The Arkansas project began shortly after Richard Mellon Scaife, one  of the largest donors to the magazine, directed that his donations be  used for stories aimed at investigating potentially scandalous material  regarding the Clintons. According to R. 
Emmett Tyrrell Jr., editor-in-chief of the 
Spectator, the idea for the Arkansas Project was hatched on a fishing trip on the 
Chesapeake Bay  in the fall of 1993. The "Arkansas Project" name that later became  famous was conceived as a joke; the actual name used within the 
Spectator and the Scaife foundation was the "Editorial Improvement Project." 
Project reporter/investigators were hired, including 
David Brock, who later described his role at that of as a Republican "hitman",[SUP]
[2][/SUP] and 
Rex Armistead, a former police officer who was reportedly paid $350,000 for his efforts.[SUP]
[3][/SUP][SUP][
better source needed][/SUP] Also assisting the project was Parker Dozhier, a bait shop owner who was reportedly obsessed with bringing down Bill Clinton.[SUP]
[4][/SUP]  They were tasked with investigating the Clintons and uncovering stories  tying the Clintons to murders and drug smuggling as well as adultery.[SUP]
[5][/SUP]
According to Brock, Armistead and Brock met at an airport hotel  in Miami, Florida, in late 1993. There, Armistead laid out an elaborate  "Vince Foster murder scenario",  a scenario that Brock later claimed was  implausible."[SUP]
[6][/SUP][SUP]
[7][/SUP]  Regardless, by the end of 1993, Brock was writing stories for the  Spectator that made him "a lead figure in the drive to" expose Clinton.[SUP]
[2][/SUP] 
Ted Olson, who would later represent 
George W. Bush in 
Bush v. Gore and be named 
U.S. Solicitor General,  was a Board Member of the American Spectator Educational Foundation,  and is thought to have known about or played some role in the Arkansas  Project.[SUP]
[8][/SUP] His firm 
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher  provided $14,000 worth of legal services, and he himself wrote or  co-authored several articles that were paid for with Project funds.  During Olson's Senate 
confirmation hearing for Solicitor General, majority Republicans blocked Senator 
Patrick Leahy's call for further committee inquiries on the subject of Olson's ties to the Arkansas Project.[SUP]
[9][/SUP][SUP]
[10][/SUP]