Word: smaltz
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...testify against their husbands, compels state agencies to turn over the names of thousands of workers who might have a grudge against their employer--all in order to learn whether a Cabinet member got some free football tickets and a few other gifts? The answer: independent counsel Donald Smaltz, who has become a walking, talking argument for changing the way this nation investigates its high public officials...
Whitewater's Kenneth Starr is the independent counsel Democrats love to hate. But Smaltz has the distinction of making even the most neutral lawyers argue that Attorney General Janet Reno should think twice before triggering any more such appointments. Smaltz was asked to determine whether former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy took favors from companies, including chicken-processing giant Tyson Foods, that had business before his department. But after spending more than $9 million, Smaltz has compiled a record that shows the perils of prosecutorial passion. Last week he suffered his most serious rebuke, when a federal judge granted...
...Smaltz has scored some successes. He has snagged plea bargains or guilty verdicts in eight cases, including the conviction of Sun-Diamond Growers, a California raisin-and-nut cooperative, for, among other things, giving Espy luggage, meals and transportation. But even before his recent big losses, lawyers were complaining that Smaltz and his deputy Ted Greenberg have acted like wayward cowboys. Hiram Eastland, a lawyer representing former Espy aide Ron Blackley, says Smaltz's lawyers put Blackley's wife on the stand and tried to get her to testify against her husband despite the long-standing marital-privilege doctrine...
...Smaltz is now deciding on his final indictments before wrapping up by summer. He has granted chicken tycoon Don Tyson immunity from prosecution for anything but perjury; and last week Tyson testified for a third day before a grand jury. Smaltz's next targets? The likeliest include Tyson Foods, company spokesman Archie Schaffer, lobbyist Jack Williams (in a new indictment) and of course Espy. Attorneys for those parties say they expect no letup from the man who has given his staff watches that bear his name, the independent-counsel seal and the words IN RE MICHAEL ESPY...
Chicken king DON TYSON, long one of independent counsel DONALD SMALTZ's prime targets in the investigation of former Agriculture Secretary MIKE ESPY, has been thrown a bone. Summoned before a grand jury last week, Tyson, the retired chairman of Tyson Foods, was planning to take the Fifth when he was corralled in the hallway and offered immunity by Smaltz's team. It's a deal, replied the astonished Tyson. For two days he testified about his few contacts with Espy and the small favors, like tickets to a Dallas Cowboys playoff game, he provided for him. Smaltz...