Women’s Groups Upset but Won’t Try to Block Defense Nominee Inman

Women’s groups expressed chagrin Tuesday over this week’s White House decision to forgive Bobby Ray Inman for failing to pay Social Security taxes for his housekeeper but said they will not seek to block his nomination as secretary of defense.

Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, said that her group “may ultimately raise some protest” over President Clinton’s decision to appoint Inman despite the violation but that “we don’t view it as a disqualifier” for the high-level job.

Harriet Woods, president of the National Women’s Political Caucus, agreed. Woods said the fact that Inman was nominated after violating Social Security laws does not represent a double standard because current policy treats men and women equally provided that they pay back taxes.

But she said women are “beginning to get a little impatient about how long this will go on” because laxity in enforcing the Social Security tax laws “is primarily hurting poor women.” She called for tougher enforcement of the law for all household employers.

The tempered approach was in marked contrast to the position taken by women’s groups last winter, when Zoe Baird, Clinton’s nominee for attorney general, ultimately was dropped after it was learned that she had not paid Social Security taxes for her housekeeper, an illegal immigrant.

At that time, women’s organizations complained that the Administration and Congress were maintaining a double standard, holding women responsible for such lapses while men were being permitted to take office unscathed.

In the months since then, however, some men have been disqualified from high-ranking Administration jobs for not paying Social Security taxes for their household help, and the White House has applied its policy equally to men and women.

Ireland said Tuesday that one reason her organization is not pressing harder on the Social Security tax issue is a fear that, “if it is held out as an automatic disqualifier, more women are going to be shut out of the Cabinet.”

Even so, she said in an interview, NOW probably will press the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will consider Inman’s nomination on Jan. 25, to ask him about it. “I’d like to hear the answers,” she declared.

Inman’s violation was in failing to pay Social Security taxes for a housekeeper, an American citizen who worked at his home one or two days a week. The White House said he had disclosed the situation when he was asked to accept the Cabinet post and has paid $6,000 in back taxes.

Dee Dee Myers, the White House press secretary, said Inman had told the Administration that he had not paid the Social Security taxes before now because he wanted to see whether Congress intended to change the law.

The Social Security law requires a householder to pay Social Security taxes on wages for domestic help if the employee earns more than $50 in a calendar quarter. Congress has discussed raising that threshold but has not acted.

The more measured response to the Inman flap was evident among other major women’s organizations also. A spokeswoman for the Women’s Legal Defense Fund, which often has a statement prepared in such cases, said the group had not yet formulated a position.

Similar attitudes prevailed in other organizations that were contacted Tuesday. And several key lawmakers have told the Administration privately that they see no problems in persuading Congress to confirm Inman for the post, despite this week’s disclosure.

Ireland conceded Tuesday that there were some legitimate differences between Baird’s case and that involving Inman. By hiring an illegal immigrant, Baird, as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, would have been in a position to enforce a law she had broken.

Nevertheless, Ireland said, “in politics, perception is the key, and the perception throughout much of the country is that this is evidence of a double standard. There’s some frustration about that.”

Woods argued that, despite the more evenhanded treatment of men and women in such cases, women were becoming impatient that there were violations at all. “I hope the Administration will recognize that there’s an end to patience on this,” she said.