The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, August 28, 1997, Page 2, Image 2

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    Former Cabinet worker
indicted by grand jury
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Former Agriculture Secretary
Mike Espy was charged
Wednesday with seeking and
accepting more than $35,000 in
trips, sports tickets and favors
from companies that did business
with his agency. He was also
accused of lying and tampering
with witnesses to cover up.
Espy, indicted on 39 counts by
a federal grand jury, joins just a
handful of Cabinet secretaries
ever charged with wrongdoing.
The indictment portrays him as an
official who persistently sought
favors from large companies regu
lated by his agency.
Espy's Washington attorney,
Reid Weingarten, said the special
prosecutor in the case had taken
“trivial, personal and entirely
benign activities and attempted to
distort them into criminal acts.”
Espy himself has consistently
denied any wrongdoing. His law
office in Jackson, Miss., said he
was not available for comment.
The indictment did not contend
that Espy had given any of the
companies - including such agri
cultural business giants as Tyson
Food Inc. and Sun Diamond
Growers of California - favorable
treatment in return for the gifts.
“A quid pro quo is not required” to
prove he violated the law, said
independent counsel Donald
Smaltz.
But it did charge that Espy,
who resigned from the Clinton
administration in 1994 after
Smaltz began his investigation,
“solicited, received and accepted
gifts” for himself, his girlfriends
and his family from companies
that were regulated by the
Agriculture Department or regu
larly did business with it.
The favors included illegal
campaign contributions to his
brother's failed congressional
campaign in Mississippi, the
indictment said.
Espy also “attempted to con
ceal his actions by lying to a
USDA inspector general represen
tative, by lying to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and by
lying to the Executive Office of
the President,” Smaltz said.
Espy was charged with mail
and wire fraud, for accepting ille
gal gratuities and for taking gifts
from companies regulated under
the Meat Inspection Act.
The indictment charges that
Espy directed an aide to solicit
National Basketball Association
championship playoff tickets from
the chairman of Quaker Oats Co.
and that he subsequently lied to
the FBI about where he got them.
He is also accused of failing to
report trips and gifts on the finan
cial disclosure form that top gov
ernment officials are required to
file each year.
The trips included two that he
and a friend, Patricia Dempsey,
took to a National Football League
game in Dallas and to the U.S.
Open tennis tournament in New
York City. The couple were pro
vided with limousines both times.
The Dallas trip was paid for by
a lobbyist for Tyson Foods Inc.
Sun Diamond bought tickets to the
tennis tournament and paid for a
$2,427 set of luggage for the New
York trip, the indictment said.
The counts carry maximum
penalties of more than 100 years
in prison.
If convicted of witness tamper
ing alone, Espy could be sen
tenced to as many as 10 years in
prison. That count accuses Espy of
ordering a department employee
to alter a document to conceal that
Tyson lobbyist Jack L. Williams
paid for the trip to Dallas in 1994
for an NFL playoff game.
Espy is accused of ordering the
deletion of references to Tyson
«
I’m sure Tyson will
have its day in court
sometime in the not
too-distant future
Donald Smaltz
independent counsel
chairman Don Tyson, to Dempsey,
and to the football game from an
itinerary of the Dallas trip that had
been requested by the USDA's
inspector general.
Tyson has acknowledged that it
is a target of the investigation but
denies that it committed any
crimes.
James Blair, the company's
general counsel, said prosecutors
would not be able to prove that
Espy “took illegal favors from
Tyson Foods.”
“I don't believe that, because I
don't believe it happened,” Blair
said.
Asked about the company's
statement, Smaltz said: “I'm sure
Tyson's will have its day in court
sometime in the not-too-distant
future.”
The indictment also charges
that Espy concocted pretenses for
being in Dallas and other loca
tions by scheduling speaking
engagements or meetings with
local USDA officials.
Espy was also accused of
spending government money for
personal benefit by arranging for
the Agriculture Department to pay
$6,200 toward the rental of a Jeep
Cherokee that the Cabinet secre
tary kept in Mississippi for per
sonal use. He told the agency the
Jeep would serve as his official
car in Washington but later
requested a limousine and driver.
Bethlehem blockade
removed by Israel
BETHLEHEM, West Bank
(AP) - Pushing aside the red-and
white barriers that had blocked
traffic for nearly a month, Israel
lifted its much-resented blockade
of Bethlehem on Wednesday.
The move followed days of
violent Palestinian street protests
and international criticism -
including from the Vatican, which
complained that Christian pil
grims were kept from visiting the
birthplace of Jesus.
David Bar-Illan, a spokesman
for Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, said the
closure, imposed after a suicide
bombing July 30 in a Jerusalem
market, was lifted for security rea
sons. He gave no further details on
why security officials reversed
their position.
“Something has changed that
made them feel it was safe now to
lift the internal closure,” he said.
The gesture was expected to
help improve the deeply troubled
relations between Israel and
Yasser Arafat's Palestinian
Authority.
But Arafat spokesman Nabil
Abourdeineh said it “must be fol
lowed by many other steps,”
including the lifting of a general
closure that keeps tens of thou
sands of Palestinian workers out
of Israel, and the resumption of
tax transfers to the Palestinian
Authority.
“Things must be returned to
their normal situation in order to
return to the negotiating table and
the protection of the peace
process,” he said.
The market bombing, which
killed 16 people, was claimed by
the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Israel reportedly maintained its
blockade of Bethlehem for 28
days because it suspected two
masterminds of the bombing were
hiding in the city.
Bar-Illan said Israel was “see
ing very little by way of coopera
tion” from the Palestinians on
security. A resumption of security
cooperation between the two sides
was supposed to be a prerequisite
for Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright's expected visit in
September and a new U.S. peace
initiative.
The blockade of Bethlehem
was lifted shortly after 4 p.m.
Wednesday. Zainab Jafari, 37, was
one of the first to enter Bethlehem
from the Jerusalem side.
“They didn't speak to me,” she
said excitedly, pointing to the
Israeli troops who let her pass.
Correction
A caption in Wednesday’s Daily Nebraskan misidentified a member of Fat
Tire Bike Messengers. Ryan Korb was misidentified as Chris Van Ooyen.
Editor: Paula Lavigne Questions? Comments? Ask for the
Managing Editor: Julie Sobczyk appropriate section editor St (402) 472-2588
Associate News Editor: Rebecca Stone or dn@unlinfo.unl.edu.
Assistant News Editor: Jeff Randall
Assignment Editor: Chad Lorenz General Manager: Dan Shattil
Opinion Editor: Jessica Kennedy Publications Board Melissa Myles,
Sports Editor: Mike Kluck Chairwoman: (402) 476-2446
A&E Editor: Jim Goodwin Professional Adviser: Don Walton,
Copy Desk Chief: Nancy Zywiec (402) 473-7301
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Online Editor: Mary Ann Muggy Classified Ad Manager: Tiffiny Clifton
Fax number: (402) 472-1761
World Wide Web: www.unl.edu/DailyNeb
The Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union
34,1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday duming the academic year; weekly
during the summer sessions.The public has access to the Publications Board.
Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by calling
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Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St, Lincoln
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1997
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
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Teachers CoCCege
Students in Teachers CoCCege, join us Thursday,
August 28 from 4-5 T.M. for refreshments and
conversation. Come to the Student Lounge in
SCenzdC^SCaCL See you at the Advisor Advantage!