The Package Deal of Jill and Bill

Reagan is rescued by one Ruckelshaus, blasted by another

When the Administration was frantically trying to stop the cascading scandals at the Environmental Protection Agency last winter, the President turned to William Ruckelshaus for help. Ruckelshaus became the new EPA administrator, and the White House has begun to relax as the Republican with the "Mr. Clean" image has started to restore order to the shattered agency. "I want to make people feel good about where they work," he says. "The EPA has always been an agency whose people have a great deal of pride. Despite all the recent turbulence, the pride is still there."

It was one of those ironic twists of Washington political life that Reagan was attacked by one Ruckelshaus even as he was rescued by another. Jill Ruckelshaus, Bill's strong-minded and outspoken wife, has been in the vanguard of frequent anti-Reagan reports that issue from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Last month the commission accused Reagan of not appointing enough women and minorities to Government posts, and of limiting the investigation of sex discrimination at private and public schools and colleges.

Along with Elizabeth and Bob Dole, the Ruckelshauses have become one of the most visible and influential husband-and-wife teams in Washington. In contrast to Jill, Bill has been a quiet team player, moving to rehabilitate the EPA's reputation and employee morale, which were damaged by a spate of congressional investigations into political favoritism, conflict of interest and mismanagement of the toxic-waste program under former Chief Anne Burford.

Ruckelshaus, who was the EPA's first administrator from 1970 to 1973, has issued new standards of conduct for relations with industry representatives, called for a uniform policy for assessing and coping with the risks of toxic chemicals, and stanched the budget cuts that critics charged were crippling enforcement programs. The new director has impressed White House officials, even the few who were initially reluctant to bring him aboard. "It's a measure of how much Reagan needed Bill," a friend of Ruckelshaus points out, "because he knew he was going to have to take Jill too." At 46, Jill Ruckelshaus is not a typical political wife. She holds a master's degree in education from Harvard. She prefers backyard basketball to black-tie dinners, and a quiet family life in a Seattle suburb to the social whirl of Washington, D.C. A decade ago, her vocal support of women's rights earned her the nickname "the Gloria Steinem of the Republican Party."

The recent discrimination flap was not the first time that Jill, who was appointed to the Civil Rights Commission by Jimmy Carter in 1980, has tangled with Reagan. Last year the President attempted to sack her, then backed down. She was due to be replaced again this year, but then her husband joined the Reagan team. Said an Administration official: "It would hardly be the thing to do to boot out the wife of your EPA director."

The couple, who have been married 21 years and have five children (two by Ruckelshaus' first wife, who died during childbirth), are an even-tempered and devoted pair. Bill likes to tease his wife about being the "radical" in the family, but they seem generally unconcerned at the awkwardness of Jill's publicly criticizing her husband's boss. "I've said before, if it ever came to a choice between my job and my wife," Ruckelshaus says, "I'd choose my wife." Adds Jill: "We're not a fairy-tale couple. And there's no big strain on our relationship because of our careers. My family has to come first. We discuss work at home. I give him advice. He does the same to me. We commiserate." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.