Herman Cains Campaign Moves Forward Despite Harassment Scandal

 Photo by:Gage Skidmore

Herman Cain was at the outset of this presidential campaign cycle a long shot outsider, with no experience in holding political office. His straight talk and no-nonsense approach seemed to have a catalyzing effect on voters, they responded by sending him to the top of many national GOP polls and fueling his campaign with $9 million in donations in the fourth quarter of this year. Cain is the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, former CEO of the National Restaurant Association and a board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Herman Cain has also served on the boards of Aquila Inc, Nabisco, Whirlpool, Readers Digest, and AGCO Inc. While he has worked on some high-profile political campaigns, and has run for the presidency in 2000, and the senate in 2004, Cain has never served in public office.

Recently, a woman came forward and claimed that Cain had sexually harassed her during his tenure as CEO of the NRA(National Restaurant Association), Cain denied that there was a settlement, but did eventually admit that some sort of 'settlement' had been reached with the woman. Since that incident occurred in October of 2011, 3 more reports of sexual harassment have been publicized. Two of the four women have been identified as Karen Kraushaar, a registered Republican who donated money to the Democrats in 2009. Kraushaar also lodged a complaint of unfair treatment with her next employer. She later dropped her complaint. The second woman identified is Sharon Bialek. Bialek claims that Cain stuck his hand up her skirt and shoved her head towards his crotch after a meeting where she allegedly asked Cain for help finding work.

Herman Cain and his campaign deny that Mr. Cain knows who this woman is, although it was reported by Sharon Bialek that she spoke with Cain recently at a Tea Party event, and the story was corroborated by radio talk show host Amy Jacobson. Here are some interesting facts from the website caintruth.com

The fact is that Ms. Bialek has had a long and troubled history, from the courts to personal finances – which may help explain why she has come forward 14 years after an alleged incident with Mr. Cain, powered by celebrity attorney and long term Democrat donor Gloria Allred.
In the courts, Ms. Bialek has had a lengthy record in the Cook County Court system over various civil lawsuits. The following cases on file in Cook County are:

• 2000-M1-707461 Defendant against Broadcare Management
• 2000-M1-714398 Defendant in lawsuit against Broadcare Management
• 2000-M1-701522 Defendant in lawsuit against Broadcare Management
• 2005-M1-111072 Defendant in lawsuit against Mr. Mark Beatovic.
• 2007-M1-189176 Defendant in lawsuit against Midland Funding.
• 2009-M1-158826 Defendant in lawsuit against Illinois Lending.

Ms. Bialek was also sued in 1999 over a paternity matter according to ABC 7 Chicago (WLS-TV). Source: WLS-TV, November 7, 2011
In personal finances, PACER (Federal Court) records show that Ms. Bialek has filed for bankruptcy in the Northern District of Illinois bankruptcy court in 1991 and 2001. The respective case numbers according to the PACER system are 1:01-bk-22664 and 1:91-bk-23273.
Ms. Bialek has worked for nine employers over the last seventeen years. Source: WLS-TV, November 7, 2011
Curiously, if Ms. Bialek had intended to take legal action, the statute of limitations would have passed a decade ago.

  
I wonder if she hopes to make a quick buck off of this scandal?? The other two women are as of yet still unknown, and their so are the details of their claims against Cain. So, two women, both Republicans(?) suddenly decide they want to dredge up old news about Herman Cain during well over a decade after these events supposedly happened, and two more mystery women are thrown in the mix to thicken the stew, and nobody smells a rat?? I sure do. But let the rat stink, I say, because so far it seems to be helping Herman Cain, not hurting him. His campaign has added 2.25 million dollars to their campaign coffers since the sexual harassment allegations first surfaced, and Cain appears unfazed by the controversy and made a very strong showing at the CNBC Republican debate on November 9th.

At this point in the race, most  of the field is doing poorly with only Cain and Mitt Romney showing any chances of garnering the GOP nomination. Early on in the race Texas Governor Rick Perry and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann were highly favorable candidates, with Bachmann being a Tea Party Favorite. Ron Paul, who seems to have a fervent cult following around him is slipping off the radar as well, that leaves Rick Santorum and John Huntsman to sit in the caboose of the nominee train and weep a little. As politics go, the GOP is likely to pick Mitt Romney as their candidate as he has the political clout and name recognition that they believe is essential to defeating Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election.

However, if the momentum we are seeing behind the Herman Cain campaign continues, the Republicans will have a hard choice to make. Ignore the will of the people and go with the candidate that you feel will get the job done, or go with the new guy that you probably don't care for, but know that if you don't choose the American people will see to it that anyone with an (R) next to their name never gets elected to office again. My personal opinion is that despite his lack of experience, it is doubtful that Herman Cain could do a worse job than Barack Obama, so let the man have his shot. We made history by electing the first "hAlfrican-American" president, now let's really make history, let it be known that the Republican Party will be the ones to elect the first black man to the highest seat of power in the United States. The Democrats will immediately declare that the GOP is racist anyway and claim that Herman Cain is actually a well tanned Frenchman and therefore not really black.