Undocumented ex-housekeeper fires back at Meg Whitman

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: Los Angeles Times

The housekeeper at the center of the illegal immigration controversy roiling Meg Whitman’s campaign hit back at the Republican nominee for governor on Tuesday, saying that no one forced her to come forward. She said she did so to shed light on the plight of undocumented workers who live in the “shadows” and are treated poorly.

“Meg Whitman was wrong when she said somebody put a gun to my head. Nobody did. I spoke out because I want people to know who Meg Whitman really is and I am glad that I did. I want to be heard,” said Nicandra Diaz Santillan, Whitman’s former housekeeper, speaking at a news conference in the office of her attorney Gloria Allred. Allred is filing a claim on her behalf seeking unpaid wages, reimbursement for expenses and other funds.

Whitman’s nine-year employment of Diaz Santillan became a major issue in the governor’s race last week after she alleged that Whitman knew for many years that Diaz Santillan was in the country illegally and only fired her in 2009 because Whitman was running for governor and the housekeeper had become a political liability. Allred produced a 2003 letter from the federal government to Griff Harsh, Whitman’s husband, that stated that Diaz Santillan’s Social Security number did not match her name, and handwriting believed to be Harsh’s is on the letter.

Whitman has said she hired Diaz Santillan through an employment agency, saw what appeared to be legitimate documentation, and fired her once she learned she was illegal in 2009.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/10/whitmans-undocumented-ex-housekeeper-fires-back-at-gop-candidate.html

[truedelphi]

1. Two entries before yours, someone else posted same tale.

Can you self delete?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. In GD, not LBN

I searched for it. It was ten minutes old when I posted it. I post stories all the time in GD that end up hours later in LBN. If you don't like it, alert the mods. It's not a dupe in LBN.

[zbdent]

9. my momma said if I self-deleted ...

I'd go blind ...

[truedelphi]

14. heh. heh. n/t

[truthisfreedom]

2. Lovely.

[HoraceX]

4. Undocumented?

Wouldn't fraudulently documented be more accurate?

[Tanuki]

5. Ironically, many of Ms. Diaz Santillan's ancestors were living in North America

for thousands of years before Meg Whitman's ever thought of coming here.

[Frances]

8. I moved to CA in 2003

Some of the angriest, bitterest white people I've met in the state live in cities and travel on roads with Spanish names. Kind of ironic.

[Tansy_Gold]

6. "Undocumented" means "without legal documentation."

It doesn't mean "without documents of any kind."


TG, NTY

[customerserviceguy]

11. So, what do you call the ones with fraudulent documents?

If I did it, it would be called identity theft.

[Tansy_Gold]

12. "undocumented" = "without legal documents"

Therefore "undocumented" also means "with illegal/forged/fraudulent/borrowed/stolen documents."

Duh.


TG, NTY

[stopbush]

7. Troll watch begins...now!

[Binka]

10. Indeed! n/t

[hughee99]

13. I was trying to figure out the other day, what the "right" thing to do was

If it's true that Whitman hired Santillan through an agency, and documentation was presented...

Should Whitman have not hired her because she didn't trust the documentation provided to her?
Should Whitman have fired her after getting a letter that her SSN wasn't right and informed INS/ICE that she may be illegal?
Should Whitman have kept Santillan on after deciding to run for governor, hoping that no one would find out, and perhaps overpaying her to try to guarantee her silence?

What is the appropriate way to handle this situation?

[Brother Buzz]

16. Whitman should have followed the instructions on the 2003 letter

There was a problem that needed to be addressed yet Whitman failed to follow through.

[hughee99]

17. The instructions from the letter say to have the employee contact an Soc Sec. office.

So if Whitman (or her husband) had asked Santillan to contact a Soc Sec office, all would have been fine (whether she actually did so or not)? It also says that they shouldn't take any action against her because of the SS letter or they may be violating the law.

[Brother Buzz]

19. The instruction were for the employer to complete and return the worksheet in the addressed envelope

It was incompetent upon the employer, Meg and Griff, to return the worksheet AFTER they they rechecked Santillan's Social Security information.

[hughee99]

20. I was finally able to see the entire doc, not just excerpts

I'm still trying to figure out what did happen.

