NEWS ANALYSIS : Disclosure’s Timing Hurts Wilson : Past employment of illegal immigrant housekeeper puts another burden on governor, who is already hard-pressed to justify his record on taxes and abortion, GOP insiders say.

The disclosure that Gov. Pete Wilson and his ex-wife had hired an illegal immigrant as their housekeeper gave the incipient presidential candidate just about the last thing he needed--something else to explain.

Even before this latest revelation, Wilson’s plate of rationalizations for past conduct was filled to overflowing, as was demonstrated by his appearance earlier this week before an audience of conservative activists in Washington.

In a rasping whisper, made necessary by recent surgery on his vocal chords, Wilson first had to explain to the audience of political insiders why he felt compelled to run for President only a few months after he had solemnly promised the voters of California that he would serve out his full term.

Then, seeking to become the standard-bearer for a party that regards cutting taxes as close to a religious sacrament and raising them as close to a mortal sin, Wilson had to explain his role in helping push through the biggest tax increase in California’s history during his first term in charge of the state’s government.

Now, he has to explain not only the circumstances surrounding the hiring of the housekeeper, which would be troublesome enough in view of his efforts to present himself as a leader in the battle against illegal immigration. But in addition, he has to deal with the troublesome fact that he and his ex-wife failed to pay Social Security taxes on the woman’s salary.

Ordinarily, time would be on Wilson’s side because this incident took place more than 15 years ago and there is often an informal statute of limitations on political misbehavior. “It isn’t something that happened recently when there was a heightened awareness” of the issue, said Charles Black, a senior adviser to one of Wilson’s rivals, Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.).

But timing is everything in politics and this timing is all wrong for Wilson. The incident occurs at a crucial moment in his political life--just as he is trying to introduce himself as a national political candidate.

“He does not have a lot of wiggle room and this is not good for him,” said Kellyanne Fitzpatrick, a Republican pollster who is not working for any of the GOP presidential candidates. “It is a problem because he is already teetering on the edge of being viewed as a hypocrite on many issues.”

Similarly, University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, author of “Feeding Frenzy,” a book about journalistic treatment of disclosures about politicians, said that the incident is “much less significant” than other problems for Wilson, such as his support of abortion rights and his record on tax increases.

“But it’s one more burden for a candidate who hasn’t exactly rocketed from the launching pad,” Sabato said.

The housekeeper story made headlines in cities around the country, including Milwaukee, where Wisconsin party officials are preparing to host a Midwest GOP regional leadership conference this month, at which Wilson is expected to make his campaign debut competing for support against half a dozen rivals for the nomination.

“It’s not fatal,” said Jim Pugh, communications director for the state’s Republicans. “But having to deal with it may take the immigration issue away from him.”

Of course Wilson is not the only candidate who has to explain his past behavior. Gramm has been hectored about the draft deferments he was given during the Vietnam War, which may help explain why his adviser, Black, said that “it wouldn’t be fair” to make an issue of the illegal immigrant episode.

But not everyone was so charitable.

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Conservative leader William J. Bennett, who condemned Proposition 187 during last fall’s campaign, slammed Wilson.

“He promises the voters he’s not going to run (for President), and then big money shows up and he says he changed his mind,” Bennett said. “He says the family made a mistake in not paying Social Security taxes but it wasn’t his fault, it was his ex-wife’s fault. You can call this a lot of things, but stepping forward and leading it ain’t,” Bennett said.

“I don’t think this is an impressive debut for a presidential candidate.”

Aides to the two Wilson rivals with the most to lose from his candidacy--former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter--lost no time in piling on.

“I think it’s another huge problem for Wilson’s campaign,” said Mike Murphy, chief strategist for Alexander, who until Wilson decided to enter the race was the only candidate with substantial experience in state government.

Wilson “made a career last year out of becoming the protector of America from illegal immigrants,” Murphy said. “Now we find out that he wasn’t particularly diligent about the immigration status of people he hired to work for him.”

Roger Stone, campaign chairman for Specter, who is the only contender competing with Wilson for the abortion rights vote in the GOP presidential race, suggested that the incident could be lumped together in a campaign television commercial with Wilson’s first-term tax increase and his earlier opposition to the tax-cutting Proposition 13.

A potential script, he said, clearly savoring the prospect, would end something like this: “When it comes to taxes, Pete Wilson doesn’t even like to pay his own.”

Times political writer Ronald Brownstein contributed to this story.