A Louisiana doctor on Monday backed his former girlfriend’s claims that Republican presidential contender Herman Cain touched her inappropriately when she sought his career advice in 1997, hoping to bolster allegations that Cain has vehemently denied. “She was upset,” pediatrician Victor Jay Zuckerman said of then-girlfriend Sharon Bialek, who met Cain in Washington, where he was head of the National Restaurant Association. “She said that something had happened and that Mr. Cain had touched her in an inappropriate manner.”
Bialek last week accused Cain of reaching up her skirt and trying to pull her head toward his crotch when she sought his help in finding a job, after Bialek was let go from the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Zuckerman said he had encouraged Bialek to meet with Cain, with whom the couple had spent time at an association event in Chicago.
Cain denies the allegations and says he never met Bialek.
“He had told me about his new gospel album,” Zuckerman said, recalling his conversation with Cain and Bialek at a small party following the association event. “I remember how impressed I was.”
Zuckerman said he and Bialek broke up shortly after the alleged incident, but remained friends. He made the remarks at a news conference in Louisiana with Bialek’s attorney, Gloria Allred. He did not take questions from reporters.
“I emphasize that I am not making a political statement. I’m speaking as a private citizen,” Zuckerman said. “I hope this information … will aid the public in evaluating the statements previously made by Mr. Cain and Ms. Bialek.”
Allred again called on Cain to “come clean.”
“He wants to end this? Let him come clean.” Allred said.
Bialek is one of at least four women who have alleged unwanted sexual advances by Cain, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and a major contender in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Only one other woman, Karen Kraushaar, has gone public with her claims. Cain first accused Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign and the “Democratic machine” of orchestrating the allegations.
Until now, the Cain campaign had shown remarkable resilience against the claims, raising a record amount of campaign cash that reinforced his rapid rise to the front of the Republican field.
But polls released on Monday told a different story — one of a candidate whose campaign was on the verge of collapse.
The day before Bialek publicly accused Cain of sexually harassing her, Cain was leading the Republican field with 40 percent of support in a Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll. After Bialek’s claims, his support nose-dived to 19 percent.
With his support sinking and Zuckerman fueling the sexual harassment charges into a third week, Cain’s campaign released a Web video Monday featuring two female voters who professed their support for the candidate.
Cain’s wife, Gloria, who has been largely absent from the campaign trail, agreed to discuss the allegations for the first time on national television in an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren set to air on Monday evening. In the prerecorded interview, Cain rejected the allegations.
“To hear such graphic allegations and know that that would have been something that was totally disrespectful of [Bialek] as a woman … I know that’s not the person he is,” she said, according to a transcript.
