Good for the goose

Members of Congress casting about for a good piece of legislation to impress the folks back home were handed one Monday by the federal judge hearing the case against former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. If Congress can’t make hay out of this, it isn’t trying.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled that Mr. Espy could not be charged under the 1907 Federal Meat Inspection Act. The act, according to the judge, makes it a crime only for rank-and-file Agriculture Department inspectors to accept freebies from companies they regulate. Bosses, on the other hand, can take the bribes. Though Mr. Espy faces three dozen charges, three of the four that fell under the act were particularly important because they carried mandatory prison sentences.

The ruling means that the public is supposed to hold cabinet-level officials to a lower standard of conduct than the average civil servant. Perhaps that will save everyone a lot of disappointment, but it does little to build confidence about the nation’s leadership. Also, it leads to serious abuses of power.

The charges came about after the former secretary was accused of accepting gifts from Tyson Foods, including $2,044 in corporate aircraft travel, meals and lodging for a birthday party and $2,087 in airfare, limousine service and skybox tickets to a Dallas Cowboys playoff game. Switching sports, he also was accused of hitting up Quaker Oats for tickets to a Chicago Bulls basketball game.

Nothing wrong with these activities, according to the judge’s interpretation of the law. The public should be less sanguine. Mr. Espy, of course, did not receive the gifts because he is a wonderful fellow. The food companies wanted favors and the secretary’s office was the most direct route to preferred treatment. Is this a surprise to anyone?

The judge has the option of sending Mr. Espy away if he is found guilty of some of the other charges, so he may yet face jail time. But Congress can take away the suspense for the future by amending the inspections act to include the person who oversees the inspectors. Might make the folks back home a little happier.