COMMENTARY | The sexual harassment scandal surrounding GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain just got a little bigger. A fourth woman has come forward, according to CNN, to accuse the Atlanta businessman of inappropriate behavior during his tenure as president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association (NRA).
For those who thought that all the talk about the sexual harassment allegations being leveled at the GOP frontrunner would begin to subside with his refusal to speak on the subject and his accusers' refusal to come forward to publicly give statements -- well, think again. A Chicago woman named Sharon Bialek, who once worked for the NRA, said at a press conference on Monday that Cain made inappropriate advances toward her when she thought he was only helping her find a new job.
Bialek worked for the NRA until 1997, when she was laid off. She had called then president/CEO Cain (who held the position from1996-1999) and asked for his help in landing another position and had gone to Washington to meet with him. Bialek, who was accompanied by famed legal defender Gloria Allred, said that not only had Cain upgraded her hotel accommodations without her knowledge, but that after dinner, the two shared a ride to the NRA offices in Washington. It was then that Cain allegedly slid his hand up her skirt, "toward my genitals," and pushed her head down toward his crotch.
The former NRA employee said Cain stopped when she protested, but asked, according to Bialek, " 'You want a job, right?'"
Bialek demanded that Cain admit to his inappropriate behavior. "I want you, Mr. Cain, to come clean, she said. "Just admit what you did."
The latest accuser in the scandal refused to take questions from reporters. However, Alred said her client came forward in solidarity with the other three accusers and women victims of sexual harassment everywhere.
Bialek is now the fourth woman to be connected to the presidential candidate through alleged sexual misconduct. The accusations of two NRA employees that filed complaints against Cain while he was head of the association were settled with non-disclosure agreements that both women continue to honor, although one of the women spoke through her attorney Friday saying she stood by her original accusations. What those accusations entail have yet to be determined. A third unidentified woman was reported by the Associated Press to have been harassed by Cain as well.
The scandal has held sway in the national media since the last day of October.
Bialek is the first accuser to actually present her story to the public.
Among Cain's strongest supporters, the lack of details and vague stories from unidentified sources was enough to ensure widespread dismissal of the claims. The latest developments might change all of that.
Especially among women voters, a voting bloc not to be taken lightly.
CNN contributor David Gergen, who has worked for four presidential administrations (Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Clinton), summed up Cain's prospects after a panel discussed how the matter might soon become a dim memory on "Erin Burnett, Out Front." "I think we're probably moving on," the political analyst said, "but let's not think that he's escaped any injury here. There's definitely a cloud over this nomination and while the polls and the money are coming in now I can guarantee you two things. One I think his standing against Barack Obama on a head to head will go down. And secondly I think his chances of getting a Republican nomination are about zero."
And what looked like a topic that was quickly going to fade away (with nobody providing details of who did what to whom) now has new life. And details. And an identified source.
Cain has all along said the claims made against him were baseless, that he had never sexually harassed anyone. He even stated to Fox News that future claims, if any were to be made, would be "trumped up."
Trumped up or not, a fourth set of charges have been brought to the public's attention.
And although the presidential preference polls still show him leading, tied, or within the margin-of-error of the lead, one question asked by Langer Research Associates, which conducted the latest poll for ABC News/Washington Post, indicated that the scandal could become a serious liability. When asked if the matter was a serious one, 55 percent of Republicans and Republican leaning independents responded that it was not a serious consideration (39 percent said it was). Of those who thought was not serious, Herman Cain held a 12-point lead in the poll. Of those who thought the matter serious, Mitt Romney led the poll by 18 points. The poll also noted that as the week progressed, the number of respondents taking the sexual harassment allegations seriously was diminishing.
Accuser number four could drastically change all of that.
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