WASHINGTON INSIGHT

RTC AND HRP: The Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency charged with cleaning up after the S&L; mess, seems awfully eager to help the press look into its dealings with Ross Perot. . . . The RTC recently messaged several of its Texas offices requesting information about Perot, according to the Houston Post. RTC spokesman Steve Katsanos said the agency was simply trying to help reporters who had asked whether Perot had been involved in any RTC transactions. But L. William Seidman, former chairman of both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the RTC, dismisses that explanation. . . . Seidman, a Perot friend and rumored Perot Cabinet appointee, told The Times he smelled politics. “To my knowledge, we never did anything like that when I was there. We don’t check on individual buyers.”