A lawyer for Meg Whitman's former housekeeper this afternoon released what she said is a 2003 letter from the Social Security Administration with Whitman's husband's handwriting on it, a measure to refute Whitman's claim she never received such a letter or knew the housekeeper was in the country illegally.
The so-called "no-match" letter advised Whitman and her husband, Dr. Griffith Harsh, of a discrepancy between the housekeeper's name, Nicky Diaz Santillan, and her Social Security number, celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred said.
She said Harsh wrote on the letter, "Nicky, please check this. Thanks."
Whitman has said Diaz Santillan was responsible for picking up the mail at her house. Allred said she did that only when Whitman and Harsh were on vacation.
But the handwriting on the letter, Allred said, indicates Whitman's husband was aware that their housekeeper of nine years was in the country illegally.
Whitman said Tuesday that she fired Diaz Santillan when Diaz Santillan told her last year that she was an illegal immigrant. The housekeeper used falsified documents to obtain employment, she said.
Asked how she could be sure that the handwriting on the letter is Harsh's, Allred said Diaz Santillan recognizes it as such. Allred said she is also prepared to present additional evidence, depending how Whitman responds.
"Meg Whitman is exposed as a liar and a hypocrite," Allred said.
Whitman said this morning that she would be willing to take a polygraph test to demonstrate she did not know Diaz Santillan was in the country illegally. Asked if Diaz Santillan would do so, Allred said she does not need to.
PHOTO CREDIT: Attorney Gloria Allred, center, displays a copy of a 2003 letter she says shows Republican gubernatorial candidate, Meg Whitman knew all along that her maid, Nicky Diaz Santillan, might be an illegal immigrant, keeping the letter from the government after Whitman's husband, Dr. Griffith Harsh, partially filled it out and told the housekeeper to deal with it, in Los Angeles. At right assisting Allred is attorney, Dolores Y. Leal. At left is former maid, Nicky Diaz Santillan. (AP Photo/ Nick Ut)
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