Espy May Revise Disclosure Form On Super Bowl Tickets

WASHINGTON - Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy says his staff supplied information on the value of four Super Bowl tickets on his financial-disclosure form, and he would revise the form if necessary.

Espy also denied an Atlanta museum's statement that his girlfriend and his two children attended the game. Neither Espy nor a spokesman would say who used the tickets.

Super Bowl tickets had a face value of $175 each. The Fernbank Museum of Natural History, which provided the tickets, said it paid $900 for the four tickets because they were hard to get.

Espy's disclosure form listed only $350 worth of tickets and gave no number of tickets.

"I rely on staff to tell me the cost of tickets," Espy said. "I'm not trying to hide anything, and that's why I put it on here."

Espy made the trip because Smokey Bear, the mascot of the Forest Service, was honored in public-service announcements during the game.

The museum opened a traveling exhibit marking Smokey's 50th birthday. It had hoped to promote the exhibit by inviting Espy to the game.

The issue of how much Espy paid for tickets arose this week. The Associated Press reported that Espy charged the government $849 for his two-day trip last January to the Super Bowl in Atlanta.