Whitman employed illegal immigrant, campaign says

[bokchoy19]

Source: Capitol Alert

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman employed an illegal immigrant for nine years, then fired her when the employee said in 2009 that she was in the country illegally, Whitman's campaign said this morning.

Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/09/whitman-unknowingly-employeed.html#ixzz10whpk7ge

Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/09/whitman-unknowingly-employeed.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. "This is all the fault of the illegal entity. Smirk." - Republicons

"Damn illegals forced our sainted RepubiCrony to, um, hire her at slave wages and scrub her stanky toilets. We need to put up a higher fence and stuff."

- Republicons

[Dawson Leery]

2. The Teabag Homelanders will think of a reason not to blame the wealthy person.

[wtmusic]

3. Maybe she thought being "tough on immigration"

meant asking her housekeeper to clean windows

[Happyhippychick]

27. LOL

[independent_voter]

4. she was just responding to "a desparate shortage of household labor"

that could not be found at ANY price

just like at her tech companies

[Gman]

5. So did Whitman pay payroll taxes on her?

Or was she paid in cash, under the table.

[louis-t]

6. She was hired through an agency, wasn't she?

[T. Count]

7. So was it she or the agency that did not check her papers? nt

[Gman]

34. Whitman may be off the hook on this one

if the woman was employed by the agency, it was up to the agency to have the I-9 and W-4 on file. Whitman could easily plead ignorance having relied on the agency to do the vetting.

[louis-t]

57. Uh, she was notified by letter, that she claims

she never got except that her husband's handwriting is on the letter she claims she never got and Gloria Allred has a copy. C'mon, get up to speed. :hi:

[JuniperLea]

58. If that were the case, the agency, not Whitman, would have received the letter... eom

[sonomak]

8. Gloria Allred alleges Meg Whitman knowingly employed an undocumented worker in her home for 9 years

Source: Los Angeles Times

Attorney Gloria Allred is alleging that her client was an undocumented worker while serving as a housecleaner and nanny for nine years in the home of Meg Whitman, the Republican nominee for governor.

Allred said Whitman caused the worker to "feel exploited, disrespected, humiliated, and emotionally and financially abused."

The worker alleges Whitman knew she was here illegally but did not act on it until she decided to run for governor last year.

"'Don't ask don't tell' may have become, 'Oh my God she will tell if I continue to employ her,'" said Allred. Allred said she will file a claim for unpaid wages and mileage reimbursement.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/09/explosive-whitman-charges-involve-undocumented-household-worker.html

[independent_voter]

9. she couldnt afford to pay a citizen's wages

LOL

[K8-EEE]

14. Well the lady was getting $23 an hour

I think a lot of citizens would be OK with that! There was some issue of if she reported all the hours??

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

38. Apparently the lady was being paid the $23 for 15 hrs a week when in reality

she was working more than that.

[K8-EEE]

39. Ah! Well it figures...

I always figure the main reason for hiring illegals is you want people you can abuse who have no rights to argue about it.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

40. Hey at first when I read the $23/hour figure. I thought "hey it's not a bad deal" but

there's always a catch with these turds.

[mike_c]

10. Americans simply don't want those jobs....

I mean, would you want to clean up after Meg Whitman? I rest my case.

[2Design]

11. don't most rich repubs employ illegal immigrants for their household

maintenance - this is not big news

[louis-t]

12. Rules don't apply to repugs.

Laws don't apply, ethics don't apply, morals don't apply...

[HereSince1628]

13. Well the do, sort of like a fence

And we all know that the grass is greener ON THE OTHER SIDE of the fence.

While Democrats stick to the center of the pasture and understand the principle that beyond the fence things belong to someoneelse Republicans are strangely attracted to fences (moral edge effect) and driven to push beyond them (greed).

[Moonbat2]

41. oh so true

dems are the only honest,moral folks

[Binka]

46. LOL

Just LOL. Oh and welcome to DU.....LOL.

[global1]

15. Let The Spinning Begin.......

can't wait to hear Whitman's defense on this. Somehow it will wind up being the fault of the housekeeper I'm sure.

[T. Count]

16. Did she not check her papers? nt

[slackmaster]

49. I heard on the radio that MW's story is that she did check the papers...

...and those turned out to be forged.

If that is true, this whole conveniently-timed revelation could backfire.

[pampango]

17. TMZ - Meg Whitman: My Maid's Full of It

http://www.tmz.com/2010/09/29/meg-whitman-housekeeper-allegations-gloria-allred-california-governor/

Meg Whitman's campaign just gave us documents suggesting that her former maid, Nicky Diaz Santillan, actually lied to Meg about her immigration status when she was hired back in 2000.

The documents, which Whitman claims Nicky filled out and signed back in 2000 during her application for employment, appear to show that the maid stated under the penalty of perjury that she was a "lawful permanent resident" of the United States.

Whitman also claims Nicky provided her with a social security card and valid California Driver's License with her employment application ... which Meg kept and has now handed over to TMZ.

