Thread: Cain accuser Sharon Bialek: 'Come clean,' admit harassment

Nov 07, 2011

Cain accuser: 'Come clean,' admit harassment

By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY Updated 1m ago

Defense attorney Gloria Allred and her client, Sharon Bialek, are holding a news conference. Bialek says GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain sexually harassed her in the 1990s.

2:05 p.m. ET

"I really didn't want to be here today," Bialek says.

"I want you, Mr. Cain, to come clean. Just admit what you did. Admit you were inappropriate to people...and then move forward."

"Mr. Cain, I implore you," she says, "Make this right. "

2:04 p.m. ET

Herman Cain's campaign just e-mailed us a statement.

Just as the country finally begins to refocus on our crippling $15 trillion national debt and the unacceptably high unemployment rate, now activist celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is bringing forth more false accusations against the character of Republican front-runner Herman Cain.

All allegations of harassment against Mr. Cain are completely false. Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone. Fortunately the American people will not allow Mr. Cain's bold "9-9-9 Plan", clear foreign policy vision and plans for energy independence to be overshadowed by these bogus attacks.

2:02 p.m. ET

Bialek says she told her boyfriend and "a mentor at the time" that Cain had been inappropriate. She said she was "embarrassed" and didn't go into details.

2:01 p.m. ET

Bialek says Cain offered to help her find a job with one of the state restaurant associations.

"He suddenly reached over and put his hand on my leg, under my skirt and reached for my genitals," she said.

2 p.m. ET

Bialek describes a situation in 1997, where she met him in the bar at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C. She said he helped arrange a "palatial suite" at the hotel for her.

"I upgraded you," Bialek says Cain told her.

1:59 p.m. ET

Bialek says she reached out to Cain for help in finding a job at the behest of her boyfriend.

1:58 p.m. ET

Bialek describes how she sat next to Cain at a dinner during a National Restaurant Association conference. At the time she was employed by the NRA's educational foundation.

1:57 p.m. ET

Allred shows statements from a pediatrician and a businessman who were told by Bialek what happened.

1:55 p.m. ET

Allred says Bialek understands she'll face public scrutiny and chose not to sell her story. "I for one am disgusted at Mr. Cain's serial sexual harassment of women," Allred says, adding that the candidate is "actively lying to Americans."

1:54 p.m. ET

Bialek reached out to Cain to find a job, Allred says. Cain instead provided her with "his idea of a stimulus package," Allred says.

1:51 p.m. ET

Allred has introduced her client, Sharon Bialek. The woman is the first to go public with allegations against Cain.

1:49 p.m. ET

Cain and Mitt Romney are tied in the new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, but a majority of Republicans say they wouldn't vote for a candidate proved to have sexually harassed employees.

USA TODAY's Susan Page has more here.

Updated 1:45 p.m. ET

Another poll shows GOP voters don't care about the allegations against Cain. A majority, or 54%, in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll say they're not concerned about the allegations.

Our original post begins here:

Attorney Gloria Allred is holding a news conference today with a woman who claims she was sexually harassed by GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain.

In a news release sent out by Allred, the woman allegedly sought Cain's help on an employment issue when he was head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

Allred said her client is not one of the three women mentioned in news reports about the scandal, which has roiled Cain's campaign.

Cain has repeatedly said he has been falsely accused of sexual harassment. He said this weekend that he's done talking about the issue and wants his campaign to get back on message.

Allred is noted for representing women in high-profile incidents. The New York Times said in an Allred profile that she is "depending on one's perspective -- a feminist avenging crusader or a deluxe ambulance chaser catching a ride on the latest tabloid scandal."

The news conference, first reported by RadarOnline, is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET in New York City.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... accuser-/1

Allred shows statements from a pediatrician and a businessman who were told by Bialek what happened

Let's see, the last "political" client Allred had was Meg's illegal housekeeper.

The timing to too convenient.

November 7, 2011 2:10 PM

Sharon Bialek accuses Cain of sexually inappropriate behavior

By Corbett B. Daly Topics Campaign 2012 .63 Comments
UPDATED at 2:42 p.m. ET

A fourth woman said Monday that presidential candidate Herman Cain engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior with her more than decade ago, though Cain was not her supervisor at the time.

Sharon Bialek, the first woman to publicly accuse Cain of inappropriate behavior, said Cain was "sexually inappropriate" with her in 1997, saying he put his hand under her skirt and pushed her head toward his crotch after a dinner together. She said he backed away after she asked him to stop.

"I want you to come clean, Mr. Cain," she said in a New York City press conference at the Friars Club with her attorney, Gloria Allred at her side. Allred is known for her media savvy and for representing women who have had legal issues with the rich and powerful.

Bialek does not plan to sell her story or file a lawsuit against the Republican candidate for the White House. She said she was let go from the National Restaurant Association's Educational Foundation in the summer of 1997 and asked to meet him for coffee a month or so later in Washington, to ask for his assistance with her job search.

