White House Wag: Clinton Considers Pardon

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 25 -- Is a top executive in the Tyson chicken company getting a raw deal?

That’s what the members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation think. All six of them, Republicans and Democrats, signed a letter to President Clinton urging him to pardon Tyson Foods official Archie Schaffer, who was sentenced to a one-year prison term today in federal court in Washington, on one count of providing an illegal gift to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. The letter was sent before the decision was made.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson, in making the ruling, said Schaffer deserved only probation and a fine, but noted he was required to impose the minimum prison sentence given the law under which Schaffer was convicted.

Schaffer’s present trouble stems from a birthday party thrown in Russellville, Ark., in 1993 for his company’s chairman, Don Tyson. Schaffer, who was Tyson’s vice president for media, public and governmental affairs, arranged for Espy and his girlfriend to attend the party. Tyson also picked up the tab for the couple’s airfare, lodging and meals.

Press reports about Tyson’s largesse led to a Justice Department inquiry, and eventually Independent Counsel Donald Smaltz was appointed to investigate allegations that Espy accepted gifts from Tyson and others with business before the Agriculture Department. Smaltz obtained an indictment charging Schaffer with various offenses, including wire and mail fraud, providing illegal gratuities and conspiracy with a Tyson lobbyist. Four of the seven counts were thrown out by Robertson during the 1998 trial.

The jury ultimately convicted Schaffer of just two counts: one for buying four tickets for Espy to an inaugural gala in 1993 and another in connection with the trip to the Tyson birthday party. After the trial, Robertson threw out those charges, too, on grounds that prosecutors never proved that Schaffer’s gifts were related to actions Tyson wanted Espy to take. An appeals court later reinstated one conviction, ruling the law imposes a stricter standard on gift-giving to Agriculture Department employees than on gifts to other federal workers.

The main irony Schaffer’s supporters point to is this: Less than six months after Schaffer was convicted of making an illegal gift to Espy, another jury acquitted Espy of receiving that gift and of all the other charges against him.