Posted on 10/30/2011 7:06:28 PM PDT by markomalley
Herman Cain's campaign headquarters has released a response to a story, broken this evening on Politico, that in the 1990s two female employees of the National Restaurant Association "complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain," who at the time was head of the trade group.
Calling the story "thinly source allegations," Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon said: "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." Gordon did not address any of the specific allegations in the report. Asked for a more specific answer, the campaign did not provide details.
Here is Gordon's complete response:
Inside the Beltway media attacks Cain
Fearing the message of Herman Cain who is shaking up the political landscape in Washington, Inside the Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on 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.
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.
Sadly, we’ve seen this movie played out before – a prominent Conservative targeted by liberals simply because they disagree with his politics.
Mr. Cain -- and all Americans, deserve better.
Cain is likely to face questions about the matter on Monday. He is scheduled to appear at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington in the morning to discuss his 9-9-9 tax plan, and then speak -- and take questions -- at the National Press Club at lunch.
Are you a Perrybot or a Mittbot? It’s hard to keep up with you all.
I think we ought to study the facts before jumping to a conclusion.
This is what Politico says:
“The sources — which include the recollections of close associates and other documentation — describe episodes that left the women upset and offended. These incidents include conversations allegedly filled with innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature, taking place at hotels during conferences, at other officially sanctioned restaurant association events and at the association’s offices. There were also descriptions of physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable and that they regarded as improper in a professional relationship.”
Really? How the hell do you defend yourself against stuff like that. They’re basically saying “oh we can’t show or prove anything but it was harassment”
If that’s true, this is looking really bad for Cain.
Nonsense ... the Libs and/or Romney are behind this with the hopes of it being penned on Perry . It would serve to take out Romney’s two most likely opponents . Think outside the box ...
The is NO LOW that the lunatic fringe whacko liberal left wing won’t stoop to to discredit a respectable GOP/Tea Party candidate!!
Ref. Your Post #75: All I know is what I saw and heard with my own two ears a short while ago. People who are in his corner, Joe the Plumber, Mark Furhmann and Ann Coulter were all disappointed that he guy stone-walled. Not a good spokesman; he.
” I wanna see if these board execs can be traced to a campaign, or if they were just trying to extort more money out of him.”
From the article a lot of people in the industry and at the RGA knew about the accusations and the settlements.
The women probably told co workers at the time.
One woman’s new employer told Politico that he
knew about the settlement.
Politico has seen the legal settlement papers from the women themselves
and knows their names.
You can’t keep a lid on something like this when so many people
know about it and the women involved are willing to talk.
It made some of the women who witnessed it uncomfortable.
If I had to pay out every time I heard that I’d be under debtor’s prison. [Which I would bring back]
Gee did a coke can with a pubic hair on it show up in front them?
You’ve gotta add a pic with Zero riding the girl’s bicycle.
What is your proof that Perry is behind this? You evidently know something if you're willing to make this claim. We all know you wouldn't make such a serious claim without proof.
I wish this story were more exciting, but it so old and boring. There is no sex anywhere in this story.
Oh good grief. The long knives are out now!!
Can you say “nuisance suit?” Another story on this said that both the women settled for “five figure” sums (i.e., somewhere from $10k to $99k) and signed nondisclosure agreements. To me, that screams nuisance suit. Cain probably told the women, “My goodness, don’t you look pretty today!” Big whoop.
Sorry, I understand now that what I said was confusing. I like them both equally. What I should have said was they’re the only two I can get excited about.
that’s nothing....I hear another guy running for president used to hang out with domestic terrorists!
Good points by Robert Stacey McCain tonight:
You have to read pretty far down into the Politico story before you find that response from Herman Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon, and the article sticks all the exculpatory material at the end:
______
Ron Magruder, Denise Marie Fugo and Joseph Fassler, the chair, vice chair and immediate past chairman of the National Restaurant Association board of directors at the time of Cain’s departure, said they hadn’t heard about any complaints regarding Cain making unwanted advances.
“I have never heard that. It would be news to me,” said Fugo, who runs a Cleveland, Ohio, catering company, adding such behavior would be totally out of character for the Cain she knew. “He’s very gracious.”
Fassler, who helped bring Cain on board as CEO of the restaurant association, said that any inappropriate behavior was not brought to his attention and that he would be upset to learn it had gone on and he was not made aware of it.
“That’s a shock to me,” Fassler said. “As an officer during all of Herman’s years there as a paid executive… none of that stuff ever surfaced to me. Nobody ever called me, complained about this, nor did I ever hear that from Peter Kilgore, nor did I ever hear that from Herman Cain.”
Fassler — who ran a Phoenix food-service company and finished his term as chairman the month before Cain’s June 1999 departure but remained on the board’s executive committee — described Cain as treating men and women identically and asserted it was “not within his character” to make unwanted advances. “It’s not what I know of him,” Fassler said.
Much like Fassler, almost all board members remember Cain fondly and say he left on good terms.
Cain was “extremely professional” and “fair” to female staffers at the restaurant association, recalled Lee Ellen Hayes, who said she “worked fairly closely with” Cain in the late 1990s, when she was an executive at the National Restaurant Association Education Fund, a Chicago-based offshoot of the group.
Cain’s treatment of women was “the same as his treatment of men. Herman treated everyone great,” said Mary Ann Cricchio, who was elected to the board of the restaurant group in 1998. She said Cain left such a good impression on the organization that when he spoke at a group event in January of this year, as he was considering a presidential bid, “he had unanimous support in the room.”
_________
We know nothing about the accusers and the specifics of the accusations from a dozen years ago are reported rather vaguely by Politico: “episodes that left the women upset and offended” and “physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable and that they regarded as improper in a professional relationship.”
All in all, it’s a long run for a short slide. Unless and until we have some specifics — including names, dates and places — my instinct is to agree with Gordon that this is “part of a smear campaign.”
Why are Cain’s enemies firing the thermonuclear component of their oppo-research arsenal so early? Generally speaking in such matters, you save your big stuff for later in the campaign.
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