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Allred promises more documents in Whitman case

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Attorney Gloria Allred said GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman is lying when she says she didn’t knowingly employ an undocumented housekeeper and pledged to provide documentation at noon Thursday that would show that the federal government contacted the Whitman family about the matter in 2003.

“Our evidence will show she is lying,” Allred said on “Good Morning America” on Thursday morning.

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Whitman’s nine-year employment of Nicandra Diaz Santillan became an issue Wednesday when the woman, along with her attorney Allred, held a press conference alleging that Whitman knew for many years that Diaz Santillan was in the country illegally and only fired her in 2009 because Whitman was running for governor and the housekeeper had become a political liability.

Whitman has said she hired Diaz Santillan through an employment agency, and fired her once she learned she was illegal in 2009.

Allred said she would produce a 2003 letter from the Social Security Administration to Whitman and her husband that said the Social Security number they provided did not match Diaz Santillan’s name.

“In fact, Nicky alleges she received a number of letters for a number of years and Nicky found those letters in the trash, letters from the government,” Allred said.

Whitman reiterated her defense on “Good Morning America” and said she never saw any evidence that Diaz Santillan was in the country illegally.

“We never received those letters. When we hired Nicki, we used an employment agency, Nicky provided a Social Security card, a California driver’s license, she filled out a 1099, because we told the employment agency we have to hire only people who are documented to work here,” Whitman said.

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Whitman called the allegations a political smear and said that while she had no proof of involvement by rival Jerry Brown, she alluded to collusion between his campaign and Allred.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a fair amount of coordination here,” Whitman said, noting that Allred was a longtime Democrat who had contributed to Brown’s campaign.

-- Seema Mehta in Los Angeles

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