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Posted on 11/02/2011 11:00:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
So far, neither of the two alleged complainants from Herman Cain’s tenure at the National Restaurant Association have come forward publicly, although it appears at least one would like NRA to release her from her confidentiality agreement to do so. However, a pollster who worked for NRA at the time told KTOK in Oklahoma that he witnessed both incidents — and that if the women talk, Cain’s candidacy would be over:
Interviewed today on KTOK’s Mullins in the Morning, [Chris] Wilson, of Wilson-Perkins-Allen Opinion Research headquartered in Washington, D.C. explained he was a witness to the incident. “I was the pollster at the National Restaurant Association when Herman Cain was head of it and I was around a couple of times when this happened and anyone who was involved with the NRA at the time, knew that this was gonna come up.”
Wilson described the woman as a low level staffer who was maybe two years out of college. “This occurred at a restaurant in Crystal City (Virginia) and everybody was aware of it,” he continued. “It was only a matter of time because so many people were aware of what took place, so many people were aware of her situation, the fact she left—everybody knew with the campaign that this would eventually come up.”
Wilson claims that he also can’t discuss the specifics, for legal reasons. I’m not quite clear as to what that might be. He may have signed a broad non-disclosure agreement with NRA to get the polling work, but if that’s the case, he just violated it with this statement today. Unless he also participated in the settlement/severance agreements with the women, he’s as free to discuss the details as the fact that he witnessed them. And it’s difficult to see how Wilson would have been involved in a settlement between NRA and the two employees.
However, Wilson isn’t only linked to NRA and Cain from years gone by. His firm has conducted polling in this presidential race for the Make Us Great Again PAC. And guess which candidate is favored by MUGA-PAC? Why, none other than … Rick Perry. The PAC has no formal connection to Perry’s campaign, but it’s certainly boosting Perry as the Republican nominee in the primary.
Could Wilson be more than just a witness in this story? Could he be a source? It could just be a coincidence that a witness to these alleged incidents did work for an organization pushing Perry, and that the story mysteriously got to Politico as Cain took support away from Perry in mid-October. If he is the source, then conducting an interview on the topic has to be one of the dumber political moves I’ve seen.
Update: Some are saying that this indicates Romney as the source of the leak, but I’m not terribly convinced that a one-time donation means much. Romney has less to fear with Cain as his main opponent than others in the race, and besides, no one knows whether Anderson ever knew about the incidents at all. Other board members say they didn’t. YMMV, however.
Looks like the culprits have been smoked out.
I am not surprised. After all, they have been spreading the innuendo that more is coming.
I wouldn’t vote for Perry anyway. I would turn back to Bachmann or Newt.
I don’t care for stupid varmints.
Yeah odd isn’t it that the “Witness” has a fudicary tie to the Perry campaign.
This means nothing is over. The media protected Bill Klinton, Ted Kennedy, and for gawd sakes, covered up anything about that sbag John Edwards was doing-and he was VP on a major party ticket. Where was all their investigative journalism then?
False claims of harassment and discrimination are filed every day in this country, and the accusers bought off to avoid more costly court expenses. Do you have evidence that these "incidents" were any more than this?
Down with tyranny!
No slimebot. The burden of proof is NOT on Cain. It is on you slimemerchants.
YOU made an accusation, Cain denied it. So rather then peptuate the smear by demanding Cain prove your lie false, you prove your accusation.
Complete poltical scumbag tactics.
That is a pretty emphatic statement, have you read the agreement?
If you haven't read it, then, it is just another opinion.
I think something probably happened on cocktail night fifteen years ago, at happy hour, but Cain most assuredly regrets it and would be too smart to run for president if there was anything much to it. He does not have a record of being a predator, and who knows, maybe this is why he says he now drinks only wine, reportedly. Cain probably learned a lot from a regrettable incident, but has no record of being the predator the media would like to make of him. This will be traced back to maybe having too much to drink on one evening.
This could be a three way set up not only for Cain, but for hanging the leak of it on one campaign, when another actually pulled it off. All that sparkles is not gold.
“Oh no. Our accusations aren’t gaining traction!”
“We better roll out round 2 of the unsubstantiated details by having an uncorroborated witness tell us that, despite some agreement they’re bound by, there’s a lot more to this!”
Next? A friend of a victim will talk about how she’s personally talked to her and it’s just awful! (camera cuts to a nodding, concerned Diane Sawyer)
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You have been listening to too much Michael Medved. It is too early to know how this will play out for sure. Personally I doubt that this issue is going to hurt Mr. Cain's poll numbers at all. It will definitely increase his name recognition and has already caused his followers to rally to his defense. It is also very possible that black people will sense that just another unfair baseless smear designed to take down one of their own.
I have watched a lot of his interviews and after each I felt he did a good job. If this “controversy” causes more people to actually watch him... it is almost certainly going to help him. Clinton was accused of rape, illicit affairs, intimidation, sex acts with an intern in the oval office and lying about it. Much of the allegations were proven to be true. We don't even know for sure what Mr. Cain has been accused of... the best guess is that he was "insensitive" in some way. And you think this is the end for him? I sure don't want you to be the doctor making my prognosis when I come in for a tummy ache.
Take a look at the polling data and the fund raising data. This stupdiity by Rove and the GOP machine may just of handed the nomination to Cain.
“Cain is toast” is from tyne
“YOU made an accusation, Cain denied it. So rather then peptuate the smear by demanding Cain prove your lie false, you prove your accusation.”
Huh? I didn’t make any accusation. I’m hoping Cain can put this behind him. Politically - the press isn’t going to let up. Take a breath dude.
What are the odds that this guy was really there for both incidents, seems to think he’s sworn to secrecy (that he’s violating anyway), and yet when the NRA investigated the issue they found it so insignificant that they think the issue was handled by phone or fax since there’s nothing written down about it?
This is starting to seem like a Romney hit-job. If so, it is going to backfire big-time.
BS. This isn’t 1991. People have wised up since Anita Hill ran her lies past Ted Kennedy and his sleazy Judiciary Committee.
The latest I saw looked like this guy was a pollster for Perry.
Quit your whining and crying. The NRA apparently reached settlements with these woman based on two different cases brought against Cain. There is no way this information was not going to become public eventually no matter what the timing was. Opposition research teams for probably multiple candidates, including Hussein, no doubt already knew about it. It was either going to come out during the primary or potentially during a general election. It is far better for everyone that it come out now. If it isn't anything serious, Cain will be fine. If there is more to the story, Cain won't win the nomination and we won't end up seeing it as some kind of general election surprise. These charges were in Cain's background whether you like it or not, so yes, this kind of story IS part of the vetting process.
You could not possibly be more wrong.
Take a look at the Real Clear polling average. Your boy Romney is fading while Cain is rocketing up.
So nice try but you lose
Okay... a little common sense here.
If this is true, and there were so many witnesses as this person attests to, then she would have sued and gotten a six figure settlement.
But the NRA investigation turned up nothing, no one was sued, she was fired and got a severance.
So where are all these other witnesses? The only women I see coming out BY NAME are coming out in Cain’s defense.
Now the woman and attorney are saying she is unlikely to talk any time soon: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/11/Herman-Cain-sexual-harassment-accuser—560559/1
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