CEO Watch

And a Special Picture of Fiorina Showing Her True Colors

Dear Carly Fiorina,

You’ve almost made it, but not quite. Tomorrow, the voters will decide. Before then, your friends at CEO Watch wanted to leave you with one last note.

Over the last year, you have embarked on an impossible task – to rewrite the history of your failed tenure as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Alas, all your spin could not overcome this reality: if you did such a good job, why were you fired? Here’s why:

- You drove HP stock down 55%, a bigger decline than all but two companies in the Dow Jones Industrial average. [Pittsburgh Tribune Review, 2/10/05]

- You laid off 33,000 workers and shipped thousands of US jobs overseas. [San Jose Mercury News, 4/20/10, Los Angeles Times, 5/20/10]

- You did not create more jobs “net net” in the United States, and have never produced evidence to the contrary. [Los Angeles Times, 5/20/10]

- You drove profit margins down over 50%. [HP Annual Reports, 2005 and 1999]

Since you were fired in 2005, you have not landed another job. As a comparison, Mark Hurd, HP’s last CEO, was quickly rehired after only 30 days and is now a leading executive at Oracle. Of course, several publications named you, not him, as one of the worst CEOs of all time.

On the campaign trail, you have opposed every bill that passed the Senate in 2009-10 to create jobs and end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.

Instead, you have aligned yourself with Texas oil companies that are attempting to pass Prop. 23. It would suspend California’s landmark climate change law and send our state’s clean energy jobs to China.

But it’s not a surprise you’ve found common cause with the Texans. Earlier, you admitted sending California jobs to Texas. And after moving to California, you were quoted saying, “I actually am a Texan.” [New York Times, 10/25/10]

Unfortunately for you, bad things come in threes. So in addition to losing in your quest to deceive voters about your record at HP and help Texas oil companies pass Prop. 23, it appears that your Texas baseball team will also be defeated this week.

Ms. Fiorina: we wished you would “root, root, root for the home team,” but your record clearly indicates otherwise. That’s why we have made this picture for you and the voters of California. [Download here]

Maybe after Tuesday’s election, things will look up for you and your fellow Texans, and we wish you well. As for Californians – we’re moving forward.

Sincerely,

Daniella Urbina
COO of CEO Watch

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CEO Watch is a project of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party that explores the records of Republican candidates who brag about their business credentials as qualifications for seeking public office. Not authorized by any federal candidate or committee.

Career politician Tony Strickland seems to have trouble keeping track of his own money. Would you trust him with $100 billion of yours?

For someone who is asking Californians to elect him as Chief Financial Officer of the 8th largest economy in the world, Tony Strickland can’t seem to keep his own finances straight.

On three separate occasions, he has had liens placed against his property for skipping out on utility bills, and he was taken to court for failing to pay almost $25,000 in rent and damage to a property he and his wife leased. (Notice of Delinquent Utility Charges, Sacramento County Recording, Document No. 20040420-0855, Recorded April 20, 2004; Notice of Delinquent Utility Charges, Sacramento County Recording, Document No. 20071228-0389, Recorded December 28, 2007; Complaint for Damages for Breach of Contract and Negligence, Jay Buckley v. Anthony Strickland, Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Ventura, Case No. SC027755, Filed October 2, 2000).

These financial “uh-oh’s” could perhaps be excused as just a little bit of sloppiness, but Tony’s trouble managing his campaign funds doesn’t seem quite so harmless.

In 1999, Strickland was sued for violating the Political Reform Act to the tune of $116,140 in unreported campaign contributions. (Complaint for Damages, Tony Miller v. Strickland For Assembly, Superior Court of California County of Sacramento, Case No. 99AS06834, Filed December 15, 1999)

Just this year, he was found responsible for attempting to hide the source of a vicious attack mailer against his 2008 opponent for State Senate, Hannah-Beth Jackson (States News Service, “FPPC Enforcement Decisions,” April 8, 2010).

While Strickland tried to excuse this omission as just another “mistake” in accounting, officials at the Fair Political Practices Commission noted that for a seasoned career politician, such an omission would be “at worst intentional, and at best negligent.” (Ventura County Star, March 30, 2010)

“In these difficult days, California needs someone who will play it straight with our tax dollars. If Tony Strickland can’t keep his personal finances and political accounting straight, how can anyone trust him as California’s State Controller?” asked Eric C. Bauman, Chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.

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Earlier in the campaign, Arianna Packard wrote a letter published at a conservative website, stating, “I know a little bit about Carly Fiorina, having watched her almost destroy the company my grandfather founded.” [Arianna Packard Letter to Senators Inhofe, Coburn and Kyl, published on Redstate.com, March 8, 2010]

Later, David Packard wrote an op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News reminding voters of Fiorina’s record at HP. He wrote, “Let’s not forget that the HP board fired Fiorina early in 2005, and no company has hired her since.” He added, “Her fatal failing was her inability to win the respect of HP employees, which stemmed from her inability to trust, empower and motivate these employees…” [San Jose Mercury News, “Opinion: Neither of HP's founders would have endorsed Fiorina,” April 22, 2010]

Now, two more family members from the Hewlett and Packard families have written an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, making a closing argument against Fiorina and her record at HP. See their op-ed below:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/27/EDFT1G2A5C.DTL&type=printable

Carly Fiorina wrong for HP, wrong for California

Jason Burnett,Eric Gimon
Wednesday, October 27, 2010

In her run for the U.S. Senate, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is telling California voters she will bring change to Washington. Should she get elected, we believe she will let them down just as she did the employees and shareholders of HP.

As members of the Hewlett and Packard families, we heard Fiorina make this same promise of change when she took over the pioneering Silicon Valley company our grandfathers started in a Palo Alto garage in 1939.

When Fiorina came to Hewlett-Packard in 1999, the company was still hewing closely to the guiding vision that our grandfathers laid out, which put a premium on integrity, respect for employees and a focus on how the company’s work would benefit the broader community. It was known simply as the HP Way.

During her brief tenure at HP, Carly Fiorina broke from these core values – and nearly destroyed a great company.

She ruptured the collaborative relationship between employees and management, which for decades had fostered a talented and loyal workforce. In stark contrast to our grandfathers’ track record of avoiding layoffs, Fiorina laid off tens of thousands of employees, shipping many of those jobs overseas.

Rather than the team-oriented approach that had characterized HP since its founding, Fiorina instituted a top-down culture. She got herself on the covers of glossy magazines. Most good CEOs put employees, shareholders and customers ahead of themselves. Fiorina appeared to put herself first. While she asked employees to make sacrifices – including giving up their profit-sharing plan – she took more than $100 million in pay and perks.

She pursued a growth-at-all-costs strategy, which culminated in the merger with Compaq that sparked a divisive fight over the legacy of the HP Way.

What were the results? During her time at HP, shareholders were disappointed by the company’s poor stock performance. Employee morale plummeted. Independent management experts and multiple publications have dubbed her one of the worst CEOs of all time. Even Wall Street celebrated when Fiorina was fired, sending HP’s stock up. What does it say that HP was worth billions of dollars more with Fiorina gone?

While Fiorina’s values were wrong for HP, we believe they would be devastating for California and the nation. On the paramount issue of jobs, she has opposed major jobs bills over the last two years, including efforts to help small businesses.

Fiorina has said she’s running on her record at HP. We urge California voters to take a closer look.

She was the wrong choice for HP. She is the wrong choice for the U.S. Senate.

Jason Burnett, founder of Burnett EcoEnergy in Carmel, is the grandson of David Packard. Eric Gimon, a physicist living in Berkeley, is the grandson of Bill Hewlett.

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CEO Watch is a project of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party that explores the records of Republican candidates who brag about their business credentials as qualifications for seeking public office. Not authorized by any federal candidate or committee.

Day 2 – Social Security Privatization

With Fiorina visiting a senior community in Orange County today, will she explain her hints at support for the Bush plan to privatize Social Security?

Although Carly Fiorina denies that she supports privatizing Social Security, under her direction Hewlett-Packard founded an industry group that lobbied for Social Security privatization.

Fiorina’s campaign claims, “Carly opposes any effort to change Social Security for senior citizens and upcoming retirees.” [Release, 10/15/10]

That’s a dishonest statement considering the “effort to change Social Security” that Fiorina led her company to support before she was fired as its CEO. HP was one of the founding members of the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security, an industry group that engaged in direct lobbying of Congress in support of Social Security privatization. [Duluth News Tribune, May 9, 2005] Fiorina’s fellow Republican, President George W. Bush, had championed the privatization plan. “On its website, the alliance lists the creation of private accounts as its No. 1 principle.” [Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2005]

Additionally, Fiorina has advocated for cutting funding for entitlements, suggesting that she would cut Social Security and Medicare, the largest entitlement programs. She said, “The way to get government debt under control, you’ve got to cut government, you’ve got to cut entitlements.” [KABC Radio, 7/22/10]

In response, Kam Kuwata said, “Carly Fiorina is the first candidate to make a statement and give her own rebuttal. She may say she doesn’t want to change Social Security, but when she was at HP, she led the company to support privatizing and dismantling this vital program. ABC may have just cancelled its show ‘The Whole Truth,’ and on Tuesday Californians will cancel Fiorina and the Big Lie.”

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CEO Watch is a project of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party that explores the records of Republican candidates who brag about their business credentials as qualifications for seeking public office. Not authorized by any federal candidate or committee.