Carly Fiorina announces senate run
November 5, 2009
by Amy Siskind
|Exciting news in California: yesterday, Carly Fiorina threw her hat in the ring as a candidate for the 2010 senate seat. Carly will face Chuck Devore in the Republican Primay – the winner of which will run against Senator Barbara Boxer.
I was fortunate to meet Carly in person when she came to my home in July 2008 as a surrogate for Sen McCain shortly after Hillary Clinton dropped out of the presidential race. Carly was simply awesome. I still recall that after Carly spoke to us, there was complete and utter silence; until one attendee said: “well, it certainly takes a lot to get this crowd to be at a loss for words!” The New Agenda’s Cynthia Ruccia also hosted a similar meeting with Carly in Ohio.
I have great admiration for Carly and what she has accomplished. As those of you who follow our writings at The New Agenda know, only 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEO’s are women. One can only fathom how superior of a leader women such as Carly Fiorina or Meg Whitman (running for CA Governor) must be to make that cut. To say nothing of the personal fortitude of this woman to fight breast cancer, lose her hair to chemo, and then come charging back to run for public office.
Yet, even as Carly announced today – the smear tactics have already begun. Carly is blamed with cutting jobs while CEO of HP and sending jobs abroad to Asia. As if somehow this would be a negative reflection on her capabilities as a US Senator. This is complete and utter hogwash! The tasks of CEOs is to increase shareholder value. At times, this necessitates cutting costs. The task of our government in the current recession is to help create jobs (at which they are gravely failing). But to somehow liken the goals of a F500 CEO to those of a US Senator is simply ludicrous!
I’ve also been reading the endless accusations that Carly has a spotty voting record as a citizen. Give me a break. Honestly. The woman was the CEO of a Fortune 500 company where she managed hundreds of thousands of employees. And we’re meant to worry that she didn’t vote and that somehow reflects poorly on her? Did anyone check some of the male politicians’ voting records – the ones that came from prominent roles in corporate America – not the career politicians. Send me a link if you can find it!
This week the voters of this country let us know that fixing the economy is job #1. Carly brings an invaluable tool kit to office in helping our country. Many of our members of congress haven’t a clue about finance or the economy. When I met with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand a couple of weeks ago, she told me that she is the only member of the US Senate with any experience in securities law on the senate committee that will be drafting our derivatives legislation. Scary – you bet. Thank goodness for Sen Gillibrand.
So let’s all keep our eyes peeled for any sexism directed at Carly as she enters the race.
And we at The New Agenda will cross our fingers for a woman vs. woman race in California. That’s a win-win for our country!
Link to Carly’s new website here. The New Agenda is a 501(c)(4) and does not endorse political candidates.
I remember watching Carly speaking during the last election and thinking WOW! I’m thrilled that she’s running and I too am crossing my fingers for a two woman race.
We are lucky out her in lotus land…two ladies running for the senate and one for governor,,,Me personally I am for Carly and Meg, but our state tends to run democrat so there is lots of work ahead. Fortunately the Dems are running a retread in Governor Jerry Brown( remember when he was called Gov Moonbeam), so perhaps this will be the year of the woman here in the California Elections
Hell, Obama has a spotty voting record as a damned Senator. No fair holding it against Carly when she wasn’t even being PAID to vote, unlike him.
Just doing a bit of fact-checking — what was Boxer’s behavior during the Democratic primary? I can’t recall; I blacked out a lot last year politically speaking. How many knife handles are sticking out of Hillary’s back with Boxer’s name on them?
Janis,
I like the cut of your jib. Boxer’s handprints are on the one upper left and the one lower right.
Looks like it’s Carly for Senator, then. What was her behavior, if anything?
Amy, her tenure at HP is fair game – I don’t regard it as a smear. She can fully defend herself and her decisions. Since Carly is essentially a business person, that’s what she offers up. So that record can be fairly scrutinized – and in an era of 10.2% unemployment – job-cutting CEOs will have to defend their moves. That applies to Carly, also.
But I certainly agree with being alert for any sexism that gets directed against her or Boxer – sadly, both are vulnerable to that.
Slashing Jobs is an envitability if sales diminishes which occured during Her reign at HP. No Ceo should maintain a workforce that is unnecessary to acheive the purposes of the business. Featherbedding occurs in some trades, but when it does it dimishes shareholder value. A good CEO is primarily charged with shareholder value not social compact to society.As a senator She will be obligated to create a better lving enviornment for all of us and to legisate for the greater good. Job creation without benefit to the corporation is only a financial drain on the company and would create a poor bottom line for the company. This would cause a CEO to be fired not honored for job creation. Only in the public sector can jobs be created( ie the stimulus bill) without regard to costs incurred in creating the job.
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