ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 5, 1994                   TAG: 9410110086
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


RESIGNATION

MIKE ESPY, President Clinton's secretary of agriculture, had to go. His announcement Monday, that he will resign, was made necessary not simply by the embarrassment Espy was creating for the administration, but also by the particular nature of the embarrassment.

By the standards of Washington scandal, his transgressions may seem like small potatoes. He accepted jet rides, lodging and Dallas Cowboys skybox seats from Tyson Foods, a poultry megabusiness. He accepted Chicago Bulls tickets from Quaker Oats.

When he later reimbursed the companies, paying $7,500 to cover his infractions, some believed he had weathered the storm - until the White House discovered that the divorced Espy had a friend along on the free junkets, who received a $1,100 college scholarship from a generous Tyson Foods foundation.

However small the amounts involved, the fact remains that Arkansas-based Tyson is a company regulated by the agriculture department. Its executives, moreover, are among the Clinton family's personal friends and political backers. One executive was Hillary Clinton's financial adviser on her investment in cattle futures, which drew a bit of attention when it was revealed. What could Espy have been thinking?

Espy denies that Tyson got preferential treatment from his department. A special prosecutor is looking into that. In any case, he showed incredibly bad judgment in accepting any favors from the company.

As for Clinton's judgment: If he showed bad judgment in giving Espy, his friend, the agriculture job, he has shown good judgment in showing Espy the door (notwithstanding the contrived appearance of a resignation).

Clinton had done well during his campaign, and in the months after his election, to condemn inappropriate coziness with business and to insist on his Cabinet's adherence to scrupulous standards of propriety. Espy's embarrassment was a firing offense because he violated these higher standards.

The sad part is that Espy's future seemed so bright. A former congressman from Mississippi, he seemed a sure prospect for governor or senator. Instead, he arranged his own downfall, in exchange for a free ride in the fast lane. It's a morality tale that recurs in the nation's capital with the regularity of human nature.



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