Hoist on Her Own Petard

Bush Choice for Labor Post Withdraws and Cites Furor of Illegal Immigrant Issue Law enforcement officials said that the F.B.I. had interviewed Ms. Chavez three times and was about to meet with her for a fourth time when she withdrew. In addition, these officials said that in Ms. Chavez's initial interview, she did not disclose that Ms. Mercado had lived in her house. The officials said the F.B.I. thought that her accounts were becoming muddier, rather than clearer, about whether she knew that Ms. Mercado was in the United States illegally and whether she employed her as a housekeeper. Ms. Chavez portrayed herself today as a victim, accusing her critics of engaging in the politics of personal destruction. On the other side, her critics noted that she often criticized President Clinton in her newspaper columns and was fiercely critical of his first nominee for attorney general, Zo� Baird. Ms. Baird's appointment was sidetracked following disclosures that she employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny and had failed to pay Social Security taxes. Appearing on PBS's "MacNeil- Lehrer NewsHour" in December 1993, Ms. Chavez said: "I think most of the American people were upset during the Zo� Baird nomination that she had hired an illegal alien. That was what upset them more than the fact that she did not pay Social Security taxes." http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/10/politics/10CHAV.html?pagewanted=all