“The National Restaurant Association gave $35,000 — a year’s salary — in severance pay to a female staff member in the late 1990s after an encounter with Herman Cain, its chief executive at the time, made her uncomfortable working there, three people with direct knowledge of the payment said on Tuesday…
“Four people with contemporaneous knowledge of the incident said the encounter had taken place in the context of a work outing during which there was heavy drinking, a hallmark, they said, of outings with an organization that represents the hospitality industry. They spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid being publicly drawn into the dispute, and declined to provide details of the encounter, saying they did not want to violate the privacy of the woman.
“Two of them said that other factors had been involved in her severance, and that other, less-loaded issues had been making her unhappy at the association. But they said the encounter with Mr. Cain had added an emotional charge, and contributed to the size of her payment. One former colleague familiar with the details said such a severance was not common, especially for an employee with the woman’s years at the association and her pay grade.
“The situation with the other woman appeared to be more in keeping with a standard settlement related to harassment allegations, though she never filed suit in a case that, one person familiar with her accusations said, included ‘more than one’ alleged incident that made her feel uncomfortable.”
“‘We haven’t been in bunker mode,’ says Linda Hansen, Cain’s deputy chief of staff, in an interview with National Review Online. In fact, she says, the campaign is surging.
“‘On Monday, we had one of our best fundraising days ever,’ she says, with the campaign raking in over $300,000 in online donations. Since October 1, the campaign has raised nearly $6 million, averaging about $1.5 million per week.
“‘People are fed up with the establishment media and politics as usual,’ Hansen says, commenting on the cash haul. ‘They’re showing their support for Mr. Cain. We’re not going to let this distract us. Mr. Cain’s focused; we’re all focused.’
“‘I believe that people understand that Herman Cain is a man of courage, conviction, and character,’ she adds. ‘Allegations don’t change who a person is.'”
Charles Krauthammer: “Mr. Cain, when Clarence Thomas was near to achieving position of high authority, he was hit with a sexual harassment charge. You contending for presidency, the office of highest authority, leading in the polls for the Republican nomination, all of the sudden get hit with a sexual harassment charge. Do you think that race, being a strong black conservative, has anything to do with the fact you’ve been so charged? And if so, do you have any evidence to support that?”
Herman Cain: “I believe the answer is yes, but we do not have any evidence to support it. But because I am an unconventional candidate running an unconventional campaign and achieving some unexpected unconventional results in terms of my — the poll. We believe that yes, there are some people who are Democrats, liberals who do not want to see me win the nomination. And there could be some people on the right who don’t want to see me — because I’m not the
‘establishment candidate.’ No evidence.”
“‘Relative to the left, I believe that race is a bigger driving factor. I don’t think it’s a driving factor on the right. This is just based upon our speculation,’ Mr. Cain also said.”
“The lawyer for one of the Cain accusers, Joel P. Bennett, just told the panel on Anderson Cooper’s CNN show that it was “his understanding” that the allegation was ‘leaked to Politico from a Board member of the National Restaurant Association.'”
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