And, Whitman continues, "I believe Nicky is being manipulated by Gloria Allred for political and financial purposes during the last few weeks of a hotly contested election." Whitman concludes, "This is a shameful example of the politics of personal destruction practiced by people like Jerry Brown and Gloria Allred. The charges are without merit."

[T. Count]

18. Not good if true. nt

[Igel]

53. Even if not true, plausible.

I was the "I-9 compliance officer" for the diminutive company I worked for.

In one case the driver's license looked good, the Social Security card looked good. Well, both sets of them, because about a year after I inspected and pronounced them good the woman produced a second driver's license and Social Security card for herself--different name, different SSN. They also looked good to my untrained eye.

She said she was in the country legally and signed the appropriate form to that effect. She was here illegally, she later admitted.

Now, I suspected as much--purely monolingual 20-year-old Spanish speakers aren't all that common among native-born Americans, and the number of unskilled Mexican workers legally in the US is fairly small. Still, I couldn't check *her* documents without checking all similar documents. That was a pain.

Interestingly, I did the same gig for a non-profit when the I-9 forms first hit the deck. I seriously doubted the old SS cards I examined; they looked obviously fake to me. They weren't.

[pinboy3niner]

19. Whitman was notified the SSN provided was bogus 6 yrs before she fired her

From the Sacramento Bee:

Diaz today unveiled through celebrity attorney Gloria Allred that she had worked for Whitman's family for nine years illegally. Allred said in a press conference that Whitman never asked about Diaz' legal status and received notice from the Social Security Administration in 2003 that the social security number provided by Diaz did not match her name, calling that a "a clue that the employee may be undocumented."

Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/09/whitman-campaign-releases-ex-h.html#ixzz10wpGV3Kn

[T. Count]

20. Shouldn't the SSA have refunded the taxes at that point and asked for new documentation?

?

[pinboy3niner]

25. No, taxes are payable regardless of the employee's legal status

Undocumented immigrant workers pay BILLIONS into SS every year, even though they are ineligible to collect any benefits.

[T. Count]

26. What about the taxes paid by the employers that hire illegal immigrants and then find out they

cannot employ them? Seems like there should be a refund of those.

[pinboy3niner]

29. The labor was performed, whether or not the employment was proper

The employer is still liable for SS taxes on all workers. Neither the employer nor the employee gets a refund.

Welcome to DU, T. Count! :hi:

[T. Count]

30. That make sense.

I still can't figure out how it takes them 3 years to figure out the #'s don't match.

Thanks!

[Igel]

54. It's not an issue.

They don't issue reports to every employer for every employer every quarter.

The federal government allows a fair amount of slippage. I'm facing that now with my mother--most of her "stuff" has her first name starting with a "K", while her SS card used to have it beginning with a "C" (it's one of those names like "Carl/Karl," with a range of alternative spellings). Her birth certificate has the "K" spelling. She didn't apply for the SS card, she said--her employer did when she was hired.

In the late '80s I filed quarterly reports for my employer and once got a report back that "Seymour K. Smith" didn't match the SSN I had down for him. That number belonged to "Karl Smith". The SS report I got was for informational purposes only. It went to the bottom of my inbox. Months later it got to the top of my inbox again, Karl was in the office at the time, and I asked. He didn't like his first name, had never used it (it was his father's first name, as well), filled out his SS card application in the company of friends who would have mocked his real first name--but when he was hired he put it down, figuring that his real first name was immaterial at that point and 15 years later circumstances had changed. Nobody looked at his SS card. His SS card simply didn't match his birth certificate.

It wasn't my job to report him as an illegal alien (he wasn't) or to fix the error (his, not mine). It didn't matter to me, one way or the other. I told "Seymour" to fix the error now rather than later. He never did.

A report of a second mismatch came back a couple of years later (along with a repeat of "Seymour," who hadn't fixed the error). I wasn't me. Didn't bother to fix it. I don't recall if I flipped a couple of digits in my SS # on one report or used my middle initial instaed of spelling out my middle name.

So having a mismatch is a "clue" that the employer can investigate or not, and it might be the employer's error or the employee's. It is not proof of much. Otherwise we'd have deported Seymour back to Kansas, even though he no longer was fluent in Kansan.

[karynnj]

32. Why?

The employee is not "out" anything. The real solution is a better up front way for any employer to verify that the person they hire is legal. If there was a good way to do this, create penalties for employers who can not show they used that system.

We need to create paths to citizenship for the long term illegal immigrants and make coming here less desirable for illegal aliens. The BEST way to do that is not bigger fences, but denying them jobs, the lure that brings most of them here.

[robertpaulsen]

21. That might be the smoking gun in a she said-she said tale.

If there is SSA documentation that Whitman knew in 2003, Whitman is screwed.

