Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain on Monday repeatedly denied ever sexually harassing female employees, despite a report that the National Restaurant Association he led in the 1990s was forced to compensate two women who complained about Cain’s behavior.
“I have never sexually harassed anyone and those accusations are totally false,” Cain said at the National Press Club.
The Cain camp believes the media and political opponents are digging for dirt on the former pizza executive in an effort to stop his meteoric rise in the polls.
Cain, who’s winning over voters with a 9 percent tax plan and charismatic, conservative message, continues to narrowly lead the Republican presidential pack.
“Since Washington establishment critics haven’t had much luck in attacking Mr. Cain’s ideas to fix a bad economy and create jobs, they are trying to attack him in any way they can,” said Cain campaign aide J.D. Gordon.
Politico first reported Sunday night that two women had accepted five-figure settlements and left the restaurant association during Cain’s tenure. Both women had complained to National Restaurant Association officials of “sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable.”
In an interview on Fox, Cain said he remembered encountering one of his accusers, a writer for the association’s communications department. But he insisted that they only discussed his wife’s height. He said he didn’t remember the second woman, who worked for the restaurant association’s government affairs department.
Politico provided no details about what the women accused Cain of doing and kept their names secret. Cain said Monday that when the women made the accusations, he recused himself, handing off the matter to the association’s general counsel and human resources department, who he said conducted a “thorough investigation” and found no wrongdoing.
“I am unaware of any settlement,” Cain said. “I hope it wasn’t for much because I didn’t do anything.” He later told Fox the settlement equaled two or three months pay, but was less than the women originally demanded.
Cain tried to put the matter to rest on Monday. He talked about his tax plan and foreign policy issues at the Press Club and earlier in the day attended a forum at the American Enterprise Institute to talk about his 9-9-9 tax plan. He also appeared on Fox News and PBS.
“I would be delighted to clear the air,” he said at the Press Club. “I was falsely accused of sexual harassment.”
But political strategists say Cain will have to do more than declare the women’s charges baseless.
“He’s going to have to prove it,” said New York City Democratic Strategist Hank Sheinkopf, who worked on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. “It’s not going to disappear because he says it isn’t so. Answering the question gets rid of the problem, but he has not answered the question.”
Republican strategist Ed Goaes said Cain will be damaged politically if his story changes over time from denial to some kind of a partial denial or a remorseful admission of guilt.
“The one case he has been able to make at this point is that he is not like all the rest in Washington,” Goaes said. “And if it appears that he was doing something like this, in a Republican primary he would be in very deep trouble.”
