Newly chosen Senate nominee Carly Fiorina (R-CA) said today she will vigorously defend against Democrats who attempt to use her record as CEO of Hewlett Packard as a political weapon. Democrats who want to see Sen. Barbara Boxer reelected have already targeted Fiorina as presiding over major layoffs, outsourcing jobs and not having the confidence of the Packard family.
In response to a question from TPMDC on a conference call, Fiorina said she’d improved HP’s profitability and that this fall, “I look forward to running on my record.” She rattled off successful stock statistics from her tenure, which ran from 1999 through 2005 at the Palo Alto-based tech giant, and said under her leadership HP was nabbing 11 patents per day. The numbers she used to tout her tenure were all positive, and she didn’t mention the troubled Compaq merger or the profit figures that weren’t so flattering and led to her 2005 firing.
“Yes, we did have to unfortunately lay some folks off,” Fiorina told me on the call. “We also created jobs … you come out stronger on the other end.” And with the economy and unemployment as the top issue in California, “I’m prepared to fight for our jobs,” she said.
Team Boxer already has framed the race as the “clearest choice” possible nationwide this fall. Fiorina said she agrees with that. “She is a career politician, I am someone who has created results in the real world,” she said.
Boxer wrote supporters an email today criticizing Fiorina as having “opposed every major jobs bill that I supported — even though that legislation will continue to help create jobs and put our economy back on track.”
“Plus, remember that before Fiorina was fired as CEO of HP and walked away with a $21 million ‘golden parachute,’ she laid off more than 30,000 workers,” Boxer wrote.
Fiorina jabbed Boxer on her lack of town halls during the health care debate and the high unemployment rate. She said she’ll campaign on the idea that high taxes and fees — due in part to environmental regulation Boxer has championed as chairman of the Senate EPW Committee — are crippling the state’s small businesses and the agriculture, manufacturing and film industries. She said she thinks she can unseat Boxer because voters are worried about jobs and “out-of-control spending.”
During the call, seemingly for bloggers and not the traditional press, Fiorina applauded the medium as “an important and growing influence in politics.” Fiorina said Boxer saying that she’s passing legislation in the Senate to help create jobs is one reason why she “is going to lose.”
Fiorina said Californians might see more of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose endorsement gave her a boost this spring. She said people should “stay tuned” for details of any joint campaigning.
The Democrats are trying to hit Fiorina for the thousands of layoffs that hit HP during her tenure. She said in a local radio interview today she would “of course” still make the same choice to cut 10,000 jobs if presented with the figures showing that was the “responsible” choice. Democrats mocked the interview as Fiorina getting off to a rough start.
Meanwhile, the Republicans are presenting Fiorina as a fresh face to Boxer’s decades of service in elected office. Here’s a Web video posted today by the NRSC:
