Voters unhappy with Whitman's handling of housekeeper controversy, poll finds. What do you think?

The latest Los Angeles Times-USC poll found that a majority of those questioned believed Meg Whitman did not handle the controversy over her housekeeper's immigration status well.

The poll showed Democrat Jerry Brown with a  52% to 39% lead over Republican Whitman. Although it's not clear how much the housekeeper controversy has hurt Whitman, the poll offers some clues. According to Times Political Editor Cathleen Decker:

Overall, by 52% to 41%, voters said that Whitman had not handled the housekeeper controversy well. The same key voter groups — women, independents and Latinos — offered the harshest verdicts. When asked how Brown had handled the matter, voters were more divided, with 37% saying he did well and 43% saying he did not. Among independent voters, a plurality approved of Brown's actions.

The damage to Whitman's candidacy over the last month could be seen in a host of poll findings. The percentage of voters with an unfavorable view of her rose slightly from 47% to 52%, making her the only major candidate with a majority negative impression. Her favorable rating stayed at 37%.

In September, Nicandra Diaz Santillan held a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred to announce that she had been employed by Whitman for nine years, a period during which she said Whitman became aware of her illegal status. Whitman countered that she had not known of Diaz Santillan's status until shortly before firing her in 2009.

What do you think? Share your view below. See full coverage of the Times/USC poll here and here.

Comments

[BillN]

I don't think the housekeeper issue weighed much in people's decision.
Whitman comes across as an elitist, just like Arnold, Brown comes across as the common man's man.

[Andy K]

I believe it was a Dem set up that convinced those who wanted to believe Meg was abusive to an Hispanic maid. The maid did not have the common sense to contact Allred or even know her reputation. The Dems undoubtdly did research and found that the maid was dismissed, contacted Allred and the scam was on. Even Allred said there would be not suit. Allred cannot support her trumped up claims. That was enough to convince a large section of the uninformed voters that Meg was abusive. I suggest that if Brown is elected he will continue the downward spiral of no jobs and we can finally be number 50 in education, with unions thinking they have won, only to see their pensions and gravey train fade away. Look at France, here we come!

[Tag Freid]

Honestly, it has gotten to the point that there is nothing Meg Whitman does that seems genuine or from the heart. She seems like a cookie cutter marketing cuss, the type that you see in companies all the time... just stabbing people all the way to the top.

She was too busy to vote, too busy to be a good mom, too busy to know her maid was illegal (but part of the family), but never too busy to be on the board of the biggest and most crooked bank in the country, and never too busy to meet and nurture friendships with every billionaire who would have her.

I'm sorry to say it, but she does seem to act like a whore for glory.

Tag

[Long Beach Jeff]

I am not surprised by her handling of this. Read the recent Fortune article on Jeff Skoll (eBay's first employee) and see how Meg helped him get his visa approved. If you are rich and powerful, Meg will help you. If you are not, she has no use for you. She would turn CA into an auction house. She should have spent her $150M on helping people instead of herself. Then I might have looked at her differently.

[PlayfulWalrus]

If this is really the way people are thinking, we're doomed. What exactly was Whitman supposed to do? She went through a professional service. She was presented with documents. She paid her employee for her services. Then the employee admitted to being a CRIMINAL and wanted Whitman to what... pull strings? Why should Whitman do that?

Nicandra Diaz Santillan is a liar and admitted criminal. She also has no class and is a tool. She is an example of one of the biggest problems we have now... an entitlement mentality by people who apparently have no shame in their criminal behavior.

[The Gunny]

The LA Times participated in a public lynching of Meg Whitman, a candidate for governor, who was lynched without benefit of a trial, sworn statements, judge or jury. Replace the cameras with Taliban robes and it’s easy to visualize Meg Whiteman being stoned by a media and political operatives that has taken our election process to the edge.

In 2008, we say female candidates for office, including Hilary Clinton and Sara Palin, subjected to the vilest, demeaning, degrading and corrupt political process in our nations history. Our election process was subverted into a circus of hate filled attacks, pornographic assaults and the targeting of candidates children. Today, the media remains willing, active participants in turning our elections into circus sideshows and public stoning. Forget journalistic integrity at the Times.

The Times, in 2003 engaged in a very similar feeding frenzy, when Gloria Allred made similar, unfounded and later proven totally false charges against then candidate for governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. When will the insanity stop? Every major news outlet in Southern California covered this story and buried the exoneration of Governor Schwarzenegger. Seven years later, the The Times remains a co-conspirator in the subversion of our election process.

When will the Times, hold Gloria Allred accountable and stop these public lynching? Does the media not have a responsibility to the public to provide facts? Is no one willing to ask for sworn statements, prior to a public inquisition? Will there be no investigation into Jerry Brown’s campaign knowing about Ms. Santillan months ago? How about money being paid to Ms. Santillan from the Brown campaign via Allred? The Brown campaign alerting the media weeks before to Ms. Santillan? Was their a conspiracy to “use” Ms. Santillan, with promising her money, a job, and immigration assistance if she would speak at this lynching? And who is paying Gloria Allred to orchestrate this charade?

The Times owes us answers. Answers to questions they have yet to be asked. The Times continues to report election coverage with such a perverse bias, you have to wonder if they are being paid by the Brown campaign.

[Rafael]

It's obvious that it only became an issue for Whitman when the housekeeper became a political liability. It is quite comical for a $23/hr housekeeper to derail a $150 million campaign. Meg Whitman is another example of the Republicans do as I say and not as I do mentality.

