Justice Dept. Reviewing Cavazos’ Travel : Ethics: The former education chief’s possible improper use of ‘frequent flier’ bonuses to pay for his wife’s trips has come under scrutiny.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the official travel of former Education Secretary Lauro F. Cavazos, including the possible improper use of “frequent flier” bonus points to pay for trips taken by his wife, Peggy Sue, officials said Friday.

Government regulations require civil servants to turn over such bonuses to the government. For the last year, the U.S. Education Department’s inspector general has been investigating whether the former secretary abused those and other travel rules.

The involvement of the Justice Department indicates that the inspector general’s review determined that the matter warranted further investigation, according to government sources.

The investigation could prove embarrassing for the Bush Administration, which already is under fire after revelations that White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu used military jets 77 times in two years for personal and political trips.

On Thursday, the White House banned the use of military aircraft for most of Sununu’s travel, and ordered him to clear all future flights in advance with the White House counsel.

Cavazos, who resigned last December, took 50 trips between the time of his appointment in August, 1988, by former President Ronald Reagan, and June, 1990, government records show. Many of the trips involved stops in more than one city.

Cavazos, the first Latino Cabinet member, was forced from office largely because his performance did not measure up to the requirements of a boss who wished to be remembered as the “education President,” Administration officials have said.

But officials have conceded that a secondary reason for the former secretary’s dismissal involved the disclosure that the Education Department’s inspector general was looking into Cavazos’ travels.

Sununu engineered the ouster.

Cavazos could not be reached Friday for comment. He is a former president and tenured anatomy professor at Texas Tech University, and moved back to his family home in Lubbock after his term ended. His residential phone is unlisted and Texas Tech officials declined to help reach him.

The news of the Justice Department investigation was first disclosed by Newsday, a Long Island newspaper.

While abuse of travel privileges seems a relatively minor offense, Justice Department officials are believed to have referred the case to the agency’s public integrity unit, indicating that it is being treated with some seriousness as possible fraud against the government. FBI agents are studying records and interviewing witnesses, officials said.

Cavazos inquired soon after he was appointed whether his wife of 36 years could travel with him at government expense, officials confirmed. The answer was no, but Peggy Sue Cavazos, a former nurse, often traveled at his side.

The inquiry has been complicated by the fact that one of the Cavazos’ 10 children, a son, was a TWA flight engineer and arranged many of their flights so that Peggy Sue Cavazos could take advantage of his free travel privileges.

Mrs. Cavazos not only traveled with her husband, she had an office next door to his at the Education Department. She sat in on many key meetings and edited his speeches and policy papers.

Doug Tillett, a Justice Department spokesman, declined to comment. He expressed dismay that other Administration officials would discuss the case.

“I can’t believe anybody would do that. It’s a prosecutable offense,” he said. He also declined to discuss the penalties for abuse of official travel rules.