Oopsie... Whitman Acknowledges She Formerly Employed Illegal Immigrant Housekeeper

[WillyT]

Whitman acknowledges she formerly employed illegal immigrant housekeeper
By DAVID SIDERS - McClatchy Newspapers
Wednesday, Sep. 29, 2010

<snip>

ACRAMENTO, Calif. In a disclosure that rattled the governor's race, Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman acknowledged Wednesday that she employed an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper for nine years until she began running for governor last year.

Fresh from the first debate of the fall campaign, where Whitman said employers who hire undocumented workers should be held responsible, the candidate said she was unaware of the legal status of Nicky Diaz Santillan until the woman confessed last year. Whitman said she then did "one of the hardest things I've ever done" and fired the nanny and housekeeper.

But a tearful Diaz Santillan, with celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred at her side in an emotional press conference in Los Angeles, suggested Whitman should have known she was illegal. She told reporters that Whitman laughed when she asked for help obtaining legal status and said when she dismissed her, "From now on, you don't know me, and I don't know you." She said Whitman "treated me like a piece of garbage. She treated me as if I were not a human being."

Her story, regardless of its veracity, is politically difficult for Whitman, who began courting the Latino vote as soon as she won the June primary.

It knocked the candidate off message for at least a day, and marked the first time since early in her primary contest - when she faced questions about her poor voting record - that the former eBay CEO has been so squarely on the defensive. "This is really the first time since then that she hasn't been able to control the message in the campaign," said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego. "I think she'd rather not talk about immigration, and she certainly doesn't want to talk about this."

Whitman, in the final weeks of a fiercely contested race against Democrat Jerry Brown, said the timing of the disclosure is politically motivated and that she fears Diaz Santillan is being manipulated. The press conference came just hours after the televised debate between the candidates and five weeks before Election Day.

"This is a shameful example of the politics of personal destruction practiced by people like Jerry Brown and Gloria Allred," Whitman said in a written statement.

<snip>

More: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/09/29/1644212/whitman-acknowledges-she-formerly.html

:evilgrin:

[NYC_SKP]

1. Recommended. (nt)

[TK421]

2. Well how about that?

I'm completely shocked!!!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. And Meg would Never use the politics of personal destruction!

She would just fire you, ship your job overseas, or settle out of court.
Meg is Dick Cheney in a dress with Carl Rove's face

[global1]

4. What Was That About Controlling The Message Meg?.......nt

[Brother Buzz]

5. She'd rather not talk about immigration?

Brown - Whitman debate number two is this Saturday in Fresno 'looks like Detroit', California.

Methinks Jerry is going to drink her milkshake, drink it all up!

:rofl:

[Bluebear]

6. 'the politics of personal destruction' - they always claim that when caught. nt

[WillyT]

7. Morning Kick...

:evilgrin:

:kick:

[malaise]

8. "one of the hardest things I've ever done"???

Nah she's done many worse things.
The scumbag still can't buy the election given her history.

Fugg you Meg.

[mwb970]

9. Meg is more unattractive than I had realized.

It's obvious that she's ugly inside - she's a republican, nuff said. But the pictures that have accompanied the articles on this maid flap make her look like a rather unpleasant man with a weird long blonde haircut. Wow, what a turnoff. She sure is going against the current trend for female republicans to be perky, empty-headed bimbos.

[glitch]

10. I believe she is an early clone of Cheney.

She's still working on the permanent sneer.

[gratuitous]

11. Yesterday it was a "baseless smear attack"

Today, it's "the politics of personal destruction."

What will Meg say tomorrow?

By the way, Ms. Whitman, the politics of personal destruction comment was originally made by Vince Foster, who committed suicide. And, as if to prove that Mr. Foster knew what he was saying in his suicide note, there were people who baselessly asserted that either Bill or Hillary Clinton had actually murdered him. See, it's when someone makes a wholly unsubstantiated claim about you that it's the politics of personal destruction. In your case, it's an accurate description of your own actions, which are diametrically at odds with the policies you claim now to endorse. If it's personally destructive, it's because you acted in a self-destructive manner.

The only proper response to your self-serving bullshit is "Too bad, so sad."