Meg Whitman controversy

[SemiMBA]

What is your take on the Meg Whitman controversy?  Do you think she took the right steps when she found out her maid was here illegally - or did she really know in 2003 that she was an illegal alien?

My take:  (opinion)
Meg used an agency to vet a potential hiree -- this agency guaranteed the status of the maid and she was paid very well for her services. (how many maids do you know that make $23 an hour - most technicians barely make that much)  When Meg found out about her status, she terminated her employment.  Why do I beleive this?  Because it is logical and beleivable.  Frankly the timing of these charges by none other than the queen of media lawyers, Gloria Allred, makes this suspect (IMHO Ms. Allred is the very reason why so many in the general populace don't like or respect the profession). 

I am not a big Meg supporter.  Up until  yesterday, I was leaning towards a vote for Brown (although I didn't vote for him in previous governor races because he was flakey - remember the Med Fly mess?)  Now, I am voting for Meg.  I have no doubt that Brown is involved in this.  Reading various message boards, a great number of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents are not fooled by this move.  I may even send a donation to the Meg Whitman campaign. 

Just my take - what are your takes?

[bigs5068]

Well people ever care about politician's political ideas. I mean it is amazing how the most random obscure stories are reported about these politicians. Obama might be a Muslim! OH MY GOD!! Whitman may or may not have hired an illegal alien maid. It is just baffling to me the things that the media reports. Honestly, I do not care if the person who thought of and approved the 50 million dollar suicide net on the Golden Gate Bridge was the most moral upstanding person in the world. That is a terrible idea and it is a massive waste of money. I really wish politicians would just talk about what they intend to do instead of eachother.

It would be so badass if a politician just nutted up and said if we are going to attack my character etc then lets have a polygraph test. You ask me whatever questions you want and I will do the same. If your not up to that then lets just talk about the issues.

[smartandunique]

I'm sure she knew that her maid was here illegally.She wouldn't be the first person in a high profile position who thinks the rules apply to everyone else but her.
I do think information like that matters because these people are the people who will be making decisions for those of us who don't have power or influence. Dishonesty is a character flaw.It makes you wonder what else she could be hiding.

[bigs5068]

So if she had amazing ideas to cure all the problems our country faces, which I don't think she does. However, if she did you would say well she might have hired an illegal alien as a maid. God forbid! Maybe she had pre-marital sex! Maybe she smoked pot when was 19. Maybe a distant cousin is Muslim (which is retarded I still can't believe that comes up about Obama). All either of them do in their commercials is seem to attack eachother. Meg Whitman's just goes on about how bad Jerry Brown is, but not why she is good. I would love for a politician to simply lay it out there about why THEY are good not the why the other person sucks. At least that Meg Whitman commercial did talk about Brown's policy decisions so it is somewhat relevant. When you get into the fact that someone may or may not have hired a maid for at 23/hour when she is a mufti-millionaire nothing could be more irrelevant. How many houses does she have maybe she has 12 houses and at this one this made making 23/hour went to Meg Whitman may never have even met this person. Even fi she did who cares it is maid service.

[smartandunique]

I live in Iowa so I really haven't followed Meg Whitman. I do think her hiring a maid is relevant if she's spoken against immigration in any way. ( undocumentated immigrants)
Regardless of who may have actually hired the person it will be tied back to her and she's smart enough to know that.It goes back to appearance of impropriety.

[bigs5068]

Honestly, in California I think you would be almost hard pressed to find someone that has not hired an illegal immigrant knowingly or unknowingly. I mean it is not even enforced there are people that stand outside of home depots looking for work. They are clearly illegal and the police police know about them, but they do not enforce it. She went so far as to hire a placement agency and this lady lied on the application. Meg Whitman was the CEO of a huge company and I don't think she should have had to go down and do a detailed background check on a MAID. It is a maid probably 2,472 on her list of things to worry about. She actually went through an agency, which is pretty unheard of California to go to that extent. Illegal workers are no joke in plain view and it is not enforced. The fact that she went to an agency shows she actually was not using bad faith. I am not huge fan of Meg Whitman, but stuff like this has nothing to do with her politics and ability to be an effective governor. How things like this come into play baffles me. My main point was why do people never talk about the issues etc that is what politicians are supposed to do. I would much rather know how either candidate plans to deal with unemployment abuses, the endless amounts of wasted money, the non-enforcement of illegal aliens standing on the streets, all of these things that are important to California. Yet that and a million other problems that California is facing is not discussed. A maid she hired 8 years ago is the news story. How does that make sense.

