Ambulance chasing attorney and liberal activist Gloria Allred has refused to rule out that her latest political stunt to exploit an illegal immigrant to embarrass Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman didn't come from Jerry Brown's campaign operatives. Brown, the Democrat running for governor, has been close to Allred for years and is Allred's former boss. In a testy exchange Monday with attorney and Fox News host Megyn Kelly, Allred several times refused to refute the notion that Brown or someone from his campaign could have referred the Nicky Diaz situation to her. Too bad she doesn't seem genuinely concerned about jeopardizing Diaz's ability to stay in the country.
In what was an obvious political stunt, Allred called a press conference and comforted the crying illegal immigrant Diaz, who claimed she was paid $23 an hour by Meg Whitman and her husband for close to nine years, then was abruptly fired. Diaz struggled with the prepared statement and didn't seem to know when the written sentences would end. Several times Diaz used the wrong intonation for the sentence's structure and appeared to be unsure of the meaning of her words. Because she didn't write them. Allred's team did. Not that the attorney disclosed that information.
Allred's press conference also failed to mention that Diaz was not only in the country illegally but had given Whitman forged documents claiming to have a valid driver's license number and Social Security card. In fact, Diaz had neither.
By refusing to clarify how Diaz came to her, Allred leaves open the possibility that Jerry Brown's team is behind the whole event. Since Diaz clearly wasn't speaking her own words, is it possible Team Brown also aided in writing the illegal immigrant's press conference testimony?Few reporters have questioned Allred's motives or pursued Diaz's current immigration status. And few reporters have made clear that the California minimum wage is $8 per hour. Whitman paid Diaz $23 per hour -- almost three times the minimum standards. Diaz, who claims she was abruptly fired without cause or notice, participated in a public media availability with Allred but has so far not been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) even though it has been proven that she forged her documents to work for Whitman and is in the United States illegally. Did Allred even caution her illegal client about going public?
Allred and Brown have both accused Whitman of knowingly hiring an illegal maid, yet clearly neither thought through the very real problem of exposing Diaz's immigration status. Now that Diaz has told the world that she has broken U.S. immigration laws and forged federal documents, Allred and possibly Brown are the ones to blame for the consequences she will face. That is, unless Brown wins and gives Diaz citizenship for her help. Either way, Latino voters in California should understand that Allred and Brown were more concerned about political expediency than protecting the status of an undocumented immigrant.