January 8, 2001
Chavez Faces Questions
Over Illegal Immigrant
By JOHN HARWOOD, PHIL KUNTZ and KATHY CHEN
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON -- Labor Secretary-designate Linda Chavez, under fire
for her conservative stands, now faces questions about an illegal alien who
lived in her home and performed work for her family.
The former Reagan administration civil-rights official acknowledges,
according to a spokesman, that in the early 1990s she housed a
Guatemalan woman who "did some chores" and received "spending
money" of as much as a "couple of thousand" dollars. But Ms. Chavez says
she was merely helping an immigrant who was "down on her luck" rather
than employing her, so there was no need to pay Social Security taxes,
according to Tucker Eskew, a spokesman for President-elect George W.
Bush's transition team.
He said Ms. Chavez remembers the situation lasting for about a year, while
the Guatemalan woman says it lasted about two years.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, conducting a preconfirmation
background check on Ms. Chavez, is looking into the matter. Ms. Chavez
apparently didn't volunteer information on it during initial interviews with
FBI agents. She was reinterviewed Sunday, a standard practice when
potentially derogatory information about a nominee comes up.
Two other proposed Bush cabinet members came under fire over the
weekend. The Chicago Tribune published an article Sunday on taped
conversations, now in the National Archives, between Defense
Secretary-designate Donald Rumsfeld and then-President Nixon. In the
1971 tapes, Mr. Rumsfeld, then a White House aide, appears to agree
with disparaging remarks Mr. Nixon made about blacks. Bush transition
spokesman Ari Fleischer said Mr. Rumsfeld didn't agree with any of Mr.
Nixon's statements then and doesn't agree with them now.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post reported Secretary of State-designate
Colin Powell received a large fee for delivering a lecture subsidized by a
senior Lebanese official just before Election Day. Lebanese Deputy Prime
Minister Issam Fares, a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Syrian
government, paid for Mr. Powell's half-hour speech at Tufts University
Nov. 2. An unnamed source close to Mr. Fares said Mr. Powell received
$200,000 for the lecture, the newspaper reported.
Mr. Powell's spokesman, Bill Smullen, confirmed that Tufts paid Mr.
Powell from an endowment set up by Mr. Fares for an annual lecture
series. But he said the $200,000 figure is "grossly overstated." While
declining to say how much Mr. Powell received, Mr. Smullen said, "It was
a standard speaking fee, and no different than any other." He also noted
the invitation to speak was extended to Mr. Powell last March by the Tufts
president, not Mr. Fares.
Senate Democrats are already promising close scrutiny of Ms. Chavez's
answers about the Guatemalan woman. "I cannot help but be skeptical
about the official statement," said Sen. Paul Wellstone (D., Minn.), a
member of the Senate panel holding hearings on her nomination next week.
"This goes to the heart of what the Labor Secretary is all about: To make
sure that in the workplace there is no violation of labor, civil rights or
immigration law." Mr. Eskew's explanation of the matter followed inquiries
by The Wall Street Journal and ABC News. It was reported Sunday by
ABC.
A critic of affirmative action and minimum wage increases, Ms. Chavez has
become a big target for Mr. Bush's political opponents. Organized labor
also wants to examine her record as a board member of San
Francisco-based ABM Industries, a janitorial services firm that in some
parts of the country pays workers near-minimum wage without providing
pension or health benefits.
Ms. Chavez's record of household employment could receive special
attention, since Mr. Bush has picked her to oversee administration of
federal-employment laws. A spokesman for the AFL-CIO, which opposes
her nomination, said the matter adds to the case against Senate approval.
Labor officials concede they face an uphill fight to defeat Ms. Chavez. But
they feel they have a good shot at winning over some Republican
moderates to join with opposition from labor-friendly Senate Democrats.
In 1993, corporate lawyer Zoe Baird made the so-called nanny issue
famous when her nomination as attorney general crashed upon the
revelation that she had employed an illegal alien couple and failed to pay
Social Security taxes for them. The woman who President Clinton wanted
to nominate in Ms. Baird's stead, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood,
withdrew after it was reported she too had employed an illegal alien in her
home. Ms. Wood hadn't violated any laws and she had made required
Social Security payments.
Mr. Eskew said the chores that the woman performed for Ms. Chavez
included such things as cleaning the kitchen and vacuuming. Ms. Chavez
regarded the woman as merely pitching in the way anyone living in a home
would be expected to do, Mr. Eskew said. When Ms. Chavez hired actual
housekeepers, he said, she employed only legal U.S. residents for whom
she paid the required Social Security taxes.
Ms. Chavez, 53 years old, didn't return calls seeking comment. The
Guatemalan woman also declined to discuss the matter.
Write to John Harwood at john.harwood@wsj.com, Phil Kuntz at
phil.kuntz@wsj.com and Kathy Chen at kathy.chen@wsj.com |
