CAMPAIGN FUND RAISING

By MELISSA AUGUST AND MARK THOMPSON/WASHINGTON

When the Army Times published a report six months ago on the increased number of waivers granted to otherwise ineligible people to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, the story sank like a stone. Perhaps that's because it didn't have a p.r. campaign behind it like the one orchestrated last week by Insight magazine, owned by the conservative Washington Times newspaper.

While the earlier story did not suggest that the waivers were payoffs to President Clinton's political contributors, the Insight piece declared right up front that they "apparently" were. It offered no names and no proof. But that didn't seem to matter. Insight faxed the story to talk-radio shows nationwide and dozens of Rush wannabes. Insight's press release encouraged the talk-show hosts to call Representative TERRY EVERETT, an Alabama Republican who has been looking into the matter for months without reaching any conclusion. Smelling blood, JIM NICHOLSON, ex-Army Ranger and the chairman of the Republican National Committee, blasted away. "This action goes way beyond selling sleepovers in the Lincoln Bedroom, coffee parties in the Map Room, or Air Force One joyrides," Nicholson said.

According to Army Secretary Togo West, Clinton has personally granted waivers for four deceased people: a Supreme Court Justice; the wife of another Justice; an Army veteran who was killed while working as a federal drug agent in Peru; and a Marine Corps vet killed in the line of duty as a police officer. West himself granted 58 waivers, 42 of them to relatives of already buried veterans. After the Army released the names, Everett counseled caution. "I urge everyone," he said, "to avoid hasty conclusions."

--By Melissa August and Mark Thompson/Washington