Whitman's maid story was pushed by nurses union

One of the most tantalizing mysteries in California's 2010 gubernatorial election involved the connection between one of the state's poorest women and one of its wealthiest.

How did an undocumented, Mexican-born housekeeper, Nicandra Diaz Santillan, end up in the national spotlight, boldly confronting her former boss, billionaire GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman?

The short answer: with the help of a union.

The longer answer is that at the height of the gubernatorial race, as campaign ads blared on Spanish-language television, the aggrieved housekeeper was determined to tell Californians her story of being abruptly fired by Whitman after nearly a decade on the job.

In early September, Diaz turned to a friend who knew a member of the powerful, Oakland-based California Nurses Association, The Chronicle has learned.

The union called in two lawyers for Diaz: Marc Van Der Hout, a longtime immigration attorney in San Francisco, and celebrity feminist attorney Gloria Allred, a fierce workplace rights litigator who arranged for Diaz to tell her story in a live-webcast news conference.

Asked to confirm her organization's role in Diaz's case, Rose Ann DeMoro, the nurses union executive director, said Monday, "I won't deny it, but I prefer not to comment directly on the case."

Whitman, a former eBay CEO, has alleged that Diaz was used by unions backing her Democratic opponent, Jerry Brown, and engaged in "the politics of personal destruction." Her campaign said the California Nurses Association's role was suspected after its spokesman, Chuck Idelson, turned up at a widely watched Diaz news conference - and refused comment on the matter.

But several sources close to the matter, speaking on condition that they not be named, have now confirmed the union's role in Diaz's emergence, a moment labor leaders hailed as a watershed in the immigrant-rights movement - and political opponents have called a classic campaign dirty trick.

The housekeeper and mother of three would not comment for this story, and has not given interviews to the news media outside of the news conferences at Allred's side.

Devastated by dismissal

But sources familiar with the matter say Diaz, a Union City resident who has lived in the country for more than a decade, was emotionally and financially devastated by her sudden firing by Whitman in 2009, for whom she had worked since 2000.

Diaz made her decision to come forward with her story as Whitman's gubernatorial campaign was in high gear; the wealthy candidate, who touted herself as "tough as nails" on illegal immigration before the June primary, had blanketed the airwaves with millions of dollars in ads through the summer of 2010 - including ads on Spanish-language television.

But in the same period, the California Nurses Association - which endorsed Brown - mounted Spanish-language ads likening Whitman's immigration policy to former Gov. Pete Wilson's, and portraying Whitman as the wealthy "Queen Meg" candidate trying to "buy" California. At one point, the union sent 1,500 nurses to march outside the same Atherton mansion where Diaz had worked.

Wanted representation

Diaz "was aware of us, and our protests of Whitman," said one union insider closely involved with the issue. "She wanted legal representation - and she wanted justice. She wanted to be able to tell her story."

One union insider said the first reaction to news that one of Whitman's former housekeepers wanted to go public was an elated "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

But, "we were concerned about her immigration status - and concerned about her," the source said.

Diaz was carefully vetted and interviewed by union insiders, and counseled "for days" regarding the implications of going public as an undocumented worker, sources said.

But "she really wanted to do it," said one source. "She was like steel."

Diaz insisted Whitman always knew she was undocumented; she said Whitman had been contacted by government officials regarding problems with her Social Security number.

Whitman insisted she hired Diaz through an agency and always believed her to be a legal resident; when she learned she was not, she had no choice but to let her go, Whitman said.

But the nurses union leadership did for Diaz what Whitman did not - they got her legal help.

Diaz's emergence was a turning point in Whitman's ambitious 18-month gubernatorial campaign - one in which the candidate personally invested $145 million, and became the largest self-funded candidacy in American history.

News conference a factor

Pollsters say one key factor in helping to derail Whitman's carefully planned drive - and the resulting 13-point landslide victory for Brown - was Diaz herself.

In the housekeeper's tearful televised testimony during an explosive news conference at Allred's side - one of the most searing moments of the gubernatorial race - Diaz said she was treated "like garbage," and coldly fired after nine years with a voice mail message from Whitman: "You don't know me, and I don't know you."

Last week, Whitman and her husband, Dr. Griffith Harsh, agreed to pay $5,500 to close out Diaz's claim for unpaid back wages, though they admitted no guilt.

Even in the wake of calls by candidate Whitman and conservative pundits like Bill O'Reilly for her deportation, Diaz is now pursuing an application to become a permanent legal resident, Van Der Hout said last week.

Diaz "is not in hiding ... and she is not fearing arrest," he said. "She has a compelling case because of her long history in the United States and her family ties ... and I am optimistic that she will eventually obtain lawful status."

Labor groups have now begun a fund to help support the still-unemployed worker, and California Labor Federation head Art Pulaski recently hailed the undocumented housekeeper as a hero who might now serve as a galvanizing force in the movement for comprehensive immigration reform.

DeMoro, in an open letter to Diaz this month published by National Nurses United, publicly thanked the housekeeper for "your courage in taking a difficult stand that undoubtedly changed history."

E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle