Fmr. HP CEO Fiorina to run for U.S. Senate

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Carly Fiorina said Wednesday she is running for the Republican nomination to battle liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer for her U.S. Senate seat.

Fiorina ended months of speculation with an announcement in an opinion piece in the Orange County Register. She was scheduled to make a formal announcement later in the day in Garden Grove.

Her entry into the race could present California’s junior senator with her most formidable re-election challenge, but Fiorina first would have to survive a primary against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has worked feverishly over the past year to court GOP voters.

“For many years I felt disconnected from the decisions made in Washington and, to be honest, really didn’t think my vote mattered because I didn’t have a direct line of sight from my vote to a result. I realize that thinking was wrong,” Fiorina wrote in her opinion piece.

“I now understand, in a very real way, that the decisions made by the Senate impact every family and every business, of any size, in America. This is what motivates me to run for the U.S. Senate,” she wrote.

Fiorina echoed standard Republican complaints that the government taxes, spends and regulates too much.

“Let’s put every government budget and every government bill on the Internet for every citizen to see,” she wrote.

“Tax, spend and borrow is not a governing philosophy; it’s a cycle of dependency and it is one that must be broken,” Fiorina wrote. “Washington must show the discipline to cut spending and create policies that encourage and empower businesses to put people back to work.”

Fiorina, who recently completed breast cancer treatment, also called for health care reform — but not in the form of a national health system.

She instead suggested expanding community clinic access and putting stricter restrictions on medical malpractice lawsuits.

The 55-year-old former Silicon Valley executive served as economic adviser to John McCain’s failed presidential bid last year, a position that elevated her national profile. Before that, she had a public falling out with HP board members, who fired her in 2005 after she pushed through the company’s acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. in a deal that caused job losses and reduced HP’s value. The company has since rebounded, but opinions differ over how much credit Fiorina deserves for that.

On the way out, Fiorina received a $21 million severance package — a cash cushion that has made Boxer’s team nervous.

Even before her announcement, Boxer used the threat of a Fiorina candidacy to boost her own fundraising, collecting $1.6 million in the last quarter and reporting $6.3 million in the bank last month.

“This could be the toughest Boxer campaign yet. Fiorina received more than $100 million as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and that kind of personal wealth could buy a massive campaign,” Rose Kapolczynski, a spokeswoman for Boxer’s re-election campaign, said Wednesday.

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