Republican presidential contender Herman Cain, touring Northern Virginia Wednesday to talk about health care and the economy, said the revived accusations that he sexually harassed two women in the 1990s are part of an orchestrated effort to “destroy me.”
Speaking to business-technology leaders in McLean, Cain portrayed the charges that have engulfed his campaign as a natural part of running for president. Candidates normally go from being ignored to ridiculed to destroyed before reaching the final phase of acceptance, he said.
“Right now we’re right in the middle of that third phase,” he said. “There are factions that are trying to destroy me personally as well as this campaign.”
Wednesday marked the third straight day Cain was sidetracked while trying to introduce himself to party leaders and donors in Washington and he repeatedly refused to talk to reporters throughout the day.
“I’m here to visit with these doctors and that’s what I’m going to talk about, so don’t even bother asking me all of these other questions that you all are curious about, OK? Don’t even bother,” Cain told reporters after meeting privately with a group of doctors. When reporters persisted, Cain said, “What did I say? Excuse me. Excuse me!” and was led out of the hotel by security.
The former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive officer was riding high in the polls, running neck-and-neck with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. But he is now reeling from the fallout of a story, first reported by Politico Sunday, about two female employees asserting that Cain sexually harassed them while he was leading the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.
Cain dismissed the allegations as “totally baseless and totally false.” But his accounts of what happened and how much he remembered varied, raising questions about whether he was still withholding information about the incidents.
After denying any knowledge of the association’s financial settlements with the two women, Cain said he remembered the settlement but that it was a relatively small amount, two or three months pay in exchange for leaving the association. But the New York Times reported that at least one woman received a full year’s salary.
A third woman told the Associated Press on Wednesday that she had considered filing a harassment complaint against Cain, but did not.
By Wednesday, a lawyer for one of the women was calling on the association to discharge the agreement, which prohibits the women from discussing the settlement, so that his client could speak publicly about the episode. He later said his client may not speak publicly even if allowed.
Cain’s campaign said he believes news of the allegations originally came from one of his Republican opponents, but he has also accused the media of racial bias against a black conservative.
Cain’s second stop Wednesday was in Alexandria, where he spoke privately to members of Docs 4 Patient Care, a group formed to oppose President Obama’s sweeping health care reforms. Cain declined to talk with reporters after that meeting and again avoided their questions later in the day following a forum with the Congressional Health Care Caucus on Capitol Hill.
In addition to touting his 9-9-9 tax plan, Cain made an appeal to Northern Virginia’s defense contractors, reassuring them that he would invest in military technology at a time when the Pentagon is facing funding cuts.
