs. Clinton's done some of that work."

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo (color) HILLARY CLINTON