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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (17599)	12/7/1998 11:45:00 AM
From: Les H	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 67261

On March 11, 1993, Tyson Foods lobbyist, Jack Williams, visited with the Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Espy. The very next day, according to former Agriculture Department officials, Espy's chief of staff, Ron Blackley, shut down efforts to tighten poultry inspection standards. Did Tyson Foods influence decisions to derail tougher food-safety standards? This question became an early focus of Don Smaltz's investigation of Mike Espy, and explains, in part, Smaltz's interest in pursuing a criminal investigation of Blackley. Here's what is known about those meetings: Shortly after arriving at the Deptartment of Agriculture, in Janaury 1993 the new Secretary, Mike Espy, faced a crisis. Tainted hamburgers from Jack-in-the-Box fast-food restaurants in Washington killed at least two children and sent many others to the hospital, victims of the sometimes deadly E. coli bacteria. Immediately, questions about the adequacy of beef handling operations became national headline news. At the Department of Agriculture, officials with the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) had been for some time preparing proposals that would tighten existing inspection rules for both beef and poultry. The new regulations would become known as a "zero-tolerance" policy - a policy that increased meat-processing requirements to ensure the full and proper removal of fecal contamination. Responding to the E. coli crisis, the Department of Agriculture intensified, and ultimately completed, its efforts to establish "zero-tolerance" regulations for the red-meat industry. Meanwhile, the poultry industry continued to negotiate over application of a "zero-tolerance" policy to chicken suppliers. Representatives from the poultry industry sought and received meetings with Department officials, arguing that the policy was costly and unnecessarily burdensome. For Tyson Foods alone, the nation's largest chicken supplier, the costs of complying with the tougher regulations would be nearly $40 million a year. On March 8, 1993, industry representatives carried their complaints to FSIS officials during a briefing about the "zero-tolerance" proposal. On March 11, a second meeting took place, again to specifically discuss the new poultry proposal. Later that day, Jack Williams, Tyson Foods lobbyist, met directly with Sec. Mike Espy. The specifics of the Williams-Espy meeting remain unknown. But the next day, on March 12, Espy's chief of staff, Ron Blackley met with FSIS officials to discuss proposed instructions from the Department to its field operations in response to the E. coli crisis. According to Wilson Horne, FSIS Deputy Administrator for Inspection Operations, near the end of the meeting, Ron Blackley inquired about the status of the zero-tolerance proposal for poultry. When informed that the new poultry regulations were near completion, Blackley, according to Horne, ordered the staff to remove the proposal from the computer files. According to some participants at the meeting, the message from Blackley was clear: stop work on the poultry regulations. For his part, Blackley flatly denies ever pulling the plug on the poultry regulations. Blackley says that he was in many meetings and has no recollection of either this particular meeting or his chief accuser, FSIS Deputy Administrator, Wilson Horne. Nonetheless, progress on the "zero-tolerance" poultry proposal lay in limbo for more than a year at the Department. In July, 1994, the new poultry regulations were finally proposed. But it would not be until January, 1995 - a month after Secretary Espy stepped down - that an official proposal of "zero-tolerance" for poultry was finally issued. pbs.org >>>You liberals are supposed to be in favor of tougher of health, >>>welfare, and lifestyle regulations to improve the quality of >>>life. Wot hoppened? Oh, I guess it's okay if it's one of your >>>boys.

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (17599)	12/7/1998 12:48:00 PM
From: Bill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

Why don't you answer my question first. Did Orenthal do it or not?

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (17599)	12/7/1998 4:21:00 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 67261

Other cases brought by Independent Counsel Donald C. Smaltz in the investigation of former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. Unless otherwise specified, cases were tried in the District of Columbia: -Agribusiness lobbyist James H. Lake pleaded guilty Oct. 25, 1995, to a criminal information charging three counts of wire fraud and illegal campaign contributions to Henry W. Espy Jr., Mike Espy's brother. A government witness, he awaits sentencing. -Brook Keith Mitchell Sr., a Greenville, Miss., farmer, and his company, Five M Farming Enterprises, pleaded guilty Nov. 13, 1996, to four counts alleging they fraudulently collected more than $700,000 in subsidies. He awaits sentencing. Mitchell's son also was indicted but was placed in a diversion program that could lead to charges being dropped. -Norris Faust Jr., former head of federal crop programs in Mississippi, was acquitted Feb. 14, 1997 in Biloxi, Miss., of charges of making material false statements to grand jury. Faust was involved in determining benefits for the Mitchells. -Crop Growers Corp., a crop insurance firm based in Overland Park, Kan., was fined $2 million on Jan. 21, 1997, after pleading no contest to charges of conspiracy and keeping false records. The company disguised $46,000 in illegal contributions to Henry Espy's campaign. John J. Hemmingson, Crop Growers' former chief executive and chairman, and Gary A. Black, a former executive with the company, were found innocent of related charges by a jury last Feb. 13. -Sun-Diamond Growers of Pleasanton, Calif., was fined $1.5 million and put on probation for five years for making and condoning gifts to Espy or to the congressional campaign of his brother Henry. The giant producer of raisins, prunes and other dried fruits and nuts was convicted of eight counts Sept. 24, 1996. -John J. Hemmingson, former head of Crop Growers, was convicted Dec. 19, 1996, in New Orleans, on three charges related to illegal campaign contributions for Henry Espy. At same trial, Alvarez T. Ferrouillet Jr., a Louisiana lawyer who headed the committee to retire Henry Espy's campaign debt, was convicted on 10 counts. Hemmingson was given a year in prison, fined $30,000 and ordered to pay $20,000 restitution. Ferrouillet was given a year in prison and fined $10,000. -Henry W. Espy Jr., brother of Mike Espy, was acquitted by judge Feb. 24 and March 4 in Oxford, Miss., on six charges stemming from his failed effort to win a U.S. House seat. Henry Espy had been charged with conspiracy, lying to a bank and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission. -Smith Barney Inc. agreed July 29 to pay civil penalty of $1 million for providing $2,200 in Super Bowl tickets to Espy. Civil charge includes unlawfully supplementing the salary of a federal government official. The investment firm was representing a power company supplying electricity to rural cooperatives. AWAITING TRIAL: -Richard Douglas, a former Sun-Diamond lobbyist and close friend of Espy, was indicted Oct. 15, 1996, on 19 counts of making illegal gifts to Espy and campaign contributions to his brother Henry, and related charges. Douglas is scheduled for trial Oct. 21 in San Francisco. -Tyson lobbyist Jack L. Williams was indicted Sept. 17, 1996, on two counts of lying to investigators about gifts to Espy and was convicted March 21. The conviction was overturned on June 4 and a new trial was ordered. No date for it has been set. -Ronald H. Blackley, Espy's former chief of staff, was indicted April 22, 1997, on three counts of making false statements about payments from two former business associates. No trial date has been set.