Bush Standing by Linda Chavez

Tuesday, January 9th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” President-elect Bush was standing behind his embattled pick for labor secretary amid revelations that she housed and provided money to an illegal immigrant. But the Bush camp's defense of Linda Chavez shifted as advisers worked to learn more facts and whether she was forthcoming.

A Bush spokesman on Monday declined to say whether the Guatemalan immigrant, Marta Mercado, had been paid to do household chores for Chavez nearly a decade ago. A day earlier, another Bush spokesman denied Chavez ever employed the woman. Federal law prohibits hiring illegal immigrants.

And while Bush's camp insisted Chavez didn't know Mercado was in the country illegally, Mercado said just the opposite in an interview.

``She knew I was not legal in this country,'' Mercado said. ``She knew I didn't have my green card.'' She added that Chavez offered once or twice to help her gain legal status.

``She had the intention to be my sponsor,'' Mercado said.

Mercado, interviewed Tuesday on ABC's ``Good Morning America,'' said she was not sure whether Chavez knew of her illegal status at the time she moved into the Chavez home. ``She knew it later. I cannot tell you how long later.''

As for doing housework, Mercado said, ``I did it sometimes. ... I was living at the home and I felt that it was necessary for me to do things. ... I'm not sure'' whether the money Chavez gave her was pay or a gift.

Bush spokesman Tucker Eskew maintained that Chavez ``came to know of this woman's status sometime after she had left her home.'' Several Bush aides said that's what Chavez told the president-elect's advisers when she was being considered for the Cabinet.

Though rarely enforced, federal law prohibits knowingly harboring or concealing an illegal alien â€” a fact Democrats who oppose Chavez' nomination were exploring ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing next week.

Mercado said FBI agents interviewed her Sunday about her ties to Chavez and that she had talked to Chavez the night before. Asked whether Chavez told her what to say, Mercado replied, ``No, not really.''

FBI agents also interviewed at least one neighbor who still resides in the suburban Maryland cul de sac where Chavez lived in the early 1990s.

Mercado came to live with Chavez and her family in 1991, a few months after arriving illegally from Guatemala. She said she did not formally work for Chavez, but received money from her â€” $60, $100 or $200 â€” every two to three weeks, plus free room and board.

``I had time ... to do some things around the house, some chores around the house ... like sometimes doing some laundry, cleaning the kitchen, taking care of the dog,'' Mercado said Monday. ``It (made) me feel better doing some things for them.''

By contrast, Mercado said that she did formally work for a neighbor, a point confirmed by that neighbor's maid, Sandra Johnson, who also was under the impression that Mercado was also working for Chavez.

``She told me she needed more money because Linda Chavez was only paying her like $120 a week,'' Johnson said.

On Sunday, Eskew said definitively: ``Ms. Chavez did not employ this woman as a housekeeper or anything else.'' But on Monday, when asked if Chavez employed her, spokesman Ari Fleischer said: ``I think that's what the whole vetting process is going through, is looking at.''

Fleischer repeatedly characterized Chavez' relationship with Mercado as a compassionate one.

``Our nation has a long history of people engaging in acts of compassion and helping out people in times of trouble or in moments of need,'' he said. ``That is part of, I think, what has happened here.''

After living with Chavez for about two years, Mercado returned to Guatemala, coming back to the United States in 1994 on a tourist's visa. That visa expired and she was here illegally again until marrying a U.S. citizen. She now has a visa that allows her to work here legally.

Bush, who said he learned of the controversy only Sunday, stood by his nominee. ``I strongly believe that when the Senate gives her a fair hearing, they'll vote for her,'' he said. ``I firmly believe she'll be a fine secretary of labor.''

But Democrats promised a vigorous examination. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Health, Education and Labor Committee, called the revelations ``very troubling.''

Chavez already was being strongly criticized by unions and some Democrats for her opposition to affirmative action and the minimum wage and other conservative positions.

Seven years ago, Chavez was highly critical of a similar controversy surrounding President Clinton's nomination of Zoe Baird for attorney general. The nomination was derailed because Baird had employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny.

Appearing on PBS in 1993, Chavez said: ``I think most of the American people were upset during the Zoe 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.''

An Immigration and Naturalization Service official said that if Chavez knew Mercado was undocumented she might have been in violation of the immigration law, which carries fines starting at $2,000 per charge.

``It's very rare that an individual would be prosecuted for this,'' said Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. ``On the other hand, if you are a Cabinet secretary you have to expect that you are going to be under a lot of scrutiny.''

Chavez did not return messages left for her at the Center For Equal Opportunity, a Virginia nonprofit group she heads.

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Associated Press writer Scott Lindlaw contributed to this story.