Word: bairds
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...this candidate's qualifications or that one's paper trail. But almost never--only nine times in Senate history--has a Cabinet nominee been voted down. About the same number pulled out rather than suffer the strip search, or the President withdrew their name, as Clinton did with Zoe Baird when the Attorney General-designate disclosed her infamous nanny- tax problem. In general, confirmation hearings serve as a kind of overture to the First Act of a new President, a preview of all the themes and characters that will share the stage and shape the combat for the next four...
...Baird, Chavez and Wood weren't quite so lucky. All three lost their bids for Cabinet-level appointments because they'd hired domestic workers whose immigration status and/or pay situation came under extreme scrutiny. Each has her own story: After eight days of questioning, Baird admitted that her family had employed an illegal Peruvian couple whose wages were not taxed. Chavez insists she did nothing wrong from an employment point of view, claiming that an illegal Guatemalan immigrant living in her home was there out of charity, not to work - which is why Chavez never paid taxes on her wages...
...Bush nominee Linda Chavez learned Tuesday and Clinton nominees Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood learned back in 1993, many Americans appear to feel there's something singularly distressing about a woman who's not totally in control of household events and expenditures. It's the household after all, we murmur. Shouldn't she have been spending more time at home? That way she wouldn't have had to hire illegal immigrants to do her job in the first place...
...Baird and Chavez both sparked righteous indignation from political enemies - and, predictably, heated support from backers. And there are plenty of things about illegal labor to get upset about: These workers are unprotected from abuse from employers and are often paid less than the minimum wage. And employers should know better than to shirk their responsibilities to the great tax code of America...
...Chavez didn't let the press off the hook before she left the podium. "All of you have made a great deal more of this story than need be," she said pointedly, glaring at her audience. One corps member felt brave enough to bring up the subject of Zoe Baird, a Clinton nominee for attorney general, who lost that bid because of her own dubious hiring practices - and who was also criticized at the time by Chavez. The departing nominee brushed off the analogy, but others point out that Chavez's outrage at Baird's hiring of an illegal immigrant...