Women speak out against Cain
Written By: Derek Page, News Assistant
Sexual harassment allegations facing Herman Cain continue to prove arduous for the hopeful Republican presidential nominee. Recently, four women have made accusations against Cain, though he still continues to deny all allegations saying, “I have never sexually harassed anyone. Let’s say that secondly, um, I have never sexually harassed anyone.”
In the late 1990s, two female employees of the National Restaurant Association (NRA)came to colleagues and senior officials of the association with complaints regarding inappropriate behavior by Cain, resulting in women leaving their jobs.
Old Dominion University senior Kym Ganczak expressed her disgust with Cain, “I don’t even think he should be in the race. He’s clearly proven himself incompetent and with this on top of it, I don’t understand how electing him would preserve any remaining sense of American dignity.”
The women had apparently signed agreements with the group for a five figure sum, roughly the same amount as their annual salary. The agreements required them to leave the company and also prohibited them from speaking on the matter.
Despite the fact that Cain was CEO of the association from 1996 to mid-1999 at the time of the agreement, he claims he had no idea of the settlement.
“If the Restaurant Association did a settlement, I wasn’t even aware of it, and I hope it wasn’t for much, because nothing happened,” said Cain in a television interview with Fox News.
Sources in contact with the news group POLITICO describes scenarios where conversations allegedly filled with sexual innuendo and personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature left the women upset and deeply offended. There are also accounts of physical gestures that were not openly sexual but still unsettling and unprofessional.
The latest case comes from a Chicago woman, Sharon Bialek, 50, who worked for the National Restaurant Association while Cain was CEO. Bialek says she came to Cain in July of 1997 for help finding a job after the organization terminated her employment.
According to Bialek, the two were in a parked car, and instead of helping her, Cain reached under Bialek’s skirt and attempted to move her head toward his crotch. When she tried to resist, Bialek mentioned Cain said,”You want a job, right?” The Cain campaign hastily denied the issues regarding her allegations as “completely false.”
Bialek’s fiance, Mark Harwood, was in “a bit of a shock” upon learning of the history of the two, but is still in full support of Bialek in coming forward. He noted that there are no political motives behind Bialek’s speaking up. Harwood said “she’s just trying to do the right thing, and that takes guts.”
As far as the elections are concerned, these issues are certainly a step in the wrong direction for Herman Cain. Of course, this isn’t the first time the public has heard of sex scandals in Washington, but the harassment charges still raise questions about how America will respond in the polls.
“Allegations are just allegations. I don’t think voters are so close-minded that they don’t know the difference between being accused and being convicted. It’s never a good thing to have this, but it’s not a nail in the coffin. People can say whatever they want, but you need proof if you want to get anywhere,” said David Ainley, an ODU student.
Incidentally, Google searches for Godfather Pizza and Cain have nearly quadrupled since last year, according to a statistical analysis by Google, although the same rise might not be seen in the number of Cain supporters.
