Gloria Allred is doing a live presser that starts any minute now. It's on at TMZ. Supposedly, Gloria will be presenting her evidence that Meg had to have known that Meg must have known that Nicky was undocumented.
Earlier today, Meg Whitman did a damage control presser that said that Nicky was "being manipulated".
Whitman acknowledges former housekeeper Nicky Diaz Santillan confessed after 9 years she falsified documents. Whitman says she was "shocked" and had not choice but to fire her for lying and breaking the law.
Whitman says Jerry Brown should be "ashamed of what his allies are trying to do here."
Whitman says her housekeeper is being used by "cynical people around her" -- i.e., Gloria Allred.
From Meg's presser this morning via CBS:
In a news conference this afternoon, Republican California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman denied allegations that she had received a 2003 letter from the U.S. Social Security Administration questioning the legitimacy of her housekeeper's citizenship, saying "this is truly a political smear."
"First of all, make no mistake: these allegations are completely untrue," Whitman said. "We never saw any such letter," adding that if one existed "somehow it ended up in Jerry Brown's hands or in Gloria Allred's hands."
Meg claims that Nicky brought in the mail, and so maybe she intercepted the letter.
In other schadenfreude news, the very conservative Americans for Legal Immigration PAC wants Meg arrested. (and arrest Nicky too, just for good measure!)
In response to the explosive revelations that California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman employed illegal alien Nicky Diaz for nine years, ALIPAC is asking Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest and charge both Whitman and Diaz for numerous immigration and employment law violations.
"We need equal justice for both the illegal alien and the employer," said William Gheen, President of ALIPAC. "Nicky Diaz should be charged and deported and Meg Whitman should face the existing penalties under current US law as well. No Amnesty for Whitman or Diaz, the Rule of Law must be restored in America."
Update: According to the LA Times, Meg claimed that her husband had no knowledge of the letter, either:
Whitman repeatedly said neither she nor her husband, who stood by her side at the press conference but did not speak, had any knowledge of a letter. "Neither my husband nor I received any letter from the Social Security Administration."]
Whitman said allegations that she knew about the housekeeper’s status and fired her because she was running for governor are undercut by the timing -– Whitman announced she was running in February 2009 and fired Diaz Santillan in June of that year.
Once she fired Diaz Santillan, Whitman said she told her senior campaign advisors about the matter but did not disclose it publicly because she did not want to turn the spotlight on the woman, whom she repeatedly described as a member of her "extended family."
Update 2: Thanks to sable from the comments
TMZ (2+ / 0-)
has a copy of the letter from SSA to Whitman and her husband on their site.
The interesting point was that SSA wanted the correction due to a mismatch on Nicky's W2 that was filed. That further proves that by this time the agency was no longer involved or the SSA letter would have been sent to the agency. A W2 also proves that it was a direct employer-employee relationship between them. If she had been a contract employee of the agency, chances are it would have been a 1099 filed making Nicky responsible for doing her own taxes.
"Patriotism is no more about signs or pins than religion is about reminding others how pious we think we are." -- Bob Schieffer
by sable on Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 01:22:25 PM PDT