***CEO Watch***
For Immediate Release
September 9, 2010
Contact: Kam Kuwata, 800-709-7532
Fact Check: The Truth About Carly Fiorina’s Trading with Iran
Carly Fiorina still does not give a straight answer about what she knew about the sales.
- FLIP — “But Beth Miller, speaking for Fiorina’s nascent campaign, insisted that HP was ‘not doing business in Iran at all’ while the wannabe Senator was CEO.” [CalBuzz.com, 9/11/09]
- FLOP – “Carly Fiorina, the Republican nominee in California, confirmed that HP sold printer ink in Iran…” [Jewish Journal, 8/4/10]
- FLOP – “Printer ink was apparently distributed to Iran.” [CNN, 6/7/10]
- FLIP – Los Angeles Jewish community leaders charges are “baseless” – Fiorina press secretary Andrea Saul [KABC-TV, 9/7/10]
Under Fiorina, HP was skirting the law.
“Over the past dozen years, Hewlett-Packard has sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of printers and other products to Iran through a Middle East distributor sidestepping a U.S. ban on trade with the country.” [San Jose Mercury News, 8/31/09]
“’What HP has been saying, and what many other companies engaged in the same kind of direct trade with Iran say is, ‘We may own these subsidiaries but we don’t control them.’ And that has been a very effective loophole. They are not technically breaking the law. But are they circumventing the law? I would think so.” Quote from Victor Comras, a former senior sanctions expert for the State Department. [Los Angeles Times, 5/20/10]
After the initial reports about Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard agreed to stop equipment shipments to Iran.
“Hewlett-Packard Co. said late Thursday that it would stop a distributor from selling its products in Iran. The computer and printer maker acknowledged that it knew the sales were occurring despite trade sanctions on Iran, but maintained it did nothing illegal and was halting the practice ‘to go beyond the letter of the law.’” [Associated Press, 1/09/10]
Did Fiorina really not know about the shipments into Iran?
“It’s hard to imagine how Fiorina would not have known about HP’s Redington dealings, given that the activities of the company and its distributor were widely covered in the business press between 1999-2005, when she was CEO. For example, Forbes magazine ran a story called ‘Trading with the Enemy’ in 2004, that described the ‘open secret’ of how U.S. companies handled transactions with Iran.” [CalBuzz.com, 9/21/09]
“During Fiorina’s CEO stint, Forbes ran more than 50 articles about her — you could look it up. You don’t think Hurricane Carly only read the stories about herself, do you?” [CalBuzz.com, 9/21/09]
###
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.
