Thread: Lawyer: Whitman 'exploited' illegal-immigrant housekeeper $$

Lawyer: Whitman 'exploited' illegal-immigrant housekeeper

Mercury News
By Lisa Fernandez, Ken McLaughlin and Josh Richman

A lawyer for Meg Whitman's former housekeeper said the Republican candidate knew the woman was likely an undocumented immigrant for years and only fired her after she launched her campaign for governor.

Attorney Gloria Allred said today that the housekeeper, Nicky Diaz, was "exploited, disrespected, humiliated and emotionally and financially abused" by Whitman, the billionaire former eBay CEO who is running against Democrat Jerry Brown.

In an emotional appearance at a news conference in Los Angeles, Diaz said Whitman had callously dismissed her because she feared it would hurt her campaign. "She treated me as if I was not a human being," she said.

Allred said at the same news conference that the Social Security Administration sent Whitman a letter dated April 22, 2003, saying the Social Security number provided by the housekeeper did not match the name on file. Diaz said she saw that letter when taking out the trash, but that Whitman and her husband never asked about her immigration status after receiving it.

Whitman, however, told reporters during an appearance at Cisco Systems in San Jose that she had received no notification from any government agency of any discrepancy between the Social Security number and the name.

"We never received that letter or that notification," she said, adding the housekeeper was hired through an employment agency that she relied on to check the worker's information. The Whitman campaign said the employment agency's form contained Social Security and driver's license numbers.

"I feel bad for her, she's being manipulated, I think, and I'm sorry for that," she said. "Everything Gloria Allred is saying is a lie."

Whitman said she fired the woman as soon as she said in June 2009 that she was in the country illegally. "No one could've been more stunned than I was," Whitman said.

Whitman says this underscores the need for an eVerify system to check workers' documentation. She said she didn't disclose the situation herself while on the campaign trail because she didn't want to make a public example of someone who had been so close to her family.

Asked what should happen to the woman now, Whitman said that's up to federal immigration authorities.

Because Diaz now could face deportation by coming forward, Allred called Diaz's decision to speak out "the most courageous decision I've seen in 35 years of practicing law.''

Allred said she was only recently contacted by Diaz, who got her name from another attorney's referral.

The Whitman campaign tried to blunt the impact of Allred's news conference by holding its own a half-hour earlier and releasing Diaz's employment form.

"What's a California governor's race without Gloria Allred inserting herself?" said campaign senior adviser Rob Stutzman.

He said he found it "really curious" that the news conference was held the day after Whitman performed well in a debate with Brown, who Stutzman said is a "personal friend" of Allred and a campaign donor.

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

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-new ... ck_check=1

If this woman is a IA could she even read english in 2003 ? If so did she steal the Social Security notice before Whitman saw it to keep from being fired ?

How Many more are doing the same I think the hold wh has a illigal Immigrant working for them Now it coming out . I don 't feel sorry for any of them The American can do the same thing as in cleaning Home

Allred said at the same news conference that the Social Security Administration sent Whitman a letter dated April 22, 2003, saying the Social Security number provided by the housekeeper did not match the name on file. Diaz said she saw that letter when taking out the trash, but that Whitman and her husband never asked about her immigration status after receiving it.

Does this woman pick through the trash looking at what's being thrown out. Weird. Maybe she saw the letter because she threw it out.

Attorney Gloria Allred

RESPONSE: ALLRED PRESS CONFERENCE
September 29, 2010

CUPERTINO - Please see the following statement from Meg Whitman and attached background materials in response to news reports that notorious attorney Gloria Allred will hold a press conference to discuss political allegations from a former Whitman employee. Included with Meg Whitman's official statement is background concerning Nicky Diaz's employment from the campaign's legal counsel accompanied by a background of Gloria Allred's political activism and partisan support for Jerry Brown:

Meg Whitman Statement:

"Nicky Diaz was my housekeeper from 2000 to 2009. We consider Nicky a friend of our family and were saddened this morning to hear about her legal action.

After 9 years of faithful service, Nicky came to us in June 2009 and confessed that she was an illegal worker. Nicky had falsified the hiring documents and personal information she provided to the employment agency that brought her to us in 2000. Nicky told me that she was admitting her deception now because she was aware that her lie might come out during the campaign. Nicky said she was concerned about hurting my family and me.

