Whitman Had Physical Altercation With eBay Employee in 2007, Report Claims

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Whitman Had Physical Altercation With eBay Employee in 2007, Report Claims

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/15/whitman-physical-altercation-ebay-employee-report-claims/

Published June 15, 2010 | Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The campaign of California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is responding to a published report that claims she had an altercation with an eBay employee three years ago.

The confrontation led to a confidential settlement between eBay and the employee, who remains with the company. Whitman was eBay's CEO at the time.

The New York Times posted a story to its website Monday based on anonymous sources. It says that in June 2007, Whitman pushed the employee, Young Mi Kim, who was helping her prepare for a media interview.

The story says the employee threatened to sue but later agreed to a mediated settlement.

Whitman campaign spokeswoman Sarah Pompei issued a statement defending the Republican candidate as a "results-focused boss." She says it is not unusual to have a "verbal dispute in a high-pressure working environment."

[saltpoint]

1. Meg's been in touch with her inner cave woman for some time now.

Meg push people.

Meg buy it now.

[leftofcool]

2. Mega-tron is toast!

[Mimosa]

3. Meg has a mean face even when she smiles. n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. This won't hurt her campaign. n/t

[Amerigo Vespucci]

5. I've got to agree with that...

...I think the public knows who Whitman and Fiorina are, and they're in the race anyway, "in spite of it" or "because of it," and I don't think either woman has any surprises for us.

[tularetom]

7. True, but if a history of incidents like this becomes public

it demonstrates a side of whitman that will turn off undecided voters.

She appears to be quite a nasty piece of work, as well as being fugly.

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. Who is it going to turn off?

If anything, it'll attract some female swing voters who harbor revenge fantasies.

[Enrique]

11. she's running for Governator after all n/t

[Amerigo Vespucci]

6. The settlement was $200K...

Meg Whitman Shoves An Employee, Pays A $200,000 Settlement (Allegedly)

Nicholas Carlson, provided by

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/06/15/businessinsider-meg-whitman-allegedly-shoved-employee-paid-a-200000-severance-2010-6.DTL



Former eBay CEO and current California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman paid a ~$200,000 settlement to an eBay employee she once shoved named Young Mi Kim.

Here's the blow-by-blow from the June 7, 2007 incident, as reported in the New York Times this morning:

Ms. Kim was briefing Ms. Whitman for interview that morning by writing talking points on the whiteboard in Ms. Whitman’s personal conference room at eBay’s headquarters in San Jose, Calif.

Ms. Whitman became angry with Ms. Kim before the interview, partly because Ms. Whitman felt unprepared for the conversation with Reuters.

Ms. Kim later told at least one colleague that Ms. Whitman used an expletive and shoved her. Ms. Whitman said that she had physically guided Ms. Kim out of the conference room.

Young Mi Kim quit eBay for a couple months, but after some professional mediation (and a settlement sources tell the Times was “around $200,000") Young came back to the company and continues to work there to this day.

She's still a loyal flack good with a quote, too. Here's what Young told the Times:

“Yes, we had an unfortunate incident, but we resolved it in a way that speaks well for her and for eBay, and ultimately, I came back to the company, which is not something I had to do.”

Perhaps panicking at the news, Young deleted her professional profile from LinkedIn. But there's still a Google cache:

[blondeatlast]

9. That's pretty damn sizable. Obviously more than a little shove. nt

[Bitwit1234]

8. So in her case verbal means releasing enough hot air to

send an employee flying across the room. ALL I CAN SAY IS "REPORTERS AND THE PUBLIC" stay out of her way.

[gratuitous]

12. Classic non-denial denial

Of course it's not unusual to have a verbal dispute in a high-pressure working environment. But that's not what Meg (or more accurately, eBay, because you know not one dime came out of Meg's Louis Vuitton) is supposed to have done. There's a big difference between yelling "You stupid bimbo" and laying your hands on someone. By a factor of about eight. And Ms. Kim knows whereon the bread be buttered, and will say nothing to jeopardize either her confidential settlement or her current sinecure.