Espy Says Frequent Trips to Home State at Government Expense Were ‘Legitimate’ : Ethics: The agriculture secretary releases travel records to dispel allegations he accepted trips and sports tickets from private firms.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy made at least 20 government-paid trips to his home state of Mississippi during his first 20 months in office, many of them on weekends, according to travel documents released by his office Friday.

Although Espy often conducted some official business on these trips, he acknowledged in an interview that he also used them as an opportunity to visit family, support his brother’s bid for Congress and maintain relationships in Mississippi.

“They were legitimate trips,” insisted Espy, who released his travel records as part of an effort to dispel allegations that he improperly accepted travel and sports tickets from private firms with interests regulated by the Agriculture Department. His activities are under scrutiny by a court-appointed independent counsel, Los Angeles attorney Donald C. Smaltz.

There is no law that prevents top federal officials from scheduling official travel to locations where they also have personal or political interests, as long as they reimburse the government for any purely personal expenses incurred during the trip.

However, it is unusual for Cabinet members to spend so much time in their home states at government expense, according to informal surveys during previous administrations.

Espy’s Mississippi jaunts punctuated an unusually hectic official travel schedule that took him to 114 cities in the United States and 16 foreign countries between the time he took office in January, 1993, and last month.

In addition to his more than 20 official trips to Mississippi, Espy said, he frequently visited his home state at his own expense. Divorced from his wife, who lives in Mississippi, he said he tries to visit his two children there as often as possible.

On Thursday, before releasing his travel records, Espy repaid $193 to the government for lodging in Jackson, Miss., more than a year ago that he originally claimed as a business expense and recently has deemed to be personal in nature. He said the decision was in line with his policy to be scrupulously careful about separating business and personal activities.

In an interview with The Times, Espy--who served three terms in Congress representing a Mississippi district--explained that he made more official trips to his home state than any other state because he has received an unusually large number of invitations from Mississippi.

He accepted eight of 102 invitations to make appearances in Mississippi in 1993 and nine of 94 invitations in the first eight months of this year, he said. By comparison, he said, he accepted only one of the 75 invitations he received from California in 1993, and none of 49 California invitations this year.

By comparison, Richard E. Lyng, who was agriculture secretary for three years under President Ronald Reagan, said in an interview that he, too, made many trips to Mississippi during his tenure at the department because it is a rural state with major cotton and catfish farms. But Lyng, a Californian, added that he spent more time in states with more significant corn, beef, dairy and other agriculture interests such as Illinois, Iowa, Texas and California.

Espy made his first trip to Mississippi one day after he was sworn in as President Clinton’s agriculture secretary Jan. 22, 1993. His first news conference took place at the Yazoo County Courthouse in his hometown of Yazoo City, Miss.

“I wanted to hold my first news conference as secretary of agriculture in my hometown to show my appreciation for the support I have received from all Mississippians in years past,” Espy told the assembled throng.

“Now, with my first news conference, I hope to send a clear message throughout the country that I look forward to working for all of America. I hope to be an honest broker inside the Department of Agriculture for all Americans.”

During that visit, Espy was asked by reporters about his older brother Henry’s bid to succeed him in Congress. While declining to formally endorse his brother, Espy said of Henry: “He is extremely qualified. He is capable to fill this position but there are many others as well.”

When Espy visited Mississippi again on Feb. 23, a fund-raising reception for his brother was part of the schedule. (Henry, the mayor of Clarksdale, was defeated in a special election to fill the congressional seat on March 30, 1993.)

During his many Mississippi appearances, Espy addressed a joint session of the state Legislature, gave commencement speeches at Jackson State University and the University of Mississippi, spoke to the Communications Workers of America and attended a private ceremony for the slain civil rights leader, Medgar Evers. But frequently, his daily schedule in Mississippi listed only a few vaguely defined meetings.

Espy said that he has always left it to a single aide, Betty Stern, to make the determination between official travel to be charged the government and personal travel to be paid from his own pocket. He said Stern has done the same job for seven previous agriculture secretaries.

As for the independent counsel’s inquiry, Espy expressed confidence that he will be exonerated. He acknowledged that he may have been “inattentive to the perceptions of impropriety,” but insisted that he has stirred controversy because he is “rocking the boat” at the Agriculture Department.

Times staff writers Ronald J. Ostrow and Robert L. Jackson contributed to this story.