Nevadans add contributions to Clinton defense fund

Friday, Aug. 13, 1999 | 12:16 p.m.

He was one of 160 Nevadans who sent $5,706 to the president's legal defense fund during the first six months of this year, according to an accounting Thursday by fund trustees.

Nevada generated mostly small donations - the largest was a $200 check from Fogarty, on top of a $200 donation he made last year.

Since it was established in February 1998, 329 Nevadans have contributed $26,148 to the fund, which has grown to $6.3 million from donations nationwide.

The money is targeted to help the Clintons pay legal fees of $10.5 million stemming from the Whitewater investigation, the impeachment proceedings and the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones.

Other Nevada contributors include Joseph Formica of East Las Vegas, an 82-year-old retired Teamster who says the president's critics "should have kept their mouths shut."

"I hate them for the way they treated this man," said Formica, explaining why he gave $25 to Clinton's legal fund.

"A lot of right wing nuts in this country want to do him in, and I always support the underdog," said Lloyd A. Wright, a deputy probation officer from Los Angeles who has retired to Henderson. Wright gave $100 last year and another $100 this year.

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