Social Security Tax Problem Bars Ruff as Reno’s Deputy, Sources Say

President Clinton has decided not to nominate Washington lawyer Charles F. C. Ruff to be deputy attorney general because of concern over Ruff’s failure to pay Social Security taxes for his household help and warnings from key Senate Democrats that they would not come to Ruff’s defense, sources said Wednesday.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) said in an interview Wednesday that he had made clear to White House officials that Ruff “would be a big problem.”

White House officials, including congressional liaison Howard Paster, concluded that the political risk of going forward with Ruff would be too high after Atty. Gen. Janet Reno quietly canvassed other Judiciary Committee members about their views on Ruff’s prospects.

Reno called Biden on Wednesday and indicated that it was “her judgment not to go forward,” Biden said.

Ruff failed to pay Social Security taxes for a 71-year-old woman who had cleaned his house once a week for the last nine years. He said he was not aware that he was required to pay the taxes because the woman was past retirement age. He recently paid $3,300 in back taxes.

In addition to the Social Security issue, Ruff faced criticism from Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder over his successful representation of Wilder’s bitter political enemy, Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.), on federal wiretapping allegations.

The White House refused to confirm that Ruff was out of consideration for the No. 2 post.

But Biden and others warned the Administration that they risked criticism of a “double standard” if they went ahead with Ruff after having torpedoed two women over Social Security tax-related problems. “Much of this is a matter of public confidence,” Biden said. “If the press plays it as a ‘Zoe Baird problem,’ to the public at large it looks like we took a qualified woman and she didn’t go through and now we’re going to go with the white boy.”