It appears (to me) that when the form arrived they weren't aware of her status, otherwise why fill it out at all and ask her to check it? I'm not sure what follow up they did, but presumably shortly after found out and decided not to mail out the form. Surprisingly, knowing the information on the form was false and that they can't mail it in, rather than throwing out the form, it was filed somewhere for the next 7 years until now.

Now since the form says that it should not be taken to mean there is any problem with an employee's ability to work, and without any further evidence on what other information they had to show she was an undocumented worker, I'm not sure that there's really "proof", in the legal sense, of what they knew or didn't know, but if this keeps her out of office, it's all fine with me. In either case, they were still employing and undocumented worker and that's always bad news for a repuke politician (because it hurts you in your own party, at least until you get far enough along in a campaign that the repukes are "stuck" with you as a candidate).

[Brother Buzz]

21. Your conclusion was similar to mine

The fact is pretty clear in my mind. The did receive the letter in 2003 and Meg lied about not seeing it until Allred produced the letter with Griff's notation. Lied, and spread the blame around like a drunken sailor (note this is just a three day timeline):



Strategy 1: Move along, folks, nothing to see here.

A campaign release said a couple of Whitman spokesman types would make statements about reports that "notorious attorney Gloria Allred will ... insert herself into the 2010 Governor's race."

Strategy 2: The Democrats made the housekeeper do it.

"I feel terrible for Nicky," Whitman said at a Wednesday afternoon campaign stop. "She's being manipulated and I'm sorry." Hector Barajas, a campaign spokesman, dumped the blame on the Democrats, calling the incident "a political manipulation by the Jerry Brown campaign."

Strategy 3: Even the press thinks the charges are "a bunch of garbage."

Wednesday afternoon the campaign sent out another release saying that The Chronicle "published an editorial in response to the false and ridiculous accusations made by notorious Attorney Gloria Allred." Small problem, though. The "editorial" was actually an opinion piece written by Debra Saunders, a conservative columnist for the paper. That's a column, not an editorial.

Strategy 4: Papers? What papers?

"Neither my husband or I received any letter from the Social Security Administration," Whitman said at a Thursday morning news conference.

Strategy 5: The housekeeper really did do it.

Diaz "may have intercepted the letter, it's very possible. I have no other explanation," Whitman said at the news conference.

Strategy 6: Oops. But so what?

The writing on the Social Security letter released by Allred and Diaz "probably is (my husband's) signature," Whitman said in a radio interview later in the day. "I don't think (the letter) did actually raise red flags."

Strategy 7: This has gone on long enough.

Leaders from across California "call for an end to Jerry Brown/Gloria Allred's political circus" reads a Thursday release. Every one of those Golden State leaders, though, is a Republican who has endorsed Whitman for governor.

Strategy 8: Bring on the lie detector.

Whitman says at the Thursday news conference she would "absolutely" take a lie detector test to verify her version of the story.

Strategy 8a: Or maybe not.

A campaign spokeswoman later said Whitman won't take a lie detector test unless Brown and her accusers take one first.

Strategy 9: No scandal here.

"There is No Meg Whitman-Housekeeper Scandal" reads the headline from the New York Post story sent out by the Whitman campaign today. Which will be sad news for the newspapers, TV shows and Internet bloggers still firing out story after story about what's now officially not a scandal. And the California voters who are eagerly devouring each one.

Strategy 10: It's business as usual.
A Friday afternoon release "calls on Jerry Brown to announce positions on November propositions."

This is at least the third time in the past week or so that the campaign has sent out a nearly identical release -- with the same non-effect on the Brown campaign -- but it does change the subject.

•••••••

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=73676

[yellowcanine]

15. Meg cannot possibly win this battle and the longer it goes on the more she bleeds.

[independent_voter]

18. whitman is paying 100 million for an office, and pays a housekeeper under the table

to say we are headed back to feudalism isnt fair to the people of the middle ages, as most of their house servents had the status of citizen

[hughee99]

22. Was she paying her under the table?

If so, why did the Social Security office have the housekeepers paperwork?

[truedelphi]

23. What a great post. Love how concise it is. n/t

[Quantess]

24. Yeah, but she wasn't paid under the table.

Still, though. Point taken.

[TomCADem]

25. K & R!