Meg Whitman '77 Settles Suit with Former Housekeeper

By Jenna McCarthy '13

Meg Whitman ’77, who was defeated this month in the California governor’s race, paid $5,500 on Wednesday to settle a claim brought by her former housekeeper, Nicandra Diaz Santillan, according to the New York Times. Santillan was employed by Whitman for nine years and was fired in 2009 after Whitman discovered that she was in the country illegally. Santillan claimed that Whitman did not pay her for all of the hours she worked and fired her on the basis of political damage control. Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for Ms. Whitman, said that the accusations were baseless, but that, “this is simply the most practical and cost effective way to put the issue to rest.”

However, something interesting to note: according to Fox News, with the $140 million that Whitman spent on her gubernatorial campaign, she could have settled with 25,455 housekeepers!