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By DAVID ELLIS

Some Bush Administration insiders are acidly recounting the irony of a blunt lecture John Sununu delivered to former Education Secretary Lauro Cavazos last December. When the chief of staff summoned the ineffectual Cabinet member and asked him to resign, Sununu included a few sharp comments on Cavazos' travel habits. The Secretary usually took along his wife Peggy Ann, and is suspected of paying her fares with frequent-flyer credits he earned on official business -- an apparent violation of federal rules requiring those bonuses to be turned over to the government. The couple also preferred to travel on TWA, even when ; other carriers offered more direct routes. Because Cavazos' son worked for the airline, the Secretary's wife was able to fly free. Sununu's heavy use of military flights earned him a slap on the wrist, but Cavazos' machinations are the subject of a Justice Department criminal investigation.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart