The election is over, and the record-shattering $140 million she personally invested in her failed run for governor is gone. But Meg Whitman still faces one unsettled score.
Today, the billionaire must answer to a claim that she owes Nicky Diaz Santillan, her former undocumented housekeeper, $6,210 in alleged unpaid wages and mileage.
Diaz Santillan, who worked for nine years in Whitman's home, will appear at a state Department of Industrial Relations office in San Jose to make her case that the defeated Republican candidate owes her money. The conference is closed to the public.
"We'll be there, and we'll be presenting evidence," said Gloria Allred, the Los Angeles celebrity attorney who represents Diaz Santillan. Also there will be San Francisco immigration attorney Marc Van Der Hout, a veteran of pro bono efforts to defend Central American refugees from deportation.
The Whitman camp declined to respond to inquiries about whether the former eBay CEO or an attorney will appear in San Jose to contest Diaz Santillan's claim, which Whitman denies owing. Allred and Van Der Hout said Diaz Santillanis turning down interviews at this point.
Allred's ability to command media attention helped thrust Diaz Santillan into the public eye a month before the election, an event that political experts said proved pivotal to the outcome of the gubernatorial race.
How Diaz Santillan, a resident of Union City, met the high-powered Allred remains a mystery.
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