Ex-Governor Awaits Liver Transplant

Former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, awaiting a liver transplant, will travel to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for a week of medical tests, his spokeswoman said Saturday.

Doctors at the Rochester, Minn., clinic will evaluate Tucker’s heart, lungs and other details of his health to prepare for a transplant when a liver is available, Max Parker said.

A federal jury convicted Tucker May 28 of fraud and conspiracy in a Whitewater trial. Tucker, 53, resigned in July.

The ex-governor, who had put off medical evaluations as he prepared for his trial, was told shortly after the conviction that he needed a new liver and was placed on a transplant list.

Tucker, 53, has suffered from chronic liver problems. He hemorrhaged badly in 1993 and in June was suffering from slight jaundice, an enlarged spleen and coarsening of the liver - all signs that indicate the disease is progressing.