Replies to post #158336 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

Report Cites Women’s Claims of Inappropriate Acts by Cain

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR October 30, 2011, 9:02 pm

9:07 p.m. | Updated Two women who worked with Herman Cain at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s complained of sexually suggestive behavior by him and later took financial payments before leaving the organization, according to a report by Politico on Sunday night.

The report comes as Mr. Cain continues to lead his rivals in national polls and in voter surveys in states that vote early in the Republican nominating fight. He was tied with Mitt Romney in this weekend’s Iowa poll by The Des Moines Register.

Mr. Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza, has no experience with political office. But his straight-talking approach and simple “9-9-9? tax plan has caught the imagination of many conservatives in the Republican primary.

In recent days, though, news organizations have begun digging into his record and his past. A New York Times article last week painted a picture of a campaign in some chaos, with aides being told to speak to Mr. Cain only when spoken to.

The Politico report alleges that at least two female employees of the restaurant lobbying organization had complained to colleagues and to senior officials there about inappropriate behavior by Mr. Cain.

Politico said it had determined the identities of the two women but declined to name them for reasons of “privacy concerns.”

J.D. Gordon, the vice president for communications for Mr. Cain’s presidential campaign, e-mailed a statement to The New York Times on Sunday night accusing “inside the Beltway” media of making unsubstantiated personal attacks on Mr. Cain.

“Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the Chief Executive Officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts,” Mr. Gordon said in the e-mail. “Since Washington establishment critics haven’t had much luck in attacking Mr. Cain’s ideas to fix a bad economy and create jobs, they are trying to attack him in any way they can.”

Politico reported that a spokesman for Mr. Cain said he was “vaguely familiar” with the matter and that it had been resolved by the association’s top lawyer.

The site quoted the same spokesman as later saying that “These are old and tired allegations that never stood up to the facts. This was settled amicably among all parties many years ago, and dredging this up now is merely part of a smear campaign meant to discredit a true patriot who is shaking up the political status quo.”

The Web site said Mr. Cain was asked about the charges on Sunday as he left the Washington bureau of CBS News, where he had appeared on “Face the Nation.” Politico reported that he said, “I am not going to comment on that.” When asked whether he had ever been accused of harassment, the Web site reported that he said, “Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?”

The report by Politico cites documents describing the accusations as well as unnamed sources who said they were familiar with the situation and its legal resolution.


http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/report-cites-womens-claims-of-inappropriate-acts-by-cain/?ref=politics

[PegnVA]

Herman Cain is clearly not ready for prime time. According to POLITICO's Jonathan Martin in an interview on NPR this morning, POLITICO first approached Cain's campaign four months ago and asked for clarification of the rumor that Cain sexually harrassed 2 females in the National Restaurant Association, which he lead and they worked; the females left the Association with an separation package. Cain's campaign never responded to POLITICO's inquiry, so after Cain left Sunday morning's FACE THE NATION studio, Jonathan Martin asked Cain if he was ever charged with sexual harrassmant...according to Martin on NPR this morning, he asked Cain this question four times and on the 4th try Cain turned to Martin and said, "have YOU?" - still never answering the question. NPR reported Cain was on FOX last night and the question was again raised - again Cain did not answer.

Cain is on a nat'l tour to sell his book/s and increase speaking fees - he had no idea HIS life would become an open book!

Reports continue to circulate that Cain, like Palin/Gingrich/ Santorum/Huckabee/Sanford and other Repub losers will get a spot on FOX after the Repub primaries...Claims of sexual harrassment by Herman Cain will not prevent him from being hired by FOX - South Carolina's former married gov Mark Sanford, who was forced to resign in disgrace after the disclosure of his affair with a Brazilian female, was recently signed by FOX to do election commentary.