[T. Count]

22. That is very true. Hope they release this document soon. nt

[robertpaulsen]

44. Even without the document, Whitman looks like an idiot.

Taking her version at face value, why wasn't she upfront about being hoodwinked when she started her campaign? Bottom line: she didn't want California voters to find out. The real question is why? Either she didn't want voters to find out because she's lying, or she didn't want voters to find out because it makes her look incompetent and she (gasp) didn't want to be held accountable!

[glinda]

23. I hope lots of stuff comes out on her. She totally ruined Ebay.

[robertpaulsen]

45. That's right. Didn't she settle out of court after shoving an Ebay employee?

Seems she has a history of mistreating those in her employ.

[glinda]

59. and she turned Ebay into a mega monster that left lots of sellers out

[pinboy3niner]

33. I think there's enough damage to her even without that

BTW, great username! I'm a big fan of Fight Club--both the book and the movie. (Please disregard if you're the voice actor or another actual Robert Paulson. :) )

[robertpaulsen]

43. Oh thanks!

Yeah, I'm a big Fight Club fan! :evilgrin:

And yes, even without documentation, the fact that she waited until now to admit she employed an illegal alien that she 'just happened' to find out about and fire right before kicking off her campaign speaks volumes about her potential governing style.

[karnac]

36. a trusted houskeeper has access to the mail

Who is to say the maid did not intercept the SSA mail addressed to Whitman? Would that be a federal crime?

I have not a clue about SSA administrative procedures along these lines, but if they don't actually make a phone call to her about this matter, this fiasco go on a very long time. After-all, money is being paid into the system and not being payed out. IRS *might* complain about the deduction(if any) but not about taxes collected for Diaz.

I'm all for embarrassing Whitman, but Ms Diaz is going to wind up paying a price. Deportation, jail time. whatever.


When i was a kid i used to play hookey from time to time. Always intercepted the the school absence notices in the mail. Mom never caught on.

Until they called.

[Tikki]

42. Odds are whitman has a post office box...

And after no reply, the IRS prob sent further notices to multiple sources to reach whitman.


Tikki

[karnac]

47. SSA is the issue actually. not IRS

now that I think of it i had such an issue about 7 years ago. hired somebody, put on payroll. had ssN. paid by check,withholding. the whole enchilada. guy worked for me for about 4 months then he left. about 4 months later, i get one letter from the SSA saying the SSN he gave me was being used by multiple persons. I do remember i did *NOTHING* about it. didn't have to since i did nothing wrong on my part. the IRS did nothing about it. never even mentioned it to me.

the IRS got their money as did the SSA.

this is albeit 7 years ago. things might be tighter now.

btw, there iss nothing to prevent you from giving your pobox key to go fetch your mail. if i was a fatcat, i wouldn't do it myself.

whitman is a fatcat.

[Tikki]

50. All right SSA...I bet someone did pick up her mail...but, not the maid..

Tikki

[Doctor_J]

51. Screwed? Are you kidding?

Repuke felons win public office all the time. If David Vitter's diapers and prostitutes don't get him run out of office, why do you think this will hurt Meg EBay?

[robertpaulsen]

56. This is California. NutMeg is trying to court the Latino vote.

I see billboards in Spanish for her all over my neighborhood. Commercials on TV starring Latinos touting themselves as a "Meg Whitman Success Story". All those tens of millions spent on building that goodwill could go down the toilet if this story proves true. Without the Latino vote, NutMeg loses the election.

[Igel]

55. The report of a mismatch is

proof of a mismatch.

They happen. They happen rather more with non-computerized systems. Input the number once, and have any fixes be carried forward in perpetuity, and the error rate drops. Write the number in quarterly or annually and you get more errors.

It's a clue that the woman was in the US illegally. It's also a clue that a number was written incorrectly or the name reported was different.

I wonder if the SSA issued a second report a few years later?

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[liberal N proud]

28. Its OK, because as a Republican Whitman is against illegal immigration

She just doesn't think that applies to her personally.

[harun]

37. GOP Hypocrisy.

[happygoluckytoyou]

31. FIRED WHEN DURING GOV PRE-ELECTION SUDDENLY SAID... HEY IM ILLEGAL ? ? just asking....

no chance carly decided that it would come out during the election and suddenly realized the $4 dollar an hour slave labor would hurt her campaign ?

[boycottfaux]

35. LIAR

Whitman fired this woman after NINE YEARS of employment . .

Without giving her a dime in compensation or the cost of a bus
ticket back to Mexico . .

Lying, hypocrite, cheap bitch . .

[DeSwiss]

48. K&R

From Megggie's web site on how to deal with those evil Californians who hire illegals:


"Modeled after drug seizure raids, Meg will institute a system where state and local law enforcement agencies conduct inspections of workplaces suspected of employing undocumented workers."

- And she's against amnesty for herself too, I guess. Read it before it disappears at: http://www.megwhitman.com/platform_topic.php?type=immigration&page=1

[lonestarnot]

52. bwwaaaaa aha hahahahahahah

:rofl: