It’s no secret that Meg Whitman is wealthy beyond most of our wildest dreams. But few know the true cost of Whitman’s wealth. Today, the California Labor Federation launched a new online video and video game that highlights Whitman’s job-slashing corporate history.

Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski:

Meg Whitman has made a game of downsizing workers and outsourcing their jobs, and walking away with a very real fortune for herself in the process. The record shows that Whitman is a one-person weapon of mass job destruction. By attempting to buy the California Governor’s Office, Whitman wants to take her game to the next level, but we can’t forget there are real lives at stake with every jobs she cuts, outsources or downsizes.

While Whitman touts her business savvy as her primary qualification to become governor, a closer look at Whitman’s corporate background reveals a troubling portrait of someone who got rich at the expense of her own employees. Whitman is a career corporate executive who built a personal fortune by eliminating and outsourcing jobs and slashing workers’ benefits. Everywhere she’s been, she’s made out with lucrative bonuses, stock options and other compensation. And workers have suffered hardships as a result.

EDIT by Brian: Check out the flip for more…

Whitman’s pattern of mass job destruction is clear:

   * While Whitman served as an executive at Stride Rite from 1992-1995, the company closed two manufacturing plants in Massachusetts and fired 450 workers — and Whitman collected $568,000 in compensation and stock options. The Wall Street Journal reported that during and prior to Whitman’s tenure, the company closed 15 US plants, moving manufacturing to “low-cost Asian countries.” During Whitman’s time at Stride Rite, the company cut its unionized workforce by half.

   * While Whitman served as president and CEO of Florist Transworld Delivery (FTD) from 1995-1997, the company eliminated 475 jobs and gutted retirement benefits for workers — and Whitman collected $1.2 million in compensation and stock options.

   * While Whitman served as an executive at Hasbro from 1997-1998, the company cut the workforce by 23%, laid off 500 U.S. workers and sent manufacturing jobs to Mexico.

   * While Whitman served on the board of directors at Gap Inc from 2003-2006, the company closed down a distribution facility in Maryland, outsourced dozens of merchandising jobs and fired 100 tech workers in California.

   * While Whitman was CEO of eBay(1998-2007), the number of overseas workers at the company increased by 666%. By 2007, nearly 40% of eBay’s jobs were outsourced. Whitman also ordered layoffs during her tenure, claiming that the company had “fat that could be trimmed.” By 2008, the company had laid off more than 10% of its workforce. Under Whitman, while laying off workers, eBay repeatedly lobbied for increasing H-1B visas to foreign workers, who are often paid less and have fewer rights than workers hired in America. During her time at eBay, Whitman received about $500 million in compensation and stock options and charged the company and its shareholders nearly $3.2 million for the use of a company jet.

   * While serving on the board of directors at Goldman Sachs (2001-2002), where she was on the executive compensation committee, she doled out $79 million in executive bonuses and participated in decision-making on a range of issues relating to the firm. Goldman is now under investigation by the US Department of Justice for its role in the mortgage crisis that led to millions of home foreclosures. While at Goldman, she received more than a half a million dollars in compensation, along with insider access to new hot stocks worth millions, a practice called “spinning,” which is now illegal.

At no point in Whitman’s extensive corporate career did she prove that she could create and sustain good jobs here in the U.S. With a track record like this, we’re left wondering what exactly Whitman has to gain by becoming Governor… and we don’t have to look too far to find the answer. Whitman’s proposal to eliminate the capital gains tax would benefit millionaires and billionaires – taking money away from schools, public safety and programs for the elderly and people with disabilities. And that’s just one in a laundry list of tax breaks, giveaways and sweetheart deals she has in store for California’s biggest companies and wealthiest individuals, without regard for how that loss of revenue would affect our already cash-strapped state.

When you connect the dots of her corporate career, it’s crystal clear her priority has always been profits, at any cost, above people. Based on her proposals for California – like cutting 40,000 state jobs, opposing the job-creating high-speed rail project and scaling back workers’ overtime pay and meal breaks – it’s evident that she would bring the same corporate agenda she’s advocated throughout her career to the governor’s office. That spells disaster for California.

Whitman’s corporate mentality would lead to higher unemployment, lower wages and fewer benefits for workers – in both the public and private sector. In fact, the only group that would benefit from a Whitman governorship is the exclusive club of large corporations and millionaires and billionaires from which she comes.

We cannot afford to let Whitman and her Wall Street agenda run the show in Sacramento. It’s up to us to fight her attempt at a hostile corporate takeover of our state. Learn more, play the game and get involved at www.WallStreetWhitman.com.

Paid for by the California Labor Federation. Not authorized by a candidate or committee controlled by a candidate.

As the editor of Labor’s Edge, I had the unique opportunity to sit down with journalist and author Robert Kuttner at the annual ‘Building Workforce Partnerships’ conference, sponsored by the California Labor Federation’s Workforce and Economic Development Program. Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect and a senior fellow at Demos. His latest book is “A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama’s Promise, Wall Street’s Power, and the Struggle to Control our Economic Future.”

See the flip

Labor’s Edge: What role do you see unions playing in our nation’s economic recovery?

Robert Kuttner: Let’s look at the 1930s — a period of higher joblessness but also a great time for union growth. It really all depends on how well-informed the workforce is. Some folks who aren’t well-educated look at public employee unions and say, “These folks have it too good.” Other more informed people look at union workers and say, “I want what they have.” It’s up to labor and political leadership to use this recession as an opportunity to educate, mobile and organize workers.

Labor’s Edge: In 2009, you wrote about the White House’s Task Force on Middle Class Working Families. What has the task force accomplished so far, and what still needs to be done?

Robert Kuttner: The task force is a good first step — it has created a new venue where the issues that matter to working families can be raised and addressed. But unfortunately, the task force is understaffed, and the proposed executive order to give contractors extra points for treating their workers well is hung up at Office of Management and Budget. We need the President to prioritize the task force himself (currently it’s being headed up by the Vice President’s program) and make it a top priority, in order to target those large, high profile companies who are low road employers.

Labor’s Edge: In terms of stabilizing the economy and reinvigorating job growth, what has Obama done right, and what still needs to be done?

Robert Kuttner: The stimulus package was a good thing — it helped create a lot of jobs. But it’s not enough; the money will run out soon and the package must be repeated. Right now, I’ll give financial reform a B+ — the bill is getting better as public understands the stakes. For his first few years in office, Obama should have been completely focused on the economy, financial reform and mortgage relief. The health care bill consumed too much time and attention and didn’t go far enough; and it could have waited until Obama’s second term. And the ongoing emphasis on deficit reduction is the wrong approach – it’s only making it harder to get other bills passed, because everyone is scared of increasing the deficit (which is actually a good thing in times of high unemployment).

Labor’s Edge: What exactly would the federal financial reform bill do? Is it enough rein in Wall Street greed?

Robert Kuttner: The Consumer Financial Protection Agency is a very important component of the financial reform package – but it needs to be a free-standing agency. In the Senate version of the bill, the CFPA lies within the Federal Reserve, but in the House version, it’s a committee of regulators, which is what we need. The “Audit the Fed” amendment is good. The derivatives reform component is also pretty good, but it could be better – there are just too many loopholes. The bottom line is that the financial reform bill doesn’t do enough to change the current business model of banks acting like hedge funds, creating exotic assets too confusing for people to understand, and profiting richly at the expense of working people.

Labor’s Edge: What do you think needs to happen to break California out of its perpetual budget woes?

Robert Kuttner: California’s budget is going to be a mess until we get rid of Proposition 13 and the supermajority requirements on budgets and taxes. As long as we have those hurdles in place, our hands will always be tied, even if we had a great Governor. But these rules have fostered a political climate that makes it easy for the Governor to impose his cuts and pit us against each other, playing welfare programs against worker pensions, and so on.

Labor’s Edge: Do you think the anti-Wall Street sentiment will carry over and affect the November election in California, in the event that we end up with two corporate CEOs (Whitman and Fiorina) at the top of the ticket?

