June 27, 2010

Primary Voters Had a Right To Know About Settlement

Did GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman shove an employee when she was CEO of eBay – resulting in a $200,000 settlement for the employee? Well, she did tell the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that she “physically guided” eBay employee Young Mi Kim “out of the conference room into a hallway.” Shortly after Whitman won the GOP primary, The New York Times cited “multiple” unnamed sources to support a report that on June 1, 2007, Whitman and Kim had some sort of spat. According to the story, while there were no witnesses to the event, Kim told “at least one colleague” that Whitman “used an expletive and shoved her.” Kim left eBay for four months, but returned after there was a settlement.

Did GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman shove an employee when she was CEO of eBay – resulting in a $200,000 settlement for the employee?

Well, she did tell the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that she “physically guided” eBay employee Young Mi Kim “out of the conference room into a hallway.”

Shortly after Whitman won the GOP primary, The New York Times cited “multiple” unnamed sources to support a report that on June 1, 2007, Whitman and Kim had some sort of spat. According to the story, while there were no witnesses to the event, Kim told “at least one colleague” that Whitman “used an expletive and shoved her.” Kim left eBay for four months, but returned after there was a settlement.

I’ve tried to get an explanation. Though given ample opportunity, Team Meg won’t deny a physical element to the incident or do the other requisite things a campaign does to kill a bad story.

Last week, when KTKZ radio talk-show host Eric Hogue asked Whitman to clarify what happened, she said, “We had a misunderstanding. It was a verbal dispute and that kind of thing can happen in a high-pressure work environment, and we put it behind us a long time ago.”

Verbal dispute?

“I’ve heard a lot of expletives, and I haven’t heard one yet that would warrant $200,000,” quipped Sterling Clifford, spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Brown’s Democratic gubernatorial campaign. Good point.

As a voter, I want to know if there is a pattern here.

Thursday, Whitman told the Associated Press that the altercation was an “anomaly” that taught her to be thoughtful about interactions with co-workers. Actually, The New York Times reported that eBay execs considered the episode an “anomaly,” also. Kim told the paper, “We had an unfortunate incident, but we resolved it in a way that speaks well for her.” So maybe it was a freak six-figure outburst that taught Whitman a lesson.

Would a wrong answer disqualify Whitman? Not necessarily.

And it’s not as if she is tarnished, and all other California politicians have clean slates when it comes to treatment of staff.

As Oakland mayor, Brown made his long-time guru Jacques Barzaghi a senior adviser to the city in 1999. Brown demoted Barzaghi and cut his $118,000 pay after a 2001 sexual-harassment charge, but he kept his pal on the city payroll even after the city paid a $50,000 settlement. In a 2003 interview, Brown told the East Bay Express he didn’t think complaints by other women about Barzaghi were true.

It wasn’t until 2004, when police went to Barzaghi’s home on a domestic disturbance call, that Barzaghi left Oakland’s payroll.

After I mentioned Barzaghi, Clifford responded that Brown “eventually dismissed him.” And: “This incident at eBay goes beyond an employee who had a problem”; it goes to “the temperament and behavior of a person who wants to be governor.”

I asked if Brown’s actions had resulted in any legal settlements. “There have been none,” Clifford answered.

That said, it was choice to read California Democratic Party Executive Director Shawnda Westly faulting Whitman’s “explosive temperament.” After all, state party chairman John “F-Bomb” Burton was the target of a sexual harassment lawsuit when he was Senate president pro tem. That matter settled out of court, too.

As a Republican, I want to know why Whitman did not disclose this story during the primary.

Did she tell campaign staff? I can’t get an on-the-record answer, although The New York Times reported that Whitman’s senior campaign adviser and eBay alum Henry Gomez was in the loop.

Maybe, as a political neophyte, Whitman does not understand that the people who support her have a right to know if she recently agreed to a legal settlement that could hurt GOP chances in November. In any event, she left GOP primary voters out of the loop.

“We knew about it a long time ago,” Clifford told me. “It’s a well-known incident in the business community in Silicon Valley.” (He also denied that the Brown campaign had anything to do with The New York Times story.)

Face it: This story was bound to get out.

And it did.

COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.