Meg Whitman: In Her Own Words
Billionaire CEO Meg Whitman has been pretty clear. If she's elected governor of California, she will take dead aim at those who serve our state: its firefighters, teachers, nurses and ordinary citizens.
Here is what she has to say about the bread and butter issues that affect your life on the job.
On your retirement security: "We must require state employees to contribute a larger portion of their salary to help pay for their retirement benefits. We must extend the vesting period, and we must bring new government workers in under a different deal where they receive a defined-contribution retirement plan similar to the 401(k) plans that most taxpayers have." -- National Review, April, 2010
On your job security: "... you can lay off 10 percent of the bureaucracy, and actually -- maybe it's easier, actually, with fewer people, and it will not be a hardship on the state. And, so, that would say that you want to lay off between 30,000 and 40,000 people." -- CNN interview, May 18, 2009
On curbing your political free speech rights: "The other thing that I am very interested in is the reform that used to be called 'paycheck protection' and now is called the "citizen's power initiative." -- "Ask Meg" TV Infomercial, April, 2010
On her experience bargaining in good faith: "I have not directly negotiated with unions. We had union members when I worked at Hasbro (toy company)." -- San Francisco Chronicle, March 11, 2010
On your membership in a union ... any union: "About 12 percent of California workers are in unions, but they have almost all of the power. It's remarkable. So we're going to have to take on the public service unions on a number of fronts." -- "Ask Meg" TV Infomercial, April, 2010.
On her failure to vote for 28 years: "I was focused on raising a family, on my husband's career, and we moved many, many times. ... my voting record, my registration record is unacceptable." -- Los Angeles Times, October 9, 2009
