Salon | Newsreal: The roots of the Clinton smear

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A Monica-free zone

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Men in black (robes)
By Bruce Shapiro
Looking for an anti-Clinton arch-conspirator? Try the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
(02/04/98)
Subpoena me? Subpoena you!
By Jonathan Broder
Trying to turn the tables, the president's attorney gets legal on Kenneth Starr
(02/03/98)
Tonya's trials
By Jane Meredith Adams
How Tonya Harding went from skating champion to video poker addict
(02/02/98)
Application to Have Sex With the President
By Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau
(01/30/98)
Defending the right to pry
By Richard Rodriguez
Why the private life of public people matters
(01/29/98)
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THE ROOTS OF THE CLINTON SMEAR | PAGE 3 OF 7
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Larry Nichols is a former high school football star from Conway, Ark., who recorded advertising jingles for a living. For several months in 1988, he worked as a marketing consultant for the Arkansas Finance Development Authority, the state's centralized bonding agency. Nichols had quite an imagination, telling people, among other things, that he was a CIA operative. In September 1988, the Associated Press reported, Nichols made 642 long-distance calls at state expense to Nicaraguan contra leaders and politicians who supported them. Nichols at first claimed the calls had dealt with Arkansas municipal bond sales, but that story collapsed after reporters made closer inquiries. Gov. Clinton demanded his resignation. Nichols, it turned out, also faced "theft by deception" charges in several Arkansas counties. He avoided prosecution by promising to make restitution, but later filed for bankruptcy and never paid.
A few weeks before the 1990 Arkansas gubernatorial election between Clinton and Republican Sheffield Nelson, Nichols held a press conference at the state capitol. He handed out copies of a lawsuit against Clinton alleging that he'd been wrongly fired from his state job, and appended a list of five mistresses upon whom the governor had allegedly spent state money. One of them was Gennifer Flowers.
Reporters from the two Little Rock papers contacted the women, all of whom made vehement denials. Flowers and her lawyer threatened in writing to sue anybody who published or broadcast what she characterized as a libel. Faced with denials all round, and Nichols' reputation for tall tales, every media outlet in Little Rock made the same decision: The women's names were not published.
Nichols took his case against Clinton into the political arena. Reporters learned that Nichols held meetings with state Republican Chairman Bob Leslie. Copies of Nichols' lawsuit against Clinton were readily available at Nelson's campaign headquarters. Faxed copies began appearing at out-of-town newspapers and broadcast stations all over Arkansas. With one exception, nobody used them. A judge soon dismissed Nichols' suit for lack of evidence. The Nelson campaign filmed at least two campaign commercials charging Clinton with drug use and sexual misbehavior, but feared they might backfire and never aired them.
Undeterred, the former jingle writer has gone on to become one of the biggest stars of Clinton-phobic talk radio, inveighing regularly against the president's imaginary high crimes and misdemeanors. Nichols, along with "Justice Jim" Johnson, a bigoted Arkansas pol whose 1966 gubernatorial candidacy was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, is the narrator of two bizarre videos, one called "The Clinton Chronicles," the other "The Mena Connection." Produced by a California outfit called Citizens for Honest Government, the tapes make scores of wild charges regarding Clinton's tenure as Arkansas governor. They include cocaine addiction, rape, gun-running, drug-smuggling and murder. Even the fiercely Republican Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has written articles detailing their near-delusional inaccuracy. Still, the tapes were good enough to be promoted and distributed via Christian television by former Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell.
While Nichols' lawsuit against Clinton was dismissed by local and regional media, it did find a home on supermarket news racks nationwide. Exactly one week before the Star published Flowers' account of her alleged 12-year affair with Clinton, the tabloid ran a similar "exposé" based upon Nichols' lawsuit: "DEMS' FRONT-RUNNER BILL CLINTON CHEATED WITH MISS AMERICA."
The Miss America in question was the 1982 winner, Elizabeth Ward of Russellville, Ark. By no means shy and retiring -- she once posed for Playboy -- Ward, to this day, vehemently denies the charge, even to her closest friends. So do all the other women on Nichols' list, including Gannett newspapers columnist Deborah Mathis, an outspoken, witty black woman who once anchored Little Rock's top-rated TV news program. "If I ever had slept with that fat white boy," Mathis joked with friends in the Little Rock media, "he'd still be grinning."

N E X T+P A G E+| "Gennifer, it's Bill Clinton."

