WASHINGTON — A conservative legal group is prodding the Arkansas Bar to yank Hillary Rodham Clinton’s law license — at a time when the same panel is mulling whether to disbar her husband for lying on Sexgate.
At issue is a report by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that says she prepared a document used “to deceive federal bank examiners” about Castle Grande, a Whitewater-linked real-estate deal.
It’s the latest instance when an old controversy could come back and bite the first lady, although so far there’s no sign her Senate bid has been hurt by fallout from Whitewater or any of the other Clinton controversies.
The Landmark Legal Foundation first asked the Arkansas Bar Association to probe Mrs. Clinton’s conduct in October 1996 — and threatened to go to court March 29 after no action was taken for more than three years.
The head of the bar’s disciplinary panel, James Neal, has now pledged to “review and evaluate the issue” in about 30 days.
Landmark president Mark Levin noted that Arkansas bar rules say it’s “professional misconduct” for a lawyer to be involved in deceit and vowed to be “very aggressive” and go to court if need be to force action.
Asked for Mrs. Clinton’s reaction, her spokesman Howard Wolfson punted the question to Jim Kennedy, her husband’s White House scandal spokesman.
Kennedy said he didn’t know the first lady’s personal reaction.