This is happening live: Gloria Allred is having a presser with Meg Whitman's undocumented, fired housekeeper.
Apparently, there are tax issues, abuse issues and Gloria Allred, who is no friend of Jerry Brown. It must be serious, because the Whitman campaign apparently started off the day by dissing Gloria.
This is a serious popcorn moment, more details to follow.
From the LA times
The worker alleges Whitman knew she was here illegally but did not act on it until she decided to run for governor last year.
"'Don't ask don't tell' may have become, 'Oh my God she will tell if I continue to employ her,'" said Allred.
Allred said she will file a claim for unpaid wages and mileage reimbursement.
Update: The Whitman camp is starting damage control. From the Sac Bee:
Whitman lawyer Tom Hiltachk said the employee was hired in 2000 and provided standard forms showing she was a lawful permanent resident. He said that in June 2009 the employee confessed she was not a legal resident and used false documents to gain employment.
Hiltachk said the employee was subsequently fired.
Update 2: For those who can't see the vid, this is the TMZ post-vid
Nicky Diaz Santillan, Whitman's housekeeper of 9 years, held a news conference with her lawyer, Gloria Allred, and claims Whitman had all the clues she was an undocumented worker but closed her eyes to it because she was cheap help ... $23 an hour.
Allred claims the housekeeper was "exploited, disrespected, humiliated and emotionally and financially abused" by Whitman.
Allred claims when the housekeeper was hired 9 years ago through an agency, Whitman never asked if she was in the U.S. legally. And, during her employment, Santillan told Whitman she couldn't travel to Mexico. And, Allred said, Whitman found out Santillan's Social Security number didn't match her name, but Whitman did nothing. Allred said it's the classic case of "don't ask, don't tell."
0929_whitman_debate_videoThat all changed, Allred says, when Whitman launched her campaign for Governor, realizing having an illegal alien on board was a liability ... and fired her.
TMZ
Update 3: Thanks to Partially Impartial for the link to Gloria Allred's statement (pdf)
Update 4: Well, the story is on the national wires now. Any anti-TMZ prejudice is now irrelevant. Thanks to all the commenters who posted links.
Final update: I was going to do a recap, with links to all the documents I could find, but the comments present a more complete summary, with links, than I can. Thanks again to commenters.
Even better, the story has legs, the corporate media will have to at least pretend to follow up with the Social Security Administration and others. (Did Meg have other domestic employees? What did her driver see?) Our next popcorn party will be Saturday, when the next debate is scheduled to be broadcast on Univision. I wonder if anyone will ask Meg about Nicky Diaz?