>>8743825
>>8743909
>>8743792
>>8743586
>>8743549
May be based on a true story.
Clinton Ties to Tyson Scion Still Drawing Critics’ Fire : Politics: Some allege Arkansan got special treatment from Agriculture, Commerce departments. He denies it.
By SARA FRITZ
JUNE 12, 199412 AM
TIMES STAFF WRITER
SPRINGDALE, Ark. — He is an unlikely looking millionaire kingmaker–a balding, impish man whose trademark khaki work uniform belies his wealth and power.
Still, Donald Tyson, who succeeded in building his father’s small poultry business into a multimillion-dollar food-processing empire, has been widely portrayed as a driving force behind the political ascendancy of Bill Clinton.
…Tyson, a liberal Democrat, freely acknowledges that he considers the President an old friend and that he has generously supported Clinton’s political career with campaign contributions and other assistance over the years. But he staunchly denies that the relationship has ever gone beyond that of patron and public servant.
…His aides point to many fictitious stories that have found their way into the press in recent months–reports that Hillary Clinton once served on the Tyson Foods Board of Directors, that Tyson slept at the White House on the night of the President’s inauguration, that Tyson hosted a dinner for the Clintons at an exclusive restaurant in Washington.
…Likewise, Administration officials have been quick to deny the allegations. White House aide John Podesta scoffed at the idea of favoritism toward Tyson, and Agriculture Department officials have condemned as “faulty” suggestions that the Tyson-Clinton connection has in any way influenced the government’s poultry inspections.
…Larry G. Patterson, an Arkansas state trooper and former bodyguard to Clinton, says he remembers that the then-governor once told him if Tyson rendered a favor, the poultry scion would always expect a favor in return. “There is a dark side to Don Tyson,” Patterson recalled Clinton saying.
Nor is there any doubt among locals here that Tyson has played an important role in Clinton’s political success. The evidence includes $18,500 in campaign contributions from Tyson Foods executives to Clinton’s 1992 campaign, as well as generous contributions to other Administration officials.
…Local Democratic politics first brought Tyson and Clinton together in the early 1970s, when the future President was a young teacher at the University of Arkansas Law School in Fayetteville. That was shortly after Tyson’s parents were killed in a car crash, leaving him the family business.
…It was about that same time that Clinton made friends with Blair, now Tyson Foods’ general counsel and the man who helped Hillary Clinton make a $100,000 profit in commodities trading on an investment of just $1,000.
Where Greenwood and others see the outline of a conspiracy involving Tyson, Bone, Blair and Hillary Clinton, their defenders see nothing more than sheer coincidence. After all, they note, this is rural Arkansas, where it seems everyone knows everyone else–especially the Clintons and Don Tyson.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-06-12-mn-3410-story.html