Espy Is Called ‘Easy Pickings’ by Prosecutor

Businesses with millions of dollars at stake saw President Clinton’s first Agriculture secretary as “easy pickings” and plied him with sports tickets, air fare and limousine rides to win favor, the prosecutor in Mike Espy’s corruption trial said Thursday.

Espy took illegal gifts from companies or lobbyists regulated by his agency throughout his tenure in 1993 and 1994, independent counsel Donald C. Smaltz said.

Espy is a huge sports fan and was chronically short of money, Smaltz told jurors in his opening statement. Companies affected by Agriculture Department rules or decisions knew they could get the secretary’s ear by giving him tickets to such events as a Chicago Bulls championship game or the U.S. Tennis Open, the counsel said.

“They used Mr. Espy’s fondness for sports to get on his good side,” Smaltz said. “He was easy pickings for companies that wanted to slip him something special.”

Espy pleaded not guilty to all 38 charges, and his lawyer argued that the former secretary never knowingly did anything wrong.

“He’s completely innocent. He did not commit any criminal acts. He’s not a crook,” his lawyer, Theodore Wells, said.

Espy, 44, resigned in 1994 after the independent counsel began an investigation of favors he allegedly received from chicken giant Tyson Foods Inc. and other companies.

The trial, expected to last two months, is the culmination of Smaltz’s four-year, $17-million investigation of Espy, his former girlfriend and associates.

Espy is the first Cabinet-level official to face trial since Raymond J. Donovan, who was Labor secretary under President Reagan. Donovan was acquitted in 1987 on charges involving old business deals.

Espy is charged with taking about $35,000 in illegal gifts, lying about it and trying to get a friend to cover for him. He is not charged with taking bribes, and prosecutors do not have to prove that the companies got anything in return.

Nonetheless, Wells told jurors the notion of a quid pro quo is key to the case. Espy sometimes made decisions his supposed benefactors did not like, which Wells said shows Espy was above board.

Espy did not think he was doing anything wrong by accepting the tickets, some of which cost thousands of dollars, and in some cases he never knew that a business was paying the bills, Wells said. And Espy’s girlfriend lied to him about letting Tyson pay her air fare to attend one football game, the attorney said.

Espy did make mistakes in filling out financial disclosure forms and in forgetting to repay Quaker Oats Co. for a sports ticket, Wells said.

“When you make a mistake and it’s done in good faith, that’s not criminal--that’s a mistake,” Wells said.