Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 13, 1993 TAG: 9306140101
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
A White House official confirmed a CBS report that Breyer had failed to pay Social Security taxes and said the White House had known of the situation "for quite a while."
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House was taking the matter seriously in discussions with senators, but did not believe it would disqualify Breyer or be a serious barrier to his confirmation if nominated.
The official said he did not have full details of the Breyer situation, but said it definitely was "not a Zoe Baird" problem of knowingly hiring an illegal immigrant and failing to pay taxes.
The White House official compared the Breyer case to others appointed by Clinton - including Commerce Secretary Ron Brown - who did not know they were supposed to pay Social Security taxes for certain workers and paid them, retroactively, when apprised.
The White House source also made clear that administration officials knew of the Social Security questions before Clinton had Breyer in for lunch on Friday, but did not indicate whether they discussed the matter.
A source close to Breyer, 54, said the employee in question has worked at the Breyer household one or two mornings a week for three or four hours over the past 13 years, and was over 65 and already drawing Social Security benefits when she started.
Breyer is chief judge of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
The source pushing the Breyer nomination said "it never occurred" to the judge and his wife that they were supposed to be paying Social Security taxes for the woman - whom he described as "more family friend than cleaning woman" - until February when the flurry of publicity arose about other Clinton administration nominees who had not paid Social Security taxes for domestic employees.
He said the Breyers immediately contacted the Internal Revenue Service to determine what to do and paid approximately $400 in 1992 taxes for the woman, now 81.
He said they subsequently paid a similar amount for each of the years 1980 through 1991.
As anticipation about the president's choice mounted Saturday, Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said Clinton would not be rushed into one of the most important decisions of his presidency.
She gave no hint that delays were associated with potential problems with the federal appeals judge's nomination and the White House official who spoke later insisted that - in fact - the delay was not related to the Social Security matter.
But Sen. William Cohen, a member of the Judiciary Committee that passes on nominees, said the new revelations on Breyer could cause difficulties.
by CNB