Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Meg Whitman, California's Republican nominee for governor, denied Thursday ever seeing a letter from the federal government questioning her former housekeeper's Social Security number. Whitman said she would be willing to take a polygraph test, to prove that she was "really stunned" to learn just last year that Nicky Diaz Santillan was an undocumented worker. Lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents Santillan, on Thursday released a copy of a 2003 letter from the Social Security Administration that she called "the smoking gun or smoking document" to prove Whitman knew her housekeeper was working illegally in the United States.
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NEW: Lawyer shows a 2003 letter she calls the "smoking document"
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NEW: Former housekeeper says note on the letter was Whitman's husband's handwriting
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Meg Whitman denies she or her husband ever saw the federal letter
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The California GOP nominee for governor calls it a "political smear"
"Make no mistake, these allegations are completely untrue they lack any merit whatsoever," @placeholder said Thursday.