Senate candidate Fiorina says stimulus fails to create jobs; Urges greater focus on growth

Fiorina declares stimulus program a failure

WASHINGTON — Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina said Thursday the federal government’s $862 billion stimulus package did little for job-creation.

The former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co., told ABC’s “Good Morning America,” she believes the Obama administration’s stimulus policy has been a failure and that it must work harder to ease double-digit unemployment.

Fiorina is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in a state with 12.4 percent unemployment. Fiorina said Friday that passing stimulus legislation “isn’t the way to create jobs.” Instead, she would offer tax breaks to companies that hire unemployed workers.

In response, Boxer’s campaign criticized Fiorina’s tenure as CEO at Hewlett-Packard. The company laid off thousands of workers during her stint.

“Carly Fiorina wasn’t on the side of California’s working families at HP, and she isn’t on the side of California’s working families now,” said Boxer campaign manager Rose Kapolczynski.

Federal data analyzed by The Associated Press show that Hewlett-Packard has been paid $22.5 million so far in stimulus money distributed to cities, school districts, hospitals and universities across the country. Fiorina has not been with the company for more than five years, and her campaign said the funding was no indication of the program’s success.