How is the Clinton White House like a subway? According to Johnny Chung, fund-raiser extraordinaire for the Democrats last year, you put in coins to open the gates. That cynical comment was part of a revealing interview this week with Tom Brokaw of NBC News, in which Mr. Chung seemed to live up to his reputation as a ''hustler,'' the term that National Security Council officials used to describe him when they were trying to keep him out. Mr. Chung nonetheless visited the White House nearly 50 times because he arranged for almost $400,000 in party donations, and he told Mr. Brokaw he paid the money because that is how the system worked.

No less startling was Mr. Chung's allegation that the Democratic Party was not the only player with a ravenous appetite for money. He also described how he was, in effect, shaken down for a $25,000 donation to Africare, a charitable organization supported by the Energy Secretary at the time, Hazel O'Leary. Mr. Chung said he gave the check directly to a man who said he was an Energy Department official, in order to set up a meeting with Mrs. O'Leary and a Chinese petrochemical official. On another occasion, Mr. Chung said he gave $50,000 to a White House aide to help pay for a Christmas reception in the executive mansion, and then landed a meeting with the First Lady.

Hillary Rodham Clinton said she had no recollection of such a meeting, and the White House denies that it solicited the money from Mr. Chung. But the NBC News report was filled with pictures of Mr. Chung lounging around the executive mansion like a guest at a resort hotel. There he was in the White House mess hall, or at the President's movie theater, or at the White House bowling alley.

Though the alleged Energy Department solicitation described by Mr. Chung was for a charity, it would still be a violation of Federal law to have carried it out. Moreover, if evidence turns out to exist that Mrs. O'Leary knew about the solicitation, this would be yet another concrete reason for Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint a special counsel to investigate. Mrs. O'Leary has acknowledged meeting with Mr. Chung's associate but vigorously denies soliciting a donation or authorizing anyone to do so. As this page has argued, the special prosecutor statute should come into play if only because of the inherent conflict of interest in the Justice Department investigating so many top Administration officials. But the law also is triggered whenever there is suspicious activity by a Cabinet member. The current Energy Secretary, Federico Pena, has described the allegation as serious and has launched an investigation.