[smartandunique]

bigs5068 I respect u and ur opinion (based on ur posts) but I disagree. Hiring an illegal immigrant is against the law.It shouldn't matter if the person is just a maid.Meg Whitman is running for public office and she's asking people to have faith in her and trust her.I agree there are more important issues to consider but I appreciate that someone is is saying she may be great at this or that but she also did this.The voters will ultimatley decide what is important and what isn't and they also have a right to know as much as possible so they can make an informed decision.

[bigs5068]

I guess disagree.  In Iowa maybe illegal immigration is not so rampant I have never been there. She hired an agency that was supposed to take care of everything and what more could she do. Had she gone to one of the home depots and picked someone up that is different if she is preaching anti-immigration. However, she really did everything reasonably within her power. When you are running a multi-million maybe billion dollar company you don't really have time to do a background check on a maid. Instead you contract with someone that deals with it as she did her here. Honestly, with all of  Meg Whitman's assest I find it unlikely that she would break the law to save 15 dollars on a maid. I heard she was paying 23/hour to the maid, which again would be something that you pay to a CITIZEN. Illegal maids do not cost that much you pay them roughly $50.00 for a full days work. That is what I have heard from my friend's parents. I am a law student so not quite in the market to be hiring any maids. Looking at the fact that she hired an agency and paid a reasonable rate for what you would give a citizen I don't think there is anything that would even have caught her attention. Not to mention this happened 8 years ago.

These politicians are not perfect they are people and they can get screwed over by agencies and maybe even make a mistake here and there. People need to realize they can't do everything right to the last detail i.e. hiring a maid agency that is competent. It is such a nitpicky detail and so irrelevant to her ability to be a good or bad governor.

[smartandunique]

Hiring an illegal immigrant is as illegal in Ca as it is in Iowa.It shouldn't matter if it's more accepted in Ca-it's still illegal. It's also wrong to take advantage of hiring an illegal immigrant.As far as paying her $23 /hr I'm sure the maid was doing more than cleaning her house. She was probably the nanny,cook, gardner and everything else.
I hope Mrs Whitman wasn't trying to save a couple of dollars because it may cost her in the long run.
Do u really think she employed someone for almost a decade and it didn't know that person's status? She's demonstrated she's a savvy successful business woman. It's hard to believe she wouls miss that.
I agree no one can escape being human but she is running for office and she knows that her dirty laundy will be aired.
If she can create jobs and improve CA's economy then she should still be considered,I agree.

[MeganEW]

Hiring an illegal immigrant is as illegal in Ca as it is in Iowa.It shouldn't matter if it's more accepted in Ca-it's still illegal. It's also wrong to take advantage of hiring an illegal immigrant.As far as paying her $23 /hr I'm sure the maid was doing more than cleaning her house. She was probably the nanny,cook, gardner and everything else.
I hope Mrs Whitman wasn't trying to save a couple of dollars because it may cost her in the long run.
Do u really think she employed someone for almost a decade and it didn't know that person's status? She's demonstrated she's a savvy successful business woman. It's hard to believe she wouls miss that.
I agree no one can escape being human but she is running for office and she knows that her dirty laundy will be aired.
If she can create jobs and improve CA's economy then she should still be considered,I agree.

I don't know if it's particularly easy to determine if an immigrant came here legally or illegally if said immigrant has a 1099 on file with the agency from which she was hired.  I mean, if Ms. Whitman looked into it, sure, I'm sure she could have found the paper trail to the truth, but what would prompt her to do so?
There are plenty of illegal immigrants who are Hispanic in California, but there are also plenty of legal immigrants who are Hispanic in California.  To inquire about an employee's immigration/citizenship status beyond the typical 1099 simply because of his/her ethnicity would be an act of prejudice, no?