To clarify: there are currently two allegations of sexual misconduct against Cain (from Karen Kraushaar and Sharon Bialek). Bialek's the one onto which Gloria Allred's latched. I admit I haven't been following this much, as I don't really care about Cain as a candidate, but I haven't seen Kraushaar make the media rounds.
That he was part of the NRA (the food-based one) and two female employees complained about inappropriate behaviour from Cain and the NRA paid settlements to them that prevented identification or discussion of the issue is a matter of record. Whether or not that was deserved is unknown, but the settlements were made.
Ah, heck with it.
Take it away, Wiki:Quote:
Sexual misconduct accusations
In October 2011, Politico reported that two female employees had complained about inappropriate behavior by Cain during his tenure at the National Restaurant Association. The women reportedly accepted financial settlements from the association which barred them from discussing their allegations further.[38] Cain's campaign initially refused comment,[39] but subsequently acknowledged that the accusations had been made.[40] Cain strongly denied any impropriety, stating: "I have never sexually harassed anyone and those accusations are totally false." He initially denied being aware of any financial settlement with the accusers, but later accepted that some form of payment had been made by the Restaurant Association.[41] He described the allegations as a "witch hunt".[42][43] In an interview with Greta van Susteren, Cain further said that the allegations had been investigated and found baseless. He said one of the specific allegations was making a gesture indicating his wife's height by holding his palm flat, which one of the accusers found objectionable.[44][45] Joel Bennett, the lawyer representing Karen Kraushaar, called Cain's version of events "goofy," stating that "My client would never have filed a complaint of sexual harassment on the basis that she was the same height as his wife. It is ridiculous."[46]
On November 3, 2011, it was reported that a third woman had stated that Cain had commented on her attractiveness and invited her up to his corporate apartment.[47] On November 8, 2011, one of the first two women to accuse Cain was identified as Karen Kraushaar, employed at the US Treasury Department. Kraushaar is a registered Republican, but in 2009 donated to the Democratic party. Kraushaar has also made complaints at her next job and initially demanded thousands of dollars to settle. She later dropped the complaint [48][49][50]
According to The New York Times and Bloomberg News, at a November 7, 2011 press conference, a fourth woman, registered Republican Sharon Bialek, made allegations of a sexual assault in Cain's car in the summer of 1997. At the time, Bialek had recently lost her job at the National Restaurant Association where she had been a subordinate of Cain's, and she was asking him for assistance in either getting her job back or finding a new job. She alleged that, following a dinner meeting to discuss her job search, Cain reached under the skirt of her suit for her genitals and pushed her head toward his crotch. When she questioned his behavior, Bialek said, Cain told her, “You want a job, right?” Bialek has sought legal assistance from lawyer Gloria Allred.[51] At the press conference, Allred showed what she said were two affidavits from people testifying that Bialek had told them of the incident at the time. The affidavits were not released to the press.[52] Cain's campaign team promptly denied the accusations, claiming them to be "completely false", and repeating that he "never harassed anyone".[53] At a press conference on November 8, 2011, Cain said of Bialek, “I don’t even know who this lady is.”[54] But at the November 7, 2011 press conference, Bialek said that she had a recent encounter with Cain, on October 1, 2011, at a tea party event, and that Cain had said he remembered her, and they talked. Amy Jacobson, a Chicago radio talk show host, corroborated Bialek's story about the October 1 meeting to the Chicago Sun-Times: "She talked to him for a few minutes, which made me kind of mad because I wanted to talk to him". Jacobson said that Cain appeared "stone-faced" after smiling at first.[55]
The Cain campaign hired attorney L. Lin Wood to head a team responding to the allegations. Wood warned that any other women coming forward with allegations would face intense scrutiny and might also be subject to legal action, but said he did not intend to scare anyone away from doing so. [56]