Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina says there’s a “higher than 90 percent” chance that she will run for president in 2016.
The Republican contender for U.S. Senate from California in 2010 says she’s looking to announce her run for the White House later this month or in early May.
“I have a deep understanding of how the economy actually works, having started as a secretary and become the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world,” Fiorina said on “Fox News Sunday,” when asked why Republican voters should choose her out of a crowded field.
“Because I understand how the world works and know many of the world leaders on the stage today. Because I understand technology, a transformational tool. Because I understand bureaucracies, how they work and how you need to change them, and our government is a huge bureaucracy. And because I understand executive decision-making, which is making tough calls in tough times with high states for which you’re prepared to be held accountable.”
Fiorina, 60, who lost her 2010 bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, may be competing for the Republican nomination against Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who kicked off his campaign last week; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the son and brother of presidents; Sen. Marco Rubio, also of Florida; and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, just to name a few possible challengers.
She was CEO of Hewlett Packard from 1999 to 2005, a role that made her one of the most powerful women in business and technology in the world. She oversaw the company during the bursting of the “dot-com bubble” and its takeover of rival Compaq, which she pushed through despite stiff opposition from one of the heirs of the Hewlett family.
The company’s stock price also took a big hit during her tenure, and Fiorina was pushed out as CEO in 2005, taking with her a severance deal reported to be worth $20 million and derided by critics as a “golden parachute.”
Fox host Chris Wallace questioned her about her track record as head of HP, pointing out that the company laid off thousands of U.S. workers and moved jobs overseas during her tenure — criticisms similar to those levied in 2012 against Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney regarding his time as an executive at a private equity firm.
“I’m very proud of our record,” at HP, Fiorina replied. She said she led the firm through “the worst technology recession in 25 years.”
“Laying people off is the last resort. It’s a terrible thing to have to do,” she told Wallace. “Sometimes there are tough calls that need to be made for the overall health of the enterprise.” She said she turned HP “into an exceedingly successful company” where jobs grew overall.
The businesswoman also used her Fox appearance to criticize possible Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton. She described as “ridiculous” Clinton’s claims that erased emails on a private email server were personal in nature and not regarding public business.
The former secretary of state “lacks a track record of accomplishment,” Fiorina said. “She is not candid, which suggests her character is flawed, and I think now, in ‘Email-Gate,’ we not only have situation where she’s clearly not being candid — I mean, her saying that all of those emails she erased are just she and [former President] Bill [Clinton] chatting a little bit like Richard Nixon saying that those erased moments on the tape were he and [first lady] Pat [Nixon] talking. That’s ridiculous. Of course there was more there than that.”
As for what she would change if she were president, Fiorina said many people are “tangled people up in a web of dependence,” and that the country is “crushing small businesses now.”
“Elizabeth Warren is right — crony capitalism is alive and well,” Fiorina said, speaking of the Democratic U.S. senator from Massachusetts who has been an ardent critic of Wall Street.
Fiorina called for the implementation of zero-based budgeting in the federal government as a way to limit spending and the institution of a pay-for-performance system for civil servants.
“How many inspector general reports do we need to read that say you can watch porn all day long and get paid exactly the same way as somebody that’s trying to do their job?” she asked.
This story originally published at 10:31 a.m. and has been updated since that time.