T A B L E+T A L K Can't afford to go to Nagano? Come into Salon's Olympic village -- it's free! D A I L Y+Q U O T E A Monica-free zone R E C E N T L Y Men in black (robes) By Bruce Shapiro Looking for an anti-Clinton arch-conspirator? Try the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (02/04/98) Subpoena me? Subpoena you! By Jonathan Broder Trying to turn the tables, the president's attorney gets legal on Kenneth Starr (02/03/98) Tonya's trials By Jane Meredith Adams How Tonya Harding went from skating champion to video poker addict (02/02/98) Application to Have Sex With the President By Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau (01/30/98) Defending the right to pry By Richard Rodriguez Why the private life of public people matters (01/29/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		THE ROOTS OF THE CLINTON SMEAR \| PAGE 3 OF 7 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Larry Nichols is a former high school football star from Conway, Ark., who recorded advertising jingles for a living. For several months in 1988, he worked as a marketing consultant for the Arkansas Finance Development Authority, the state's centralized bonding agency. Nichols had quite an imagination, telling people, among other things, that he was a CIA operative. In September 1988, the Associated Press reported, Nichols made 642 long-distance calls at state expense to Nicaraguan contra leaders and politicians who supported them. Nichols at first claimed the calls had dealt with Arkansas municipal bond sales, but that story collapsed after reporters made closer inquiries. Gov. Clinton demanded his resignation. Nichols, it turned out, also faced "theft by deception" charges in several Arkansas counties. He avoided prosecution by promising to make restitution, but later filed for bankruptcy and never paid. A few weeks before the 1990 Arkansas gubernatorial election between Clinton and Republican Sheffield Nelson, Nichols held a press conference at the state capitol. He handed out copies of a lawsuit against Clinton alleging that he'd been wrongly fired from his state job, and appended a list of five mistresses upon whom the governor had allegedly spent state money. One of them was Gennifer Flowers. Reporters from the two Little Rock papers contacted the women, all of whom made vehement denials. Flowers and her lawyer threatened in writing to sue anybody who published or broadcast what she characterized as a libel. Faced with denials all round, and Nichols' reputation for tall tales, every media outlet in Little Rock made the same decision: The women's names were not published. Nichols took his case against Clinton into the political arena. Reporters learned that Nichols held meetings with state Republican Chairman Bob Leslie. Copies of Nichols' lawsuit against Clinton were readily available at Nelson's campaign headquarters. Faxed copies began appearing at out-of-town newspapers and broadcast stations all over Arkansas. With one exception, nobody used them. A judge soon dismissed Nichols' suit for lack of evidence. The Nelson campaign filmed at least two campaign commercials charging Clinton with drug use and sexual misbehavior, but feared they might backfire and never aired them. Undeterred, the former jingle writer has gone on to become one of the biggest stars of Clinton-phobic talk radio, inveighing regularly against the president's imaginary high crimes and misdemeanors. Nichols, along with "Justice Jim" Johnson, a bigoted Arkansas pol whose 1966 gubernatorial candidacy was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, is the narrator of two bizarre videos, one called "The Clinton Chronicles," the other "The Mena Connection." Produced by a California outfit called Citizens for Honest Government, the tapes make scores of wild charges regarding Clinton's tenure as Arkansas governor. They include cocaine addiction, rape, gun-running, drug-smuggling and murder. Even the fiercely Republican Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has written articles detailing their near-delusional inaccuracy. Still, the tapes were good enough to be promoted and distributed via Christian television by former Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell. While Nichols' lawsuit against Clinton was dismissed by local and regional media, it did find a home on supermarket news racks nationwide. Exactly one week before the Star published Flowers' account of her alleged 12-year affair with Clinton, the tabloid ran a similar "exposé" based upon Nichols' lawsuit: "DEMS' FRONT-RUNNER BILL CLINTON CHEATED WITH MISS AMERICA." The Miss America in question was the 1982 winner, Elizabeth Ward of Russellville, Ark. By no means shy and retiring -- she once posed for Playboy -- Ward, to this day, vehemently denies the charge, even to her closest friends. So do all the other women on Nichols' list, including Gannett newspapers columnist Deborah Mathis, an outspoken, witty black woman who once anchored Little Rock's top-rated TV news program. "If I ever had slept with that fat white boy," Mathis joked with friends in the Little Rock media, "he'd still be grinning." N E X T+P A G E+\| "Gennifer, it's Bill Clinton."