Meg Whitman employed illegal Immigrant

Meg Whitman employed illegal Immigrant


Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor who has called for making California employers more accountable for hiring undocumented workers, faced allegations today that she herself had done so for nearly a decade - a charge that her campaign denied as an attack by Democrats playing "the politics of personal destruction."

The October surprise in the governor's race unfolded live on TMZ.com as Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred, a longtime Democratic activist, held a news conference with the former employee, Mexican-born Nicandra Diaz Santillan, who worked for Whitman as a nanny and housekeeper from 2000 to 2009.

"What did Meg Whitman know and when did she know it?" said Allred, who charged that Whitman "never asked if Nicky were here legally" when she hired her to work as a $23-an-hour housekeeper in Whitman's 15,000-square-foot home in 2000.

Allred added that Whitman ignored correspondence sent to her home from the Social Security Administration in 2003. The letter informed her that Diaz' Social Security number did not match her name - a red flag for an undocumented worker.

The letter asked Whitman to show that Diaz had proper documentation, Allred said, and there is no record that Whitman had responded.

The charges came as Whitman was starring in a her own news conference in San Jose with Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, an event aimed to underscore her credentials on job creation. She forcefully denied the accusations.

"I feel terrible for Nicky," the former eBay CEO told reporters. "She is being manipulated and I'm sorry. Everything Gloria Allred is saying is an absolute lie."

Whitman's campaign operatives insisted that the attorney was a plant for the campaign of Whitman's opponent, Democrat and state Attorney General Jerry Brown.

"We absolutely did what we needed to do as employers," Whitman told reporters, adding in a statement that Diaz provided false documentation about her immigration status to the employment agency through which Whitman made the hire.

The charges came a day after Brown and Whitman's first debate in their heated race, which recent polls show is at or near a dead heat. Whitman - who has been making inroads into the Latino vote in the state, according to polls - will participate in a Spanish-language debate with Brown in Fresno on Saturday, which will be broadcast on Univision.

As recently as Tuesday's debate in Davis, Whitman has called for employers to be held accountable for hiring undocumented workers. Whitman was asked Wednesday why she had not previously discussed her experience and problems with hiring immigrant workers.

"It never came up," she said.

In Los Angeles, Diaz tearfully alleged that she was fired in June 2009 when she came to Whitman for help in obtaining her green card. Whitman, she said, was planning her run for governor at the time, and fired her longtime employee a few days later.

Diaz said Whitman called her and said: " 'I don't know you, and you don't know me. Understand?' "

Allred cast Diaz as the victim of a politically ambitious employer who skirted the law. The attorney charged that Whitman hired Diaz to work for 15 hours a week as a nanny in her home.

Although Diaz was paid $23 an hour, Allred said she was "exploited, disrespected, humiliated, and emotionally and financially abused" in the Whitman household because she worked many more hours than she was paid for. Allred said she intends to file a claim with the state asking that Diaz be paid back wages.

Allred said that Whitman never asked Diaz for documentation and once asked whether she ever traveled to Mexico and Diaz told her employer, "I cannot travel outside the country."

Whitman said she had always believed Diaz to be a legal resident alien, adding that her employee had been hired on the basis of false documents Diaz presented to an employment agency.

"After nine years of faithful service, Nicky came to us in June 2009 and confessed that she was an illegal worker," Whitman said in her statement. "Nicky had falsified the hiring documents and personal information she provided to the employment agency that brought her to us in 2000," Whitman's statement said.

"Nicky told me that she was admitting her deception now because she was aware that her lie might come out during the campaign," Whitman's statement said, adding that Whitman said she had no choice but to fire Diaz.

Rob Stutzman, a Whitman political adviser, told reporters that the event was engineered by Allred and Democrats precisely to hurt Whitman as she headed into a crucial debate before a Latino audience.

"What's a California governors' race without Gloria Allred inserting herself into it," Stutzman said. He said it was "curious" that Allred had donated $150 to Brown's 2006 campaign for attorney general. "There's a clear relationship and party affiliation that's undeniable," he said.

"This is the post-debate smoke bomb," he said.

Asked whether Whitman saw Diaz' Social Security documentation, as Allred insisted, Stutzman said Whitman "never saw it ... and guess who picked up the mail every day? (Nicky) was in control of it."

Whitman appeared unruffled in her press conference in San Jose after the meeting with Chambers, but one part of their conversation appeared to allude to today's troubles.

"Politics is tough, isn't it?" Chambers said to her at one point during the event.

Whitman's response: "Politics is a blood sport."

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