In the aftermath of the failed nomination of Attorney General-designate Zoe Baird, two candidates for New Jersey's governorship have admitted that they, too, hired illegal aliens as house workers.
Former Attorney General Cary Edwards, who is running for the state Republican nomination, announced Saturday that he had briefly employed an illegal alien from Portugal.His admission came a day after Christine Whitman, widely regarded as the leading GOP candidate, announced in the wake of the Baird withdrawal that she also had hired illegal aliens.
Whitman said two Portuguese nationals who illegally worked for her had since legalized their status and now continued to work for her. She said she had neglected to pay Social Security taxes during the period of illegal employment but would make good on the delinquency.
Whitman ran a strong campaign against Sen. Bill Bradley in 1990, exploiting a statewide revolt against tax increases. That propelled her into the vanguard of Republicans eager to take on Gov. Jim Florio, a Democrat who raised taxes in 1990.
Edwards, Whitman's chief opponent for the nomination and the only declared candidate, said he had illegally retained a Portuguese woman as a house worker but had subsequently sought to legalize her status. He said the woman resigned in 1991 after he insisted on withholding taxes from her pay.