As required by law, once we learned she was an illegal worker, I immediately terminated Nicky's employment. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I considered Nicky a friend and a part of our extended family.

I am deeply worried about Nicky and her family. I believe Nicky is being manipulated by Gloria Allred for political and financial purposes during the last few weeks of a hotly contested election. 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. I will continue to focus my campaign on the issues that the people of California want to hear about: jobs, education and fixing our broken budget system in Sacramento."

Timeline:

As early as 1999, Meg Whitman and Griff Harsh retained a placement agency in California to assist them in finding a qualified applicant for in-home domestic services.

In May 2000, Nicandra Diaz-Santillan filled out a standard application provided by the agency. She provided the agency with a social security number and California driver's license number as well as filling out a standard employment application including references of prior employers over a lengthy period of time.

In November 2000, Nicandra Diaz-Santillan was hired by Meg Whitman. At the time she was hired, she filled out a standard IRS form W-4 and U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service form I-9. Ms. Diaz provided a copy of her Social Security Card and her California Driver's License. Ms. Diaz signed the I-9 stating under penalty of perjury that she was a lawful Permanent Resident Alien.

During her employment, Meg Whitman paid state and federal income tax and provided Ms. Diaz with a standard IRS form W-2.

On or about, June 20, 2009, Ms. Diaz came to Meg Whitman and Dr. Harsh and confessed that she was not a legal resident and that she had used her sister's documents to gain employment. Diaz was immediately suspended.

On or about Monday, June 29, 2009, Meg Whitman informed Ms. Diaz that her employment was terminated.

There has been no further contact between Ms. Diaz and Meg Whitman since her termination.

Allred Is A Partisan Democrat And Long Time Supporter Of Jerry Brown:

Allred donated $1,000 to Jerry Brown in 1982.

Allred donated $150 to Jerry Brown in 2006.

The Associated Press Reported That "Allred is a Democratic superdelegate who has given money to Whitman's challenger, Democratic nominee Jerry Brown."

In 2007, Allred said on CNN that she knows Jerry Brown "personally."

Allred has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to exclusively democratic candidates and causes.

Allred is a registered democrat in California.

Jerry Brown sitting next to Gloria on CSPAN panel in 94.




To see Nicky Diaz's forms, click here: http://bit.ly/93GQq4


MEDIA CONTACT
Sarah Pompei
408.457.1369
Communications@MegWhitman.com
http://www.megwhitman.com/story/12531/r ... rence.html

Oh boy they are going to go for the gusto..Now that they have nothing to fear and they turn in the people that employ them BECAUSE I Know no English they knew I was illegal, And those dollar signs are flipping fast in the eyes..They will stop at nothing now,
So for all you employers good luck it's all about karma but whats bad is they get the last laugh at you the American! Hope you are proud!

So, how many American citizens have been replaced with illegal aliens unceremoniously and without any just cause except employer greed? Where is Gloria Allred's help?

There are many reasons people will fire their household help, and they are within their rights to do so.

Going through someone's mail is a federal crime. Good luck with that Ms. Nicky.

Note to American employers - guess where the loyalties of illegals lie?

Is this woman still illegal? If so, she obviously has no fear in coming out to the world, proclaiming her illegal status in order to seek revenge on whitman (who I have little if any sympathy for to begin with).

These illegals have no fear whatsoever of coming out and flaunting their illegal status if it means making a buck off of it! If this woman is illegal, why is she still here?

When will these greedy corporations and people who hire illegal invaders ever learn. Hiring this so called "cheap labor" is not so cheap when they come back and try to extort money out of you by using their illegal status as a tool to destroy you!

And since we now have a government that has essentially conveyed a protected status of sorts to illegals; you are going to be screwed when these illegals come back later and claim you had knowledge they were illegal when you hired them!

And guess what? It's going to be your word against the illegal and the illegal will win!!

Don't you think the employment angency that whitman used would be held responsible more than whitman her self also if she was as abused as she said why work for that person as long as she did?

I think the bigger issiue here is how did she get a drivers lincence with false documents who's in charge of that? If she got them from her sister shouldn't she be deported as a criminal also for letting nicky use her identifacation! Its funny how these questions never get asked the maids out there stealing I.d.s after breaking the law to get here in the first place and were all supposed to just jump to her defence these people are out of touch with what the people want