Gene MaddausYou've met Meg Whitman's housekeeper. Now, get to know her nanny.
Jill Armstrong, 59, of Mountain View, worked for Whitman for two months back in 1998, for which she was paid the princely sum of $5,200.
She told the San Francisco Chronicle that she quit because Whitman and her husband, Griff Harsh, were overly demanding and cheap.
Armstrong's story is not quite the tale of woe that the housekeeper, Nicky Diaz Santillan, tearfully recounted at her press conference last week. Still, she felt that Whitman's attitude towards domestic employees was that they are “disposable.”
Armstrong said she was hired to be a nanny, but ended up helping Whitman unpack boxes from her move to Palo Alto. She also had a hard time getting paid what she felt she was owed.
Armstrong is a U.S. citizen (or so she claims) so at least Whitman doesn't have to deal with that issue this time around. Armstrong said, however, that she believes Diaz Santillan's account of mistreatment, based on her own experiences with Whitman.
“We're raising her kids, and we deserve respect,” she said.
She told the Chronicle that she is not associated with Jerry Brown's campaign, or his surrogates or union allies.
Tucker Bounds, a Whitman spokesman, said that many of Whitman's other domestic employees have “enjoyed a very positive experience.”
Perhaps at some point they will bring those folks forward. Come to think of it, the ad writes itself:
“I cleaned Meg Whitman's pool, and she's my choice for governor… I groomed Meg Whitman's horses, and I'll be proud to vote for her on Nov. 2… I drove her sons to rugby practice… “
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