Posted on 11/07/2011 12:51:58 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Sharon Bialek, a woman employed by the National Restaurant Association’s Educational Foundation in the late 90s, accused Herman Cain of inappropriate sexual contact today in a press conference with celebrity attorney Gloria Allred.
Bialek said she first met Cain when employed by the NRA as a manger of industry relations. She lost her job there shortly thereafter, and at her boyfriend’s suggestion, arranged to meet Cain in D.C. over coffee in 1997 to discuss her career. She told Cain what hotel she would be staying at; when she arrived, she had been upgraded to a suite, which she later found out had been through his doing, although she says she was not aware of that at the time. Cain also switched their meeting to a restaurant. After eating, Bialek said the two drove over to the National Restaurant Association headquarters; she assumed he would show her the offices.
“He suddenly reached over and he put his hand on my leg, under my skirt, and reached for my genitals,” said Bialek of what happened next. “He also grabbed my head and brought it towards his crotch. I was very, very surprised and very shocked. I said, ‘What are you doing? You know I have a boyfriend. This isn’t what I came here for.’ Mr. Cain said, ‘You want a job, right?’ I asked him to stop and he did. I asked him to take me back to my hotel, which he did, right away.”
Bialek said she told her boyfriend and another friend that Cain had been “sexually inappropriate” to her at the time, but said she had not detailed what occurred.
Bialek, identified by Allred as a registered Republican, said she saw Cain again about a month ago at a Tea Party conference in the Chicago area. She asked him if he remembered her. “He acknowledged that he remembered me from the foundation, but he kind of looked uncomfortable,” Bialek said. “He said nothing as he was whisked away for his speech by his handlers.”
As noted, before the press conference began, the Cain campaign put out a statement saying the allegations were “completely false.”
This woman was not his employee at the time. So what if he made a pass at her? What man doesn’t try to make a pass at a woman? A dead man that’s who. The media is trying to hang Cain for allegedly making a pass at some woman? Pretty much proves they’re scared to death that Herman Cain will beat Obama!
I said this about Cain the other day, and I still think it’s true:
I really, really like Cain, but I think he’s toast. With as much time as he had to prepare a response, how hard would it have been to say something like this:
“I worked for many years as a successful executive in the business world. During that time, the definition of the term ‘sexual harassment’ was a constantly moving target because it was based on the perceptions and motivations of the accuser. Unfortunately, during my tenure at the National Reataurant Association, there were a couple of women who felt that I had crossed that line, blurry as it was. As a result, they filed complaints against me, the facts of which I have always disputed. Because of the sensitive nature of the subject and the legal costs involved in defending against such complaints, the decision was made in conjunction with our legal counsel to settle these complaints rather than proceed to costly court battles. We always felt we could win on the facts of the cases if we had been forced to proceed, but these types of settlements happen every day in corporate America. One cannot infer anything from a settlement like this unless one has a political axe to grind. Because of the sensitive nature of the complaints and the confidentiality agreements, which bind all parties involved, I won’t comment any further, except to say that if anything I’ve said in my many years in business was taken in the wrong way or made someone uncomfortable, I am sorry that there was such a misunderstanding. My career has been marked by success and respect for and from those who have worked for me and around me. Now I have more important things to discuss like how I am prepared to lead this country out of this disaster-in-the-making that the Obama presidency has become. Thank you.”
I came up with that in five minutes. He had years to prepare something better, but instead, he chose to mislead, obfuscate and conceal, and then he was forced to start changing his story a little at a time. It’s his RESPONSE that bothers me, because it makes me wonder how bad the truth is if he was so set on hiding it.
If he had said something like I suggested, then as details emerged, he could have said “as I’ve said, perceptions differ among people, and I did not believe that I said or did anything that should have made anyone feel uncomfortable. If someone felt that way, it certainly wasn’t my intention and I am sorry that they misunderstood.”
A statement like that would largely insulate him from further criticism about all this. I am almost willing to bet that there is more coming to this story. Even if there isn’t, Cain hasn’t handled this well at all.
Oh, and he also played the race card when he said that he was prepared for a high-tech lynching. I HATE when anyone plays the race card, especially on our side.
Guess its time for me to send Cain a hundred dollars today...GG
At that time I had on a black pleated skirt, a suit jacket and a blouse. He had on a suit with his shirt open. But instead of going into the offices, he suddenly reached over and he put his hand on my leg under my skirt and reached for my genitals. He also grabbed my head and brought it towards his crotch. I was very, very surprised and very shocked. I said, “What are you doing? You know I have a boyfriend. This isn’t what I came here for.” Mr. Cain said, ‘You want a job, right?’ I asked him to stop, and he did. I asked him to take me back to my hotel, which he did right away.There are other reasons to doubt her story, but "physically impossible" is not one of them.
Sbe says her response at the time was “You know I have a boyfried!”
As in, hey, otherwise, this is cool.
Her own statement and actions show that she was neither traumatized nor scandalized at the time. Certainly there is nothing here that supports the outrage she claims now, more than a decade later.
We all know that the media whore Gloria is to be believed..that alone is enough to call BS. She is a walking talking joke...
I see nothing wrong with libs and the MSM being hoisted by their own petard.....(in regards to Carville’s reference to the $100 bill dragged thru the trailer park.)
And what is the next candidate supposed to do when he "can't shut it down"?
Do you really think this, or something like it, stops with Cain?
“If Cain cannot shut this down, then he needs to step aside—write a book and return to radio where he can rant against the media for hours on end..
We’ve got more important things to concentrate on. And this S&*% is now too much of a diversion.”
I find that you response to this woman’s press conference infuriating to me. I WILL NOT allow the MSM and the Democrat Part to choose our Republican nominee yet again!
Yes, we have pressing issues every day in this country. However, I want the BEST candidate to be our nominee: One that will actually work to put this country back on track. I don’t believe that Mitt Romney or Rick Perry are right for the job. Without the best candidate running against Obama (and I believe that man is Herman Cain) we will be forced to kiss this country goodbye! Either Obama will win the election outright and finish destroying this nation in short order, or the Republican(either Romeny or Perry) winnner will continue the ensuing destruction, only at a slower rate.
I am not going to abandon the best candidate just because the MSM and the Democrats can pay off people to publicly attack Herman Cain.
(In fact, I think I’ll go and make another contribution to Herman’s campaign....)
She clearly states that Cain drove and Cain “parked” the car.
You keep posting this on threads, so I assume you're not joking.
I haven't responded because I don't want to get into a discussion of sexual acts. However, a thread was just pulled for the reason "disgusting" in which a FR claimed to have experimented and the accusations impossible. You would be surprised how many FR members immediately posted that it wasn't, including the year it happened to them and the make and model car.
Here's the problem - your statement might not work in the long run. Years ago a friend who represented companies in sexual harassment cases explained it this way: when the employee (man) is guilty, settle. When the employee is innocent - fight it every step of the way. The logic was companies didn't want sexual harassment turning into winning the lottery. They also knew when a case was not worth defending... The fact that all these cases appear to have been 'settled' isn't good. That said, I agree it was a fuzzy area of the law... and still is...
Maybe she and the boyfriend were trying to set Cain up?
She said it was the boyfriend who suggested she meet with Cain and personally ask him to help her get her job back.
What’s up with that?
Now, Mr. Cain should have made an appointment to see her in his office during regular business hours with the door open. But his going along with this doesn’t mean this woman didn’t have a plan.
The first person I would have talked to would have been the idiot that tried something like that...along the lines of “try that again and you will be pulling back a bloody stump.” Then I might tell hubby, but not necessarily, I would handle it myself...Once your point is made, end of story...
Amazing how the trolls are coming out lately isn’t it?
RE: Guess its time for me to send Cain a hundred dollars today...GG
Make that $99.90 :)
Exactly, I would have been traumatized by an episode like that and I certainly wouldn't blazing walk up to the same guy and say do you remember me. What was she trying to do?
I also am wondering why she lost her job as manager of industry relations.
Try this where you’re sitting. Put your left hand on the right chair arm. Now, bring your right hand down toward your crotch If you are like most of us, your left arm arrests your right hand long before it gets to your crotch. Unless this woman has a very small head and flexible neck, this would have happened to her, too. At the very least, we’d have to question Mr. Cain’s technique.
Mr Cain does not have to prove his innocence, but if he can produce an itinerary or billing reciept that would provide himself an alibi. Or a witness to his whereabouts on said day would make his lawsuit for defaming his character very persuasive.
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