What the 'Can't win' are doing..

Washington firm pitching Fiorina for paid speeches

By Nick Gass

Carly Fiorina has a pretty packed campaign schedule, but she is also available for speaking engagements — on a limited basis, that is, according to an email sent by the speaking firm that represents the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive.

"I wanted to send you a quick, private note about Carly Fiorina. Though she maintains an active campaign calendar, she has limited availability for speaking engagements," an official at the Washington-based firm Leading Authorities Inc. wrote in an email that was forwarded to various media outlets on Tuesday.

The email touts Fiorina as "the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company, a best-selling author, and the only female candidate for the 2016 Republican nomination for president. Her presentation is a common-sense, solutions-oriented, and optimistic look at what Washington can learn from corporate America and how we can fix our current political climate. (Start laughing here) Our clients have said that she is fabulous and incredibly accommodating. Even the New York Times said, 'No matter who was in the crowd…Mrs. Fiorina would find a way to connect [with her audience].'"

The New York Times mention was a reference to an article published Monday that delved into Fiorina's "contradictory" career at Hewlett-Packard and included partial text of a memo written by a company employee about how to draft her speeches.

The solicitation continued: "We don’t advertise Carly on the Leading Authorities website, but if you have an interest in booking her for an upcoming meeting or event, please let me know and I’d be happy to share her availability and fees."

The chief operating officer at Leading Authorities, Inc., declined to provide that information to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the email Tuesday.

"There’s a number of people that we work with who are happy to entertain speaking engagements but aren’t for whatever reason being publicly promoted,” COO Matthew Jones told the Journal. "It’s not at all uncommon that they continue to do this while they run."

Campaign spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores told the Journal that Fiorina has not accepted any paid speaking engagements since May. “We aren’t accepting any requests during the campaign,” she said.