Calif. candidate accused of lying about immigrant

SAN JOSE, Calif. - In a devastating blow to Meg Whitman's gubernatorial campaign, an attorney said yesterday that Whitman's husband had jotted a note to their housekeeper on a Social Security Administration letter aimed at alerting the couple to the fact that the housekeeper was using a Social Security number that didn't belong to her.

At a news conference in her Los Angeles office, attorney Gloria Allred displayed a huge copy of the letter showing a signature, purportedly that of Dr. Griffith Harsh, to the media. The note told Nicandra Diaz Santillan, 39, illegal immigrant in Union City, Calif., to "look into this."

"Meg Whitman lied to the press and the public," charged Allred, who represents Diaz Santillan.

The Whitman campaign had no immediate response. Political analysts predicted that the issue could persuade many undecided voters not to vote for Whitman,

Hours earlier in Santa Monica, Whitman, a Republican, had fired back at allegations that she knew the ex- housekeeper was illegal and let her go only after deciding to run for governor.

The letter is the foundation for claims by Diaz Santillan, a former maid, that Whitman and her husband knew for years she was in the United States illegally, but kept her on the job regardless.

She called the accusation a "smear campaign" linked to her opponent Democrat Jerry Brown's campaign for governor.

She also suggested the former housekeeper might have intercepted the letter from the government indicating she was in the country illegally.

The tech billionaire said the allegations by the former housekeeper are "completely untrue."

Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Brown campaign, said, "What's behind all this is that Meg Whitman, after two years of demanding that employers be held to account for immigration enforcement, has an undocumented immigrant working for her for nine years."

Whitman said she first learned Diaz Santillan was in the country illegally in June 2009. She said she spoke to her attorney, then called Diaz Santillan and fired her.

"Nicky was our housekeeper; a great employee and extended member of the family," Whitman said, with her husband at her side during the news conference. "When she confessed she falsified her hiring documents, we were surprised and shocked. . . . Once we learned she was an illegal worker, we had no choice but to terminate her."