Whitman: Brown to blame for controversy over her illegal-immigrant housekeeper

[sonomak]

Source: Associated Press

GOP candidate Meg Whitman blamed Democratic opponent Jerry Brown for the controversy over an illegal immigrant housekeeper, as Brown fired back by saying Whitman is not taking accountability for her actions.

Soon into their second debate Saturday, Whitman responded to a question about the flap by turning to Brown and saying he and his surrogates were to blame. Brown fired back, saying Whitman was evading responsibility: "Don't run for governor if you can't stand up on your own two feet."

Whitman had hoped Saturday's debate in the heart of California's Central Valley would showcase her economic credentials and help siphon the support of independent and Hispanic votes away from Brown. Instead, Whitman is on the defensive and seeking to regain momentum with those voters after a tumultuous week in which she was forced to explain how she had an illegal immigrant housekeeper on the payroll for nine years and, according to her, didn't know it.

She also is addressing allegations from the housekeeper's attorney that she and her husband should have suspected the worker's status because of a Social Security Administration letter mailed to their home in 2003. The billionaire former chief executive of eBay has worked hard to court independents and Hispanics, who are crucial to the campaign of any Republican running in a state in which Democrats hold a 13.4 percentage point edge among registered voters.

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_16236204

[eleny]

1. A perfect retort by Brown!

Those few seconds are going to be a really popular video. I can't wait.

[Kingofalldems]

2. Surprised she didn't blame it on Al Cecchi

Her supporter already tried to play the 'Cecchi did it too' card re campaign spending.

[tularetom]

3. She's reduced to flailing around

She has lost any momentum she had and all she can do is make ridiculous accusations against Brown and his "surrogates". She appears desperate.

Sounds like his response was spot on "Don't run for governor if you can't stand up on your own two feet."

Meg Whitman will go down is history. As the biggest political joke ever. 100 million bucks down the crapper por nada.

[eleny]

4. Yeah, her and her 100 million "surrogates" down the poop tubes

:rofl:

[Iliyah]

5. surprised that

she hasn't also blamed it on Obama and his birth certificate.

[No Elephants]

18. What birth certificate? signed, Sincerely (or not) Orly

[Merlot]

31. She only had a script, and didn't anticipate things going wrong

like most arrogant billionaires. So now she flails, probably for the first time in her professional life. She can't hire lawyers and pr flacks to get her out of this one,

Oh, and it's more like 120 million by now. Keep spending meg, the CA economy needs it!

[The Second Stone]

6. Even if it were Brown bringing up the issue

it is a legitimate issue. Nutmeg has run on a platform of prosecuting illegals and the people who hire them. Is she saying Brown hired this woman and placed her in Whitman's home 10 years before she started voting? Then when she decided to run for office the first thing she does is fire and cut-off a woman who took her shit for 10 years?

[EC]

7. Why doesn't she show proof that Brown is behind it then?

She can't just throw out accusations like that without proving them...

[CLANG]

25. Let's see if she threatens to "take him out".

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[JDPriestly]

29. So what if Brown is behind it? If it is true and Brown is behind it, it is

still true. Now if it were false and Brown were behind it, then Whitman would have something to complain about.

I like Jerry Brown.

I wonder how well Whitman really understands California water law or US trade agreements or the laws that protect police officers' jobs or CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act)? I have no doubt that Jerry Brown could discuss California law in his sleep. Whitman, not so much.

[glitch]

8. Keep digging, Megalo

maniac.

[Brother Buzz]

19. Sometimes in politics, when you're in a hole, it's not enough to stop digging.

Meg Whitman's spaghetti strategy or let's see what sticks

Sometimes in politics, when you're in a hole, it's not enough to stop digging. If it's deep enough, you've got to either start filling it in or convince someone else to join you in the mud at the bottom.


Since the story of Meg Whitman's undocumented housekeeper erupted on the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com Wednesday, Team Whitman has been working overtime trying to figure out a way to put out the fire. The GOP candidate for governor has plenty of advisers and they've got lots of ideas. Problem is, they've tried out each and every one of them in a rapidly changing kaleidoscope of strategies that's left reporters -- not to mention voters -- wondering just what the heck is going on.

The fun started Wednesday with a telephone news conference 30 minutes before attorney Gloria Allred, who's never seen a TV camera she didn't like, brought out Nicandra Diaz Santillian, the Whitman family's former housekeeper, to announce that she was an illegal immigrant and Whitman knew it for years.

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.

••••••

Hopefully.
-- John Wildermuth

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=73676&plckOnPage=2&plckItemsPerPage=10&plckSort=TimeStampAscending

[glitch]

37. Lol. Pretty crazy, huh? Nice timeline :) nt

[Bluenorthwest]

9. I thought she blamed the housekeeper? Also Brown?

She blames her family for her lack of voting, or even registering to vote, until she was 46 years old. She blames the help, blames her oppenent, blames her kids, her husband.....

