--- description: Several staffers have spoken out, claiming they were paid years late and plan to steer clear of Fiorina's current presidential campaign title: 'I’d Rather Go to Iraq than Work for Carly Fiorina' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe26b8abe5012790/6987ee8706f2c1317d338184/carly-fiorina1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Management](/tag/management/) ## Management Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Ex-Staffer: 'I’d Rather Go to Iraq than Work for Carly Fiorina' by [Scott Olster](/author/scott-olster/) ## Scott Olster Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 21, 2015 3:47 PM CUT  Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina speaks at TechCrunchÕs Disrupt conference on May 5, 2015 in New York City. Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina speaks at TechCrunchÕs Disrupt conference on May 5, 2015 in New York City.Andrew Burton—Getty Images by [Scott Olster](/author/scott-olster/) ## Scott Olster Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 21, 2015 3:47 PM CUT Carly Fiorina apparently left a trail of unpaid, unhappy campaign staffers after her unsuccessful 2010 U.S. Senate bid. According to [Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/21/us-usa-election-fiorina-idUSKBN0O60FV20150521 "undefined"), the former HP CEO and 2016 Republican presidential hopeful waited more than four years to give her campaign staff the compensation they were promised. “Federal campaign filings show that, until a few months before Fiorina announced her presidential bid on May 4, she still owed staffers, consultants, strategists, legal experts and vendors nearly half a million dollars,” Reuters reported. Twelve ex-Fiorina campaign workers told Reuters that, if given the chance to work Fiorina again, they’d rather not. One anonymous senior staffer reportedly said they’d prefer to be sent to Iraq. Ouch. To be sure, political campaigns often spend beyond their means and end up not having the funds to pay their staff. In many cases, the candidates themselves wind up footing the bill. In the end, Fiorina’s staffers got their paychecks. [Fiorina’s tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard](http://fortune.com/2011/08/21/why-carlys-big-bet-is-failing-fortune-classics-2005/ "undefined") was particularly tumultuous and involved significant boardroom tension and a massive, strained merger with hardware giant Compaq. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3892567/ex-staffer-id-rather-go-to-iraq-than-work-for-carly-fiorina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3892567/ex-staffer-id-rather-go-to-iraq-than-work-for-carly-fiorina/"},"headline":"Ex-Staffer: 'I’d Rather Go to Iraq than Work for Carly Fiorina'","datePublished":"2015-05-21T15:47:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:32:18.489Z","description":"Ex-staffers have harsh words for Republican presidential candidate","url":"https://time.com/3892567/ex-staffer-id-rather-go-to-iraq-than-work-for-carly-fiorina/","keywords":["Management","politics","Leadership","presidential election","Carly Fiorina"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe26b8abe5012790/6987ee8706f2c1317d338184/carly-fiorina1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Scott Olster","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/scott-olster/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe26b8abe5012790/6987ee8706f2c1317d338184/carly-fiorina1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina speaks at TechCrunchÕs Disrupt conference on May 5, 2015 in New York City.","caption":"Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina speaks at TechCrunchÕs Disrupt conference on May 5, 2015 in New York City.","creditText":"Andrew Burton—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/management/","name":"Management"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3892567/ex-staffer-id-rather-go-to-iraq-than-work-for-carly-fiorina/","name":"Ex-Staffer: 'I’d Rather Go to Iraq than Work for Carly Fiorina'"}}]}] ```