She said she booked herself a room at a hotel two blocks from the White House and when she checked in, it was upgraded to a suite by Cain. They went to dinner at an Italian restaurant and after dinner Cain made unwanted advances toward Bialek in the car.

When she asked what he was doing, she said he responded by rhetorically asking her: "You want a job, right?"

She said she made it clear she was not interested and Cain backed off.

Three other women have reportedly accused Cain of inappropriate behavior while he was running the National Restaurant Association, but none has made public charges against him.

Allred last year represented Nicky Diaz Santillan, the housekeeper California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman fired because of her immigration status. She also represented one of the women who had an affair with golf legend Tiger Woods.

The latest accusations are likely to put more pressure on Cain to explain what happened with the women who worked for him at the restaurant group. Cain has denied any harassment occurred.

Before the press conference had concluded, Cain's campaign issued a statement calling the allegations "false."

"Activist celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is bringing forth more false accusations against the character of Republican front-runner Herman Cain," the campaign said in a prepared statement.

"All allegations of harassment against Mr. Cain are completely false. Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone," the statement said.

Cain himself has sought to deflect questions on the matter, telling reporters on Saturday after a one-on-one debate in Texas with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich that "we are getting back on message, end of story."

"Far as we're concerned, these allegations aren't going anywhere," Cain said Sunday on Fox News, "I mean people might make up some more stuff. We are in it to win it."


Politico first reported on Oct. 30 at least two female employees complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain while he was head of the restaurant association in the 1990s. The Associated Press last week reported that a third woman had complained about Cain's behavior.

None has made the charges public and Sharon Bialek is the first woman to come before television cameras to make charges against the former chief executive of Godfather's pizza.

A poll released Sunday showed that Cain's poll numbers dropped for the first time since the accusations were made public a week ago, though it should be noted that the poll was conducted online. Online polls are typically much less reliable than traditional telephone polls.

The poll, conducted by Ipsos for Thomson Reuters, showed the former pizza chain restaurant executive's favorability rating among Republicans fell to 57 percent from 66 percent a week earlier.

Exhaustive media coverage of Cain's tenure as head of the restaurant association has boosted Cain's name recognition and helped him raise campaign cash from small donors.

His campaign said he raised $1.6 million in the first five days after the scandal broke.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162- ... -behavior/

Interesting comments on this blog. I agree with the blogger.

http://freedomeden.blogspot.com/

Monday, November 7, 2011
Sharon Bialek (Video)

Sharon Bialek, registered Republican, spouted some rather explosive allegations against Herman Cain in her press conference with Gloria Allred.

GLORIA ALLRED: Instead of receiving the help that [Sharon Bialek] had hoped for [in finding a job], Mr. Cain instead decided to provide her with his idea of a 'stimulus package,' which she will describe.

Good grief.

Way to make the accusation by her client seem legitimate!

Allred doesn't mind being a joke, literally.


Sharon Bialek (Photo/Business Insider)

From Business Insider:

Bialek said that she met Mr. Cain during a conference for the National Restaurant Association when she worked for the NRA's education foundation in Chicago during 1996. Says Cain invited her and her boyfriend to a private party in his hotel suite.

She was fired from the NRA soon after, apparently for not raising enough money for the foundation. She said that, at the suggestion of her boyfriend, arranged a meeting with Mr. Cain in Washington to talk about her future with the NRA.

She says Cain hooked her up with a "palatial suite" in Washington, D.C. Cain told her later that he had arranged for the "upgrade."

Bialek says Cain took her to the NRA offices — she thought they were going inside, but Cain reached under her skirt to grab her genitals and tried to force her head down to his crotch. She says she said: "What are you doing? That's not what I came here for." To which she alleges Cain responded "You want a job don't you?"

Bialek says she didn't file a complaint because she didn't work for the NRA.

This is a total "he said, she said" situation.

There's no official record of Bialek's story. She didn't file any complaint or tell anyone details of the incident at the time, not even her boyfriend.

That's weird.

SHARON BIALEK: I didn't tell them the details because, quite frankly, I was very embarrassed that Mr. Cain had been sexually inapproproiate to me.

I don't buy Bialek's reason for not telling her boyfriend what happened.

Why be embarrassed that she suffered this alleged abuse by Cain? I don't believe she wouldn't confide in someone as close to her as her boyfriend.

...Allred won't let the press ask Bialek any questions, and says Bialek is not filing any claim against Cain or the NRA. She adds that Bialek approched her, but is not interested in selling her story.

Bialek approached Allred.

That's very, very telling.

Here's video of the press conference: http://freedomeden.blogspot.com/

The Christian Science Monitor's View

Using money or secrecy to sweep a sex charge under the rug can often lead to bigger problems

Penn State and Herman Cain: sex charges handled badly

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-254655.html

Stick a fork in him, he's done.

Starts at 11:00 in this video.

http://bcove.me/2dr23uf7

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67768.html

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