Not again.

From Zoe Baird to Michael Huffington to Bernie Kerik, the political class can’t seem to follow the same tax and immigration laws everyone else is required to follow when it comes to hiring and paying their household help. Tim Geithner got away with it. But as the links above show (and it’s by no means a comprehensive list), there’s a long history of candidates and nominees torpedoed over their failures to cross the t’s and dot the i’s at home.

So, what was Meg Whitman thinking?

A former housekeeper for Meg Whitman claims the Republican governor candidate knew she was an illegal immigrant but continued to employ her, according to her attorney Gloria Allred.

Allred said Whitman caused the worker to “feel exploited, disrespected, humiliated, and emotionally and financially abused.” The worker alleges Whitman knew she was here illegally but did not act on it until she decided to run for governor last year.

The Whitman campaign claims the housekeeper lied to the GOP candidate in 2000.

But the housekeeper says Whitman knew her illegal status in 2003 or 2005, when the Social Security Administration sent a red-flag no-match letter. Whitman didn’t fire her until 2009, when she decided to run for office, according to the housekeeper.

Yes, Gloria Allred is a crapweasel. But an SSN no-match letter usually speaks for itself. And if Whitman did in fact receive the no-match letter in 2003/2005, her credibility goes out the window.

The California Republican Party has already had its share of open-borders debacles. The scandal will only serve to spotlight Whitman’s politically expedient flip-flops and double-talk on immigration.

Heckuva job, California Pubbies!

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Guy Benson at Town Hall has more on Whitman’s side of the story.

Yes, it’s politically timed.

Yes, I repeat: Gloria Allred is a crapweasel.

Yes, it’s absurd for the housekeeper who stayed on for nine years at $23/hour to complain about being “abused.”

But the question remains: Did Whitman receive a red-flag no-match letter years (update: *or was she shown a DECOR no-match letter sent to the maid by SSA*) before she fired this woman or not?

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One last point: If you think I’m saying Jerry Moonbeam Brown is preferable to Whitman, you think wrong. What I am saying is that we should be honest about how careless and lame both of these chucklehead candidates have been (need a refresher on Whitman’s gushing over Van Jones? Here.)

The long-term solution: Grass-roots conservatives need to start grooming and fielding serious local and state candidates NOW who can provide better choices in the future.