Robert Kuttner: Well, you would think so, but I believe we need to make this an issue for it to resonate. Buying your way into public office should be politically radioactive.

Labor’s Edge: What does the BP oil spill mean for the future of the green economy?

Robert Kuttner: If there’s one thing that this oil catastrophe has demonstrated, it’s that we absolutely cannot trust the oil companies to regulate themselves and control our energy policy. We need real regulation to save them from their own greed. But there’s more to it. We can’t rely on oil in the long-term; we must shift to a cleaner, greener economy, which would benefit the workforce, environment and trade. If ever there was an impetus for the Obama Administration to make this move, the oil spill is it.

Rebecca Greenberg is communications organizer at the California Labor Federation, which represents more than 2 million workers in 1,200 unions across the state.

It’s no secret that Meg “Wall Street” Whitman served on the board of directors at Goldman Sachs at the same time that the notorious banking giant was engaging in some questionable (and now illegal) business practices. But Whitman hasn’t exactly been open and honest about her direct involvement in the mortgage-backed securities and other shady insider deals that resulted in half a million families losing their homes.

Now that the Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into Goldman’s role in the subprime mortgage meltdown, it’s more important than ever that Whitman disclose exactly what she knew and did during her 14 months on the Goldman Sachs board. That’s why we’re calling on Whitman to provide detailed answers to the following questions (which are central to growing concerns about her fitness to lead our state) during this Sunday’s GOP gubernatorial debate:

  1. Will you admit that Goldman Sachs was wrong to bet that hard-working people would lose their houses, at the same time the company was stacking the deck so innocent families were sure to lose?  Will you publicly rebuke Goldman and the Wall Street culture you were a part of — the same company and culture that made you a billionaire?

  2. Knowing Goldman’s unethical — and potentially criminal – activities drove the mortgage meltdown, will you apologize to the half million California families who lost their homes for your role as a Goldman director and investor who profited from their losses?

  3. California voters deserve to know what kind of judgment you would display as Governor.  Will you come clean with voters right now about what you knew about Goldman’s unethical dealings and when you knew it?

  4. If you are named in a federal criminal investigation or asked to testify publicly about your knowledge of Goldman’s illegal tricks or your profits from the company’s scams, how will you remain focused on California’s concerns over their jobs, education, and health care?

According to Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski:

The hot water Meg Whitman’s in due to her inextricable ties to Goldman Sachs just hit the boiling point. The people of California deserve the honest truth about Whitman’s involvement in the practices that are being investigated as part of the current criminal probe against Goldman Sachs. Whitman must immediately disclose all dealings with Goldman Sachs – past and present – and divulge any information she has about the alleged criminal activity under investigation.

Whitman sat on the board of Goldman Sachs in 2001-2002, was engaged in now-illegal insider deals with Goldman Sachs that netted her nearly $2 million in profits, and currently holds a myriad of investments with Goldman worth millions of dollars. Whitman has repeatedly dodged tough questions about her involvement with Goldman, and recently has attempted to distance herself publicly from the firm.

For more information about Whitman’s shady past with Goldman Sachs, visit www.WallStreetWhitman.com

Steve Smith is communications director of the California Labor Federation, which represents 2.1 million workers in 1,200 unions across the state.

Paid for by the California Labor Federation. Not authorized by a candidate or committee controlled by a candidate.

Meg Whitman spent last week crisscrossing California with her Wall Street pal Mitt Romney, pumping up her already overflowing campaign coffers with even more corporate cash. Her campaign strategy is clear: write big checks and avoid a real conversation with voters about her background, her policies, and her plans for the state.

But California’s workers aren’t going to let Meg and her Wall Street agenda take the express jet to the Governor’s office. While Meg and Mitt were rubbing elbows with the corporate elite, an army of nurses, educators, construction trades workers, and others who would be directly impacted by Meg’s anti-worker agenda were putting the final touches on our campaign to expose her plans to do Wall Street’s bidding and what her Governorship would mean for California’s families.

Today, the California Labor Federation launched a massive grassroots campaign massive grassroots campaign that will deploy an army of volunteers to expose the truth about Meg Whitman’s Wall Street agenda and her history on the board at Goldman Sachs. The campaign will counter Whitman’s avalanche of TV ads and estimated $150 war chest with online tools as well as and person-to-person contact, which is proven to be the best way to reach voters.

The brand-new website www.WallStreetWhitman.com will bring the pieces of the grassroots campaign together online. Serving as a one-stop information hub that exposes the truth of Whitman’s Wall Street agenda for California, www.WallStreetWhitman.com will also enable worker activists to engage others in the campaign through extensive use of email and social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter.

Union voters represent about 1 out of every 5 voters who will go to the polls on Election Day, and many millions more share the same concerns about what Meg Whitman’s agenda will mean for their families. Our plans to reach millions of member voters and deploy tens of thousands of volunteers to speak to their like-minded friends, neighbors, and co-workers will be critical to defeating Meg Whitman’s agenda, which includes plans to fire 40,000 public employees, roll back critical consumer protections that protect our healthcare, and take away worker’s rights, to name a few.

Meg Whitman’s wants to corporatize and downsize the California economy, which will be disastrous for everyone who works hard for a living in California – whether they are union members or not, whether they work in the public sector or the private sector. While Meg’s campaign is fueled by her allegiance to Goldman Sachs and the Wall Street culture that destroyed our economy, our campaign is powered with the passion of tens of thousands of workers who are determined to build better lives for themselves and their children.

We’re ready to spend from today through Election Day getting out the truth about Whitman’s record and letting voters know exactly where she stands on the issues they care about, including jobs, health care, education, and workers’ rights. Join us at www.WallStreetWhitman.com.

Steve Smith is communications director at the California Labor Federation, which represents 2.1 million workers in 1,200 AFL-CIO and Change to Win unions across the state.

Paid for by the California Labor Federation. Not authorized by a candidate or committee controlled by a candidate.

Cross-posted from the California Accountability Project blog. 

According to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service, in 2007 Meg Whitman’s charitable foundation invested $4 million offshore, in Hedge Funds based in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

Is Meg Whitman still shifting her millions into offshore tax havens to avoid having to pay her fair share?

And how can we know for sure that she’s put a stop to the practice – if, in fact, she HAS put a stop to the practice – without a look at her tax returns?

California’s voters expect and deserve to know if Whitman is continuing to engage in tax avoidance schemes.

Meg Whitman – with an estimated worth of $1.4 billion – must do as other wealthy candidates for California Governor have done, and release her personal income tax returns.

The Sacramento Bee noted on Tuesday (2/23):

“Arnold Schwarzenegger released his tax returns when he ran for governor. So did other rich candidates of recent years: Steve Westly, Phil Angelides, Bill Simon, Jane Harman and Al Checchi. What about the 2010 crop? A campaign spokeswoman said Meg Whitman plans to release only financial info required by law (not tax returns).”

The release of tax returns by wealthy candidates for governor is a well-established precedent in the State of California.

Steve Poizner, Whitman’s GOP Primary opponent, has agreed to release his income tax returns, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci (on 2/22).

“GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner, saying he is a ‘firm believer in transparency,'’ became the first in the 2010 California governor's race to say he'll release his tax returns.”

While these are compelling arguments for Ms. Whitman to release such crucial information, equally important is the fact that Meg Whitman has a documented history of utilizing tax avoidance schemes.

