Published: 03 November, 2011, 19:54
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain (AFP Photo / Alex Wong)
TAGS: Crime, Scandal, Politics, Sex, Corruption, USA, Employment, Culture
A third woman in less than a week has come forth with allegations that GOP candidate Herman Cain exhibited unwanted behavior towards her in the past.
The latest incident, revealed by The Associated Press, suggests that the former pizzaman was inappropriately aggressive towards a female cohort that worked for the National Restaurant Association during his stint there as president in the 1990s. The woman, who offered her comments to the AP anonymously, says that Cain made sexually suggestive remarks to her and during one incident personally invited her back to Cain’s corporate apartment.
In other instances, alleges the former employee, Cain told her that he had confided in his colleagues how attractive he found her. Though the incidents are said to occur over a decade ago, now she claims she is weary of publically revealing her identity in fear of retaliation from Cain’s campaign.
Days before the latest allegations were made, it was revealed that at least two other female workers formerly employed by the National Restaurant Association complained about similar behavior from Cain during the 90s. Both women in those incidents were offered payouts by the NRA in exchange for resigning from their position and promising to remain mum on the manner.
As Cain’s campaign puts him at the top of the GOP frontrunners, however, allegations — even those made anonymously — have the power to possibly sideline the Republican’s run for the party’s nomination.
With allegations of sexual harassment leaving a mark on Cain’s campaign as he surges in the polls, he has rebutted this week by not offering up much on the matter — other than it is all Rick Perry’s fault.
To Forbes on Wednesday, Cain accused Curt Anderson, a former consultant, of leaking information pertaining to the claims to Perry’s camp; Anderson currently serves as an advisor to Governor Perry.
The same day, Mark Block, Cain’s chief of staff, told Fox News that he was “absolutely” accusing Perry’s campaign for trying to take down Cain.
"The actions of the Perry campaign are despicable,” said Block.
Anderson denied any involvement in the smear campaign, and Ray Sullivan, campaign communications director for Governor Perry, was quick to call out Cain for starting this rivalry himself.
"For a candidate and campaign claiming to be victims of unfounded and unproven accusations, they are awfully quick to hurl unfounded accusations themselves. Contrary to the Cain campaign's false accusations, there is not one shred of evidence that any member of the Perry campaign had anything to do with the recent stories regarding Herman Cain – because it isn't true. We first learned of the Cain accusations when we read the story in the news," Sullivan said in a memo to the press.
Who did uncover the smoking bullet then? Sullivan suggested it was Mitt Romney’s camp, revealing to CBS News that the National Restaurant Association is a big donor to Romney’s campaign.
"There are much closer connections between the Restaurant Association, Cain and the Romney camp than there are with us," said Sullivan.
Additionally, Chris Wilson, a former staff member of the NRA, told an Oklahoma radio station this week that he personally saw Cain sexually harass a woman at a Virginia restaurant during the same era. To KTOK, Wilson said he could not discuss the specifics but that if he could, “it'll be the end of his campaign."
Berated with reporters as he walked out of a meeting in suburban DC yesterday, Cain erupted on members of the press and refused to comment on the scandals.
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Anonymous moved from targeting Wall Street, corrupt governments and corporate sites last month. The latest attack from the hacking collective rather was directed at an unaware group that navigated the web for child porn assumingly undetected.
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