WASHINGTON -- The National Restaurant Association confirmed Friday that it paid to settle a 1999 sexual harassment claim against Herman Cain, then the association's CEO and now a presidential contender, but details remained elusive.
The woman who made the claim, a federal government worker now living in suburban Washington, said in a statement through her attorney that the allegations involved "a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances from" Cain, but she chose to remain anonymous and not give specifics.
"Those complaints were resolved in an agreement with her acceptance of a monetary settlement," attorney Joel Bennett said. "She and her husband see no value in revisiting this matter now, nor in discussing this matter further, publicly or privately. In fact, it would be extremely painful to do so."
Restaurant association CEO Dawn Sweeney released a corresponding statement that read, in part:
“Based upon the information currently available, we can confirm that more than a decade ago, in July 1999, Mr. Bennett’s client filed a formal internal complaint, in accordance with the Association’s existing policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment. Mr. Herman Cain disputed the allegations in the complaint. The Association and Mr. Bennett’s client subsequently entered into an agreement to resolve the matter, without any admission of liability. Mr. Cain was not a party to that agreement."
The accusation was one of two reported by Politico on Sunday involving paid settlements that have brought a frenzy around Cain's campaign this week. Cain has said he did not sexually harass anyone and said the only part of a complaint he can recall was when he compared the height of a woman who worked in the association's communication office to that of his wife, and held his hand at chin level to show her.
But Cain's recollection of the allegations and settlements has shifted during a rapid-fire week of appearances and interviews in Washington and New York.
As Cain's continued polling strength and fundraising surge show, the scandal has not deterred his base. From when the harassment story broke to Friday afternoon, the campaign said it raised $1.6 million. A Washington Post/ABC News poll released Friday showed Republican voters largely dismissive of the scandal, and Cain remained the choice of 23 percent of respondents, putting him in a virtual tie for the lead with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 24 percent.
His resilient popularity was apparent in a 15-minute speech Friday afternoon before more than 1,000 tea party activists attending an Americans for Prosperity conference in Washington. The reception seemed more powerful when compared with the crowd's polite but hardly rousing reaction a few minutes earlier to Romney.
Cain, a businessman from Stockbridge, made only oblique reference to the sexual harassment scandal, saying, "I've been in Washington all week, and I've attracted a little bit of attention."
Cain has built his campaign on dramatic oratory and a remaking of the tax code that the crowd chanted with him Friday as if singing along with its favorite song: "9-9-9."
He said a New York Times story tying him to the Koch brothers, billionaire businessmen who have bankrolled Americans Ffor Prosperity and other conservative causes, was overblown. But in the next breath he proclaimed: "I am the Koch brothers' brother from another mother."
He earned cheers at all the right times: for declaring there is a lack of leadership in the White House, saying the Environmental Protection Agency "needs an attitude adjustment" and for an ad-libbed line at the start saying he did not need the teleprompters set up near the stage.
The teleprompters were for Romney, who gave a technocratic speech running through a slew of redundant or wasteful federal programs that he would consolidate or eliminate, as well as his plans to reshape Social Security and Medicare.
Romney earned is only cheer by pledging to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law. After a standing ovation, he quipped: "I should have started with that line."
After the speeches, Jacquelyn Wilson of Southern Pines, N.C., called Cain "inspirational" and said she admired his fight against cancer and lack of a political background.
Romney's "speech seemed canned, though he said all the right things," she said.
As for the harassment allegations against Cain, Wilson called them "a bunch of junk."
Cain has long been a fixture at AFP events, and his campaign manager, Mark Block, is a former AFP state director in Wisconsin. Block, made famous by smoking a cigarette in a campaign video, is at the core of another budding distraction for Cain.
On Friday the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over potential improprieties involving Cain campaign funds. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Prosperity USA, a Wisconsin-based group founded by Block, provided $40,000 worth of benefits to the Cain campaign, including travel expenses and iPads. Such benefits would violate federal law governing corporate contributions to campaigns.
About the Author