In 2007, Meg Whitman’s charitable foundation sent several million dollars offshore, to Hedge Funds based in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

“The Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation in 2007…also invested $3 million in hedge funds based in the Cayman Islands — a Caribbean tax haven that's been the subject of political controversy…. ‘When you're a billionaire, you will do things with money that don't look so good when you're a political candidate,’ said John Pitney, a government and politics professor at Claremont McKenna College. ‘Even if they're totally ethical and lawful, they can still be embarrassing.’’”[Mercury News, 11/18/09]

“The foundation's tax returns also show $3 million invested in Cayman Island hedge funds and $1 million in another fund in Ireland. ‘If I were her investment adviser, I would have told her to avoid the offshore investment until she had figured out her political future,’ said Morris, the accountant….The Caymans have been a target of politicians in recent years. U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, recently introduced legislation seeking to rein in tax shelters in places such as the Caymans.”– [Mercury News, 11/6/09]

The filings can be found at: http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/208/208033091/208033091_200712_990PF.pdf

Here’s what they reveal:

In 2007 alone,Meg Whitman’s foundation invested $4 Million in Caribbean Tax Havens

$1 MILLION INVESTED IN ARCHIPELAGO HOLDINGS (Based in Bermuda)

According to information provided to the IRS by the Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation, the foundation transferred $1 million to Bermuda-based Archipelago Holdings, Ltd. on 9/28/07.

$1 MILLION INVESTED IN MASON CAPITAL, LTD. (Based In Cayman Islands)

According to information provided to the IRS by the Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation, the foundation transferred $1 million to Cayman Islands-based Mason Capital, Ltd. on 9/28/07.

$2 MILLION INVESTED IN TPG-AXON PARTNERS (OFFSHORE), LTD

According to information provided to the IRS by the Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation, the foundation transferred $2 million to Cayman Islands-based TPG-Axon Partners (Offshore) Ltd. on 5/1/07.

In 2007, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (7/6/07) discussed Offshore Hedge Funds Archipelago and Mason Capital, reporting:

“Between Sept. 28 and Sept. 30, 2004, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center transferred $55 million to investment funds in the Caribbean, more than half of the money destined for a Cayman Islands office building known as the Safehaven Corporate Centre.

“The transfers were part of $204.5 million sent by UPMC to sun-soaked, tax-friendly locations in the Caymans, the Virgin Islands or Bermuda during the fiscal year beginning July 2004 and ending June 2005, according to Internal Revenue Service records. Many of the funds were set up by private investment syndicates looking to avoid U.S. taxes.

“….In fact, nonprofit health-care providers, colleges and philanthropies with major endowments have spent the last decade or so steering large chunks of their portfolio away from the volatile U.S. stock market and into less traditional investments — particularly private equity and hedge funds, thousands of which are registered hundreds of miles south of Miami, in the Caribbean. Thanks to a loophole in the tax code, which is now under examination by Congress and soon could be eliminated, there are tax benefits to the offshore strategy…”

“Investing in a U.S.-based hedge fund — which typically borrows against the investors' kitty, using the original investment plus the leveraged money to play for big short-term gains — normally would subject a nonprofit to something called the ‘unrelated business income tax.’

“….But by investing offshore, nonprofits are able to escape that tax — for now. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is considering a proposal that would tax the dividends from offshore hedge fund investments, which, if implemented, would significantly lower the nonprofits' hedge fund returns.‘It's troubling that some nonprofits are part of that game,’ Sen. Charles Grassely [sic] of Iowa, the senior Republican on the committee, said recently.

“….In its most recent filing, [Pitt] reported, among other transfers, having sent $3 million to Archipelago Holdingsin Bermuda, $3.5 million to Beacon International in Bermuda, $3.5 million to Bermuda's March International, and $12.5 million to Mason Capital Ltd. in the Caymans.” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 6, 2007]

The Associated Press reported on 2/18/10:

“Thousands of international companies and hedge funds have traditionally been incorporated in offshore financial centers in the Caribbean and elsewhere, drawn by low tax rates and banking rules and legal systems that make it easy to move capital around the globe. But U.S. and European lawmakers and regulators are weighing a number of proposals aimed at cracking down on abuses and collecting more tax revenue from multinational operations…. The Cayman Islands, which lie 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Cuba, does not directly tax any of the roughly 80,000 companies registered there, and has no income tax or capital gains tax. Its offshore financial services sector accounts for about half of the islands' economy.”

Meg Whitman must release her income tax returns and prove to the people of this state that she is not trying to dodge paying her fair share in taxes by continuing to stash her millions in places offshore, like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.