This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina told a crowd of Utah supporters Friday that she is the one candidate in the GOP field who can beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton by stripping away her support among female voters and beating the Democrat with her record.
Fiorina spoke to a group of about 80 donors and supporters in her second trip to Utah since becoming a candidate for the White House. She spoke about shrinking the government and touted her foreign-policy experience at the event, which was closed to the media.
"I'd support Carly if her name was Carly or Carl. She is fantastic and she also happens to be a woman," said Sen. Deidre Henderson, R-Spanish Fork. "She is willing to call Hillary Clinton out on her lies, her deceitfulness, her lack of accountability, and not sidestep those issues."
Attendees paid $1,000 per person to attend a luncheon in a private Salt Lake City residence with the candidate, and a smaller group paid $2,700 for a VIP reception with the former Hewlett Packard CEO.
Fiorina discussed a charity she runs, Opportunity International, which provides micro- loans of about $150 to women around the world to start businesses and, Henderson said, told supporters that it had unlocked people's potential around the world, just like she hopes to do in the United States by shrinking the government.
Fiorina said big businesses that can afford armies of accountants, lobbyists and lawyers can deal with government regulations or have them changed, but it's small companies that bear the brunt of the burden. Fiorina said she would shrink the government by attrition, refusing to fill government jobs when the wave of baby boomers retires.
The candidate touted her international experience and relationships with world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, developed during her time as a CEO and also through consulting she did for the CIA and other government agencies, said Adrielle Herring, who is volunteering to organize Fiorina's campaign in Utah.
"Nobody else has the foreign-policy experience [Fiorina] does," Herring said." Nobody understands the economy ... like she does."
That includes Clinton, the former secretary of state, according to Fiorna, who said Clinton was short on accomplishments during her tenure.
Twitter: @RobertGehrke