[No Elephants]

20. She had a family that prevented her from registering to vote when she was 18 or 21?

How did they prevent her from voting by absentee ballot?

Oooooo, what meanies her infants must have been!

[unapatriciated]

33. most of us managed to raise our kids, work sometimes two jobs

We still found time to register and vote but campaigned for our candidates as well,

[Hepburn]

10. Oooooooooh, pah-leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!

What? Jerry Brown FORCED Whitman to hire an illegal for NINE years???

[OffWithTheirHeads]

11. Why not? Obama planted his birth certificate in Hawaii when

he was born because he knew he would be running for Pres 40 something years later. Evil Dems are really, really good at long term planning don't ya know? (wink)

[Hepburn]

35. I like the fact that Obama's parents planted his birth announcement in the paper...

...now THAT was really evil and cleaver! :evilgrin:

[tomm2thumbs]

12. poor Meg - all that money she could have spent becoming Governor of Alaska like her lacky friend

she's not going to get her moment in the spotlight in California at the Gov's mansion, that's for sure

she better avoid casinos - she's making sucker bets left and right and losing big time

[Fresh_Start]

13. Did you see that Meg hired a 'replacement' during Nicky's

maternity leave? A friend of Nicky's without checking whether the other housekeeper was legal either.

[eleny]

14. Btw - Belated welcome to DU!

[andym]

15. Right out of the corporate handbook: when you screw up, blame others

This was parodied well in "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying" 50 years ago...

[SoapBox]

16. *** SQUIRREL ***

Oh ya...how would we know...the very, VERY predictable response that NutMeg would have...

[liberation]

17. It is always somebody else's fault for the ones who love "personal responsibility" isn't it?

[Raine]

21. The blame is all Whitman's

she hired her, she fired her ... so what if Brown did expose it ... the wrongdoing is all her's and her husbands.

[TomCADem]

40. In Republican Primaries, Whitman Was Saying It Was Employer's Responsibility...

...for hiring undocumented workers. Well, she sure changed her tune.

[No Elephants]

22. Kill the messenger! Oh, wait. That should have died out when common sense came into vogue.

[CLANG]

26. Thanks for reminding me! Whatever happened to that anyway?

That was so long ago. I'm getting a little verklempt!

[Ramulux]

23. Can someone please explain to me

what her evidence is for this claim? She has been saying that Brown was involved for days now but I haven't heard one legitimate reason for why that might be true. Obviously shes lying and I dont expect her to tell the truth, but its very strange how she is attempting to blame this on Brown with absolutely no evidence. I expected her to at least make something up but I am literally not understanding why she is saying this.

[CLANG]

28. There is obviously no evidence. It's politics.

:puke:

[Brother Buzz]

30. There was a vague rumor, but the idea of a conspiracy is a fantasy of the Whitman camp

Meg Whitman accused the Brown campaign of being behind the housekeeper dust-up, saying she had heard a report from Bay Area television reporter Randy Shandobil that he was contacted about the matter two weeks ago. Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for Jerry Brown, said he had spoken with Shandobil and others about rumors he heard that Whitman had hired undocumented workers. But he said the campaign had no knowledge of Diaz Santillan's case until the story broke Wednesday.

When all is said and done, the Whitman camp heard the same rumor but could not connect the dots and get ahead of the story.

[struggle4progress]

39. With a name like "Brown," he must be a scary Muslin from Kenya. Stop trying to make this

about the housekeeper: why hasn't anybody seen Brown's birth certificate? Brown's obviously playing some race card: nobody was saying anything about this housekeeper before Brown got involved in the race. QED

[Kingofalldems]

24. Kick this important story

[McCamy Taylor]

27. I can not see this going over well in the west. Shows lack of character.

Makes her look like a whiny baby. In the east, people are sometimes ok with whiny babies. Clinton's tears helped her in Mass. But California is not an eastern state.

[PJPhreak]

32. i think Chuck Barris has the perfect format for Nutmeg,

Bye-Bye...GONG!

[dimbear]

34. Let's not forget the positive side of the story.

Never forget that Meg employed Niki for many years and never once, apparently, physically attacked her. Browbeat her, yes, that 's to be expected, but never once physically attacked her.

Kudos, Meg, for keeping your temper in control. That's the kind of leadership we need, only half crazy.

[underpants]

36. I .......... AM........... A..... .............. VICTM!!!!

First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek?

[laylah]

38. I am too tired to do

anything other than :rofl: What an idiot.

Jenn