[Marty Carlassare]

Meg did the right thing

[tergium hulotov]

last time i counted there were 6 running for guv'nor.basically this maid thing is a side issue, the real one is she is a jew and we need no more of them in california office or any other office.2 senators and a govnor is too many,add the supreme court and what is going on here.

[Jack]

Whitan is just not qualified for the job. Period.

[ojaijr]

A Non- story amid the scandalous public union pension fiasco that is raping our state.

[jake]

i'm not the least bit surprised that whitman treated this poor woman unfairly,this woman may be in the u.s. illegally but the real crminal here is whitman.go jerry!

[julie]

She showed us what she truly is, from on-the-spot firing of a person who had been and employee for 9 years, to not going to bat for her to work towards legal status, to using the coldest side of the issue as a campaign promise. And of course, she lied about her earlier knowledge of the housekeeper's situation.

Rather than putting herself in the position of the most vulnerable and using her significant finances and power to improve one someone's life (and her own reputation, because we all know *word gets around*), she's spent over a hundred million dollars on a negative campaign. And she has been confronted on the misrepresentation in her ads and just keeps running them like the broken record she uses against her opponent in the ad.

Meg Whitman has done everything to alienate the general public, from working women to vulnerable immigrants (who do vote) to minorities, especially Latinos in this case.

And based on her experience at eBay, we know how she'll treat workers and businesses (send 'em somewhere else, where the profit margin will be greater and the employees will be paid as little as possible). Now, how is that going to bring up unemployment numbers?

Meg Whitman: A bad idea for California.

[Terry Devon]

The illegal immigrant is just illegal. People lie all the time to obtain illegal employment and she (the housekeeper) is no exception.

[Joe]

The politics of personal destruction as practiced by the democrats has worked again. Gloria Allred is a disgusting human being. The only thing more disgusting are the voters who are so easily swayed. Let the state sink further into the muck becuase Jerry Brown is one of the reasons we are where we are and he will not save us.

[Ron Hardyman]

I didn't need a housekeeper to help make up my mind. I am far more concerned about the fact that this woman thinks $150,000,000 will cover-up a non-existent voting record combined with no public service experience.

[RUJoking?!]

The LA Times & other leftist mainstream media are using this story to sling mud against Meg Whitman.

This illegal alien should have been arrested & deported as soon as she went public. That she is instead treated as a celebrity & garners sympathy is evidence of how badly broken our media & gov't are.

Time for a paradigm shift.

[RealisticExpectations]

She addressed it for a very short time, attempted to deflect blame, and then moved onto other subjects in the hope that everything would go away.

If she was trying so very hard to get someone legal, then she should have been verifying legality herself, and not rely on another person/company to do so. Leaving it to someone else only leaves you open to something like the situation Whitman finds herself in at this moment.

In these days of almost no privacy, those with political aspirations would be very smart to keep their noses not only clean, but their entire faces wiped.

That egg can leave such a mess!

[frmkt]

it's a shame that neither candidates from either party or eihter race will address issues that concern the lives of those they wish to "lead." fact of the matter is that they don't care to "lead;" these are self serving people who are after one thing: MONEY which leads to "POWER."

so, "smear campaigns" work in favor for both candidates because it allows them to dodge answering the real questions that everyone wants answered: how do you plan to pay for your agenda? If you're going to cut taxes, increase or extend entitlements and create - not save - jobs, then how do you expect to pay for it.

Both parties "stink," and if you really want answers, then you, as a voter have to "handle the truth." There's only so many ways to balance a budget and pay for entitlements. If you want answers, then give a listen to Libertarians, members of the RLC and adherents of the Austrian School of Economics. If you not familiar with any of them, then you are not as informed as you think you are and you should stay away from the voting booth. The debates are nothing more than spectator contests and campaign ads are not "cliff notes" regarding the issues. It's your job to get informed because no one will do it for you. If you can stay on top of celebrities and sports scores, then surely you should know your political system and u.s. monetary policy. Whovever wins in November, we all lose. Nothing will change because we do the same thing over and over again and that's bascially the definition of insanity.

[Diogenes]

She should have brought it up shortly after she announced and used it as an example of how hard it is for someone to comply with the law. No Gloria. No gotcha. One day story.

[Detovi]

I would have hoped after 9 years of employment she would try and help her housekeeper by filing immigration papers on her behalf and not abruptly fire her.

[Jason Peacock]

I strongly feel that the only thing to do here in CA is to EMBRACE our diversity, in ALL ways, and anyone who feels like I do is hopefully voting for Brown like I am. Whitmans's actions are quite typically Republican, and that is, decidedly cooler toward those who are not caucasian. Sorry folks, those are the facts.

[Frank Martinez]

This was a huge plunder for her because she didn't show any compassion for the worker. You want Latino voters to follow you? Stand up and do the right thing help her out and if she doesn't want to become a citizen in earnest at least you tried.
Everyday, California citizens have illegals do the dirty work; dishwashers, fruit and vegetable pickers, house maids and gardeners. No one including myself ask to see their papers. We want the cheap prices and services. This is the reality so what do we do as citizens,government employees we sit around a table and talk in a civil manner for solutions. Can she leads us in the right direction I don't think so.

[David Sackman]

Meg Whitman gets the Luis Renault "I'm Shocked!" Award.

"I'm shocked! Shocked to find undocumented in my kitchen!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1DEG6BWgp0

[Sea Gopher]

Well ! Let's look at this another way.

What would the LA Times boss do if Steve Lopez and Hector Tobar told the boss that they were both illegals and used false papers !

Would the paper keep them on the payroll or fire them and call ICE ?

Would Steve and Hector contact Allred and sob how badly they were mistreated ?

LOL