After a series of long and costly criminal investigations, the independent counsel law has come under fire. Following a background report on the acquittal of former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy on corruption charges, Jim Lehrer and guests discuss the independent counsel law.

KWAME HOLMAN: Former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy walked out of the federal district court in Washington yesterday afternoon cleared of all corruption charges brought against him by Independent Counsel Donald Smaltz.

MIKE ESPY: Stand up to the schoolyard bullies whether they are in the playground, or whether they are in the public courtroom -- whether they have 5 cents or whether they have $20 million. If you are not guilty, you should say so and you should not quit.

KWAME HOLMAN: Donald Smaltz, a Los Angeles defense attorney, spent four years and $17 million investigating charges Espy illegally accepted more than $30,000 in gifts from businesses and lie to investigators.

DONALD SMALTZ: With my appointment as independent counsel on September 9, 1994, this office was charged with a duty of investigating and prosecuting allegations of gratuities given to Mr. Espy, as well as other federal criminal offenses related to that investigation. To date, this office has brought a number of prosecutions. Those prosecutions have resulted in 15 convictions, and we have collected over $11 million in fines and penalties.

Other independent counsel investigations.

KWAME HOLMAN: Espy is one of five members of President Clinton's cabinet who have come under investigation by independent counsels. Former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros goes on trial in February. An investigation of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown ended with his death in 1996. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt remains under investigation, as does Labor Secretary Alexis Hermann, and of course, the four-year investigation of President Clinton by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr continues. The independent counsel statute is triggered when the attorney general concludes that a prominent government official, including the president, vice president, White House aides, and cabinet members may have committed a crime.

The attorney general then must request an independent counsel be appointed by a special three-judge panel. But the law Congress passed authorizing the work of independent counsels Donald Smaltz, Kenneth Starr, and 18 others over the last 20 years expires in June. And both supporters and critics of the statute agree changes should be made in the law before Congress reauthorizes it. During his remarks yesterday, Mike Espy said he's more than willing to testify at a congressional hearing concerning a new independent counsel law.

MIKE ESPY: I would like to be the first witness. I would like to tell the senators and the congressmen of my ordeal. I'd like to talk about the independent counsel statute, and I'd like to talk about this particular independent counsel, Mr. Smaltz, in particular.

KWAME HOLMAN: Independent Counsel Smaltz said he was disappointed by the jury's verdicts in the Espy case but believed the case was worthy of prosecution.

DONALD SMALTZ: If our investigation and prosecutions dissuade corporations from giving gifts to their regulators, and the regulators from accepting gifts from those who are regulated, I believe that the costs we have incurred are worth the price.