UPDATE 8:30 p.m: Whitman says she fired her housekeeper in June 2009 as soon as Whitman found out she was in the country illegally. Whitman denies that she ever abused the woman. She had hired Nicky Diaz Santillan as a housekeeper nine years earlier.

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California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman now faces a political firestorm after her former housekeeper alleged Wednesday morning that she had been mistreated during her nine years as Whitman's employee.

Nicky Diaz Santillan, the reportedly undocumented housekeeper, enlisted the services of attorney Gloria Allred to hold a press conference describing "how she suffered as a long-time, Latina household employee in Meg Whitman's home."

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