In order to give more attention to GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina’s personal story from climbing the ladder from a secretary to a CEO, CARLY for America—the super PAC supporting Fiorina—launched a documentary, “Citizen Carly,” about Fiorina’s life so voters can get to know the only female GOP candidate running for president.
“Only a small portion of the country knows who Carly is, and those who know something know very little. This is the true and full story. Not through the lens of liberal reporters, but through the lens of the people who have known her for decades,” stated CARLY for America’s Executive Director Steve DeMaura.
A packed theater in Arlington, Virginia, full of GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina’s family and supporters screened “Citizen Carly” on Tuesday. Breitbart News attended the screening.
Katie Hughes, who helped organize the premier of “Citizen Carly,” told Breitbart News, “We’re just really hoping that people learn a lot more about Carly and understand the true breadth and depth of her leadership experiences, whether it’s her career at HP or whether it’s leading domestic and international non-profit organizations.”
Chairman at the American Conservative Union Matt Schlapp was in attendance and spoke about Fiorina to Breitbart News.
I feel like I have a special relationship with her because I worked so closely with her as the ACU Chairman, she was our Organizational Chairman. Like every organization does, we’ve had real struggles and she’s such a great colleague to work with. She’s uber smart, very hard working, she doesn’t think she’s too good to get in there, roll up her sleeves, get dirty, and get the job done.
Schlapp added, “I’ve got to see the kind of person she is, and I think America is getting to see that person as well.”
Fiorina’s campaign manager Frank Sadler and his wife Kelly Sadler were also in attendance, along with Fiorina’s husband Frank Fiorina.
“She feeds off the energy from all of the supporters she’s getting… so thank you so much,” Fiorina’s husband told the audience, as he introduced his daughter and granddaughter before the documentary began.
“Citizen Carly” started with a montage of news soundbites from journalists describing Fiorina, moving to a black screen with text that read, “This is her story.”
Then, a montage of conservative leaders’ soundbites about Fiorina began, one saying she “insisted on being fired” rather than taking an early retirement when she was pushed out of Hewlett Packard, others called her “generous” and said she is “standing up” for the people.
The documentary takes the viewer through Fiorina’s life, from her childhood to her most recent endeavor, running for President of the United States.
Fiorina’s father was a professor and her mother was an artist. Her beginnings were described as “humble” in the documentary. “He’d been a Democrat until FDR,” Fiorina stated in the documentary about her father, saying he switched to being a Republican once he saw the government was taking over everything.
“I’ve been a conservative all my life,” she added.
While growing up, Fiorina’s family moved quite a bit. She’s lived in New York, Connecticut, California, London, and Ghana, where her father taught the new Ghana Constitution. “You couldn’t help but be impacted by that,” Fiorina said of the people in Ghana talking about the hope for their country.
Fiorina went to Stanford University and later was admitted to MIT’s prestigious Sloan Fellowship Program.
“I was just trying to do a good job,” Fiorina, who later became the CEO of Hewlett Packard (HP), said of working in the world of business, not necessarily focused on climbing up ladder.
Her husband, Frank Fiorina, was a former tow truck driver and put himself through school. He comes from a large Italian family where Fiorina described their family gatherings as, “controlled pandemonium at all times.” Fiorina married her husband who had already had two daughters from a previous marriage.
“I could not love them any better if I had born them myself,” Fiorina said of her two stepdaughters, calling them “blessings.”
She said it meant a lot that Frank appreciated her brain, “as a young woman coming up in a man’s world.”
Tom Perkins, who was on the board of HP when Fiorina was CEO, said Fiorina was angry that two board members leaked information to the Wall Street Journal and the press, so Fiorina called out the members for breaking their fiduciary duty.
“It came to a showdown,” Perkins explained of the infamous boardroom brawl Fiorina has talked about during her campaign when questioned about her record at HP.
“Board said our way or no way,” Perkins added.
“I’m somewhat ashamed to say,” Perkins said, after admitting he voted with the majority of the board to fire Fiorina.
After being let go from HP, the documentary shows a clip of Fiorina speaking at a commencement speech giving advice to young graduates. “Don’t sell your soul along the way,” Fiorina said.
Republican leaders in California later came to Fiorina encouraging her to run against Democrat Barbara Boxer in the 2010 Senate race. However, the day Fiorina planned on making her 2010 announcement, she stopped at her doctor’s office and that’s when she was told she had cancer.
Her plans to announce her Senate run were put on pause for a while, but despite fighting cancer, she did in fact decide to run against Boxer.
The same year Fiorina battled cancer, her stepdaughter Lori Ann Fiorina lost her battle with addiction.
“Ultimately they have to save themselves,” Fiorina said, referencing putting someone into treatment for addiction.
Near the end of the documentary, Fiorina is shown doing charity work as she is involved with many nonprofit initiatives, and she said Republicans tend to talk about policy because it is supported by facts, but sometimes policy doesn’t land in someone’s life.
“Citizen Carly” is being premiered in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina later this week. It will be available online at a later date.
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