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Carly Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard executive, announces that she's a candidate in the Republican primary for the seat held by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Fiorina, who delayed her announcement for cancer treatment, quipped: "I have to say, after chemotherapy, Barbara Boxer just isn't that scary." (Christine Cotter/Los Angeles Times / November 4, 2009) |
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Republican businesswoman Carly Fiorina formally entered the race for U.S. Senate on Wednesday, issuing a blistering critique of Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer even as she tried to blunt her own primary challenge from the right.
FOR THE RECORD:
Carly Fiorina and HP stock: A Michael Hiltzik column in the Business section and a news article in Section A, both published Thursday, cited two different figures for the decline in Hewlett-Packard Co. shares during Carly Fiorina's tenure as its chief executive. The Hiltzik column said the stock fell 60%, and was based on the day of Fiorina's appointment and the last day she worked at the company. The news article cited a 49% drop, which included the day after her last work day —when her resignation was announced -- as well as adjustments for stock dividends.
FOR THE RECORD:
Carly Fiorina: An article in the Nov. 5 Section A about Republican businesswoman Carly Fiorina entering the race for U.S. Senate said she mocked Democratic incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer for writing three bills during her 17-year tenure. That number included only bills written by Boxer that were passed the way she wrote them and not modified during the legislative process. —
Before a small gathering of supporters in a Garden Grove warehouse, Fiorina said her business acumen and real-world experience make her the only viable Republican candidate in the 2010 contest.
She mocked Boxer for writing three pieces of legislation during her 17-year tenure and for spending the summer on a book tour instead of meeting with voters at town halls.
"What do you say that come next year, we give Barbara Boxer the chance to become a full-time novelist?" said Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive whose candidacy has been unofficial in name only for months.
"Let's work together and show our nation that Californians believe action trumps talk and problem-solving trumps partisanship," she said.
Although she aimed her fire at Boxer, Fiorina was also working against a conservative challenge from Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine.
The looming battle between Fiorina and DeVore reflects a larger ideological schism that is dividing Republicans across the nation and led to the loss of a Republican House seat in upstate New York on Tuesday.
Fiorina, 54, is making her first bid for elective office but is viewed by some in the party as having a better chance against Boxer than DeVore because she holds more moderate views than him and has vast personal wealth.
Yet Fiorina's business record may be as much of a political liability as an asset. Recruited to Hewlett-Packard from Lucent Technologies in 1999, Fiorina became the first female chief executive of a Fortune 20 company.
While there, she led the $19-billion buyout of Compaq Computer Corp. Fiorina's accomplishments were overshadowed by her high-profile battles with the company's board of directors, however, and she was eventually ousted.
During her tenure, the company's stock plunged 49% and tens of thousands of workers were laid off. But Fiorina left the company with a severance package that exceeded $21 million after nearly six years as chief executive.
Democrats, both inside the Boxer campaign and out, seized on Fiorina's business record to malign her candidacy.
"In these tough times, hard-working Californians need a senator who will fight to create jobs, not a millionaire former executive who laid off more than 28,000 Americans and shipped jobs overseas," said John Burton, chairman of the California Democratic Party.
Fiorina said Wednesday that her work laid the foundation for the company's current success.
She also took on another vulnerability: her erratic voting record.
"I'm not proud of my voting record. I will offer no excuse," she said. "I am a lifelong registered Republican but I haven't always voted and shame on me, because there are people who die around the world literally for the right to vote. And there are Californians and Americans who exercise their civic duty every election. Shame on me."
FOR THE RECORD:
Carly Fiorina and HP stock: A Michael Hiltzik column in the Business section and a news article in Section A, both published Thursday, cited two different figures for the decline in Hewlett-Packard Co. shares during Carly Fiorina's tenure as its chief executive. The Hiltzik column said the stock fell 60%, and was based on the day of Fiorina's appointment and the last day she worked at the company. The news article cited a 49% drop, which included the day after her last work day —when her resignation was announced -- as well as adjustments for stock dividends.
FOR THE RECORD:
Carly Fiorina: An article in the Nov. 5 Section A about Republican businesswoman Carly Fiorina entering the race for U.S. Senate said she mocked Democratic incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer for writing three bills during her 17-year tenure. That number included only bills written by Boxer that were passed the way she wrote them and not modified during the legislative process. —
Before a small gathering of supporters in a Garden Grove warehouse, Fiorina said her business acumen and real-world experience make her the only viable Republican candidate in the 2010 contest.
She mocked Boxer for writing three pieces of legislation during her 17-year tenure and for spending the summer on a book tour instead of meeting with voters at town halls.
"What do you say that come next year, we give Barbara Boxer the chance to become a full-time novelist?" said Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive whose candidacy has been unofficial in name only for months.
"Let's work together and show our nation that Californians believe action trumps talk and problem-solving trumps partisanship," she said.
Although she aimed her fire at Boxer, Fiorina was also working against a conservative challenge from Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine.
The looming battle between Fiorina and DeVore reflects a larger ideological schism that is dividing Republicans across the nation and led to the loss of a Republican House seat in upstate New York on Tuesday.
Fiorina, 54, is making her first bid for elective office but is viewed by some in the party as having a better chance against Boxer than DeVore because she holds more moderate views than him and has vast personal wealth.
Yet Fiorina's business record may be as much of a political liability as an asset. Recruited to Hewlett-Packard from Lucent Technologies in 1999, Fiorina became the first female chief executive of a Fortune 20 company.
While there, she led the $19-billion buyout of Compaq Computer Corp. Fiorina's accomplishments were overshadowed by her high-profile battles with the company's board of directors, however, and she was eventually ousted.
During her tenure, the company's stock plunged 49% and tens of thousands of workers were laid off. But Fiorina left the company with a severance package that exceeded $21 million after nearly six years as chief executive.
Democrats, both inside the Boxer campaign and out, seized on Fiorina's business record to malign her candidacy.
"In these tough times, hard-working Californians need a senator who will fight to create jobs, not a millionaire former executive who laid off more than 28,000 Americans and shipped jobs overseas," said John Burton, chairman of the California Democratic Party.
Fiorina said Wednesday that her work laid the foundation for the company's current success.
She also took on another vulnerability: her erratic voting record.
"I'm not proud of my voting record. I will offer no excuse," she said. "I am a lifelong registered Republican but I haven't always voted and shame on me, because there are people who die around the world literally for the right to vote. And there are Californians and Americans who exercise their civic duty every election. Shame on me."
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