Thread: Sharon Bialek says Herman Cain made inappropriate advances

Sharon Bialek says Herman Cain made inappropriate advances




By JUANA SUMMERS & MAGGIE HABERMAN & KENNETH P. VOGEL | 11/7/11 11:46 AM EST Updated: 11/8/11 6:11 AM EST

NEW YORK - A Chicago woman accused Herman Cain of sexually inappropriate behavior Monday, claiming at a news conference that the presidential candidate pushed her to perform a sex act in exchange for his help in landing a job while he ran the National Restaurant Association.

In stepping forward, Sharon Bialek, a middle-aged single mother who appeared with celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred in New York, became the first woman to speak on the record about what she claims happened over a decade ago.


Later Monday, it was announced that Cain will hold a news conference in Phoenix on Tuesday afternoon to attempt to respond to the allegations. His task was complicated with reports by the Washington Examiner that Cain had sought a dinner date via the help of a Virginia woman, Donna Donella of Arlington, in 2002.

Cain’s supporters called attention to Bialek’s apparently rocky financial history. The Chicago Tribune reported that she twice filed for bankruptcy, in 1991 and again in 2001.

The Friends of Herman Cain also attacked Bialek: “After attacking Herman Cain through anonymous accusers for a week, his opponents have now convinced a woman with a long history of severe financial difficulties, including personal bankruptcy, to falsely accuse the Republican front-runner of events occurring over a decade ago for which there is no record, nor even a complaint filed.â€

Witness: Cain accuser hugged him during Tea Party meeting a month ago

The Cain Encounter ...

They hugged each other backstage in a full embrace like old friends.

She grabbed his arm and whispered in his left ear.

She kept talking as he bent to listen, and he kept saying “Uh, huh. Uh, huh.â€

Herman Cain's defense in his own words



On Monday afternoon, Herman Cain released an unusually long statement in which he excoriated the media (and particularly Politico - which first broke the story of sexual harassment allegations against him) for engaging in a “hatchet job.â€

Cain accuser has history of financial troubles, legal squabbles
The emerging portrait of Herman Cain's most recent accuser shows a suburban homemaker with a history of financial and legal troubles, but one who supporters say has the guts to do the right thing.

Sharon Bialek, 50, is the fourth woman — and the first publicly — to accuse the Republican presidential hopeful of sexual harassment. In a dramatic news conference Monday in New York, Bialek, a former employee of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, said she had sought Cain's help in finding a new job in July 1997 shortly after the organization had fired her.

Instead, Bialek said, Cain, who was then head of the restaurant association, reached under her skirt while the two were seated in a parked car and attempted to move her head toward his crotch. Cain's campaign quickly issued a denial, calling her allegations "completely false."

Bialek said she shared her allegations with her then-boyfriend and another male friend shortly after her meeting with Cain. However, the man she is now engaged to said she did not tell him about her history with the former Godfather's Pizza CEO until Friday night, when she told him she was going to New York for the news conference.

Her fiance, Mark Harwood, said he was in "a bit of shock" but admired her decision to come forward.

"It's not an anti-political thing. It's not a money thing," said Harwood, who shares a large, five-bedroom home with Bialek in north suburban Mundelein. "She's just trying to do the right thing, and that takes guts."

Born and raised in Chicago, Bialek graduated from Carl Schurz High School on the Northwest Side and briefly attended Northeastern Illinois University before enrolling at Arizona State University. She graduated from ASU in 1983 with a communications degree, a school spokesman said.

Records show she twice has filed for personal bankruptcy, first in 1991 and then again in 2001. In the latter case, she claimed $5,700 in assets and more than $36,000 in liabilities. Among the creditors seeking payment was a management firm demanding back rent of $4,500, four credit card companies and a lawyer asking for his legal fees.

After the case was discharged, she accused a former boyfriend of harassing her for repayment of a loan, court records in the bankruptcy case show. Bialek borrowed $4,500 from William Concha, though Concha now believes she had no intention of paying him back, according to his brother, Mario.

Reached Monday night in Spain, William Concha declined comment.

At least two liens have been filed against Bialek, according to records from the Cook County recorder of deeds.

The IRS filed a tax lien against her in 2009 for nearly $5,200. In August, the Illinois Department of Revenue claimed Bialek owed the state more than $4,300, including penalties and interest, relating to income taxes from 2004, according to county records.

Court records also show creditors took legal action against her during the past decade, including at least one lawsuit filed in Cook County.

Bialek's fiance, however, denied she had any current money problems. Harwood, a corporate executive in the medical equipment industry, said he supports her financially so she can stay at home with her 13-year-old son from a previous relationship.

Bialek has not had a job outside the home in about two years, according to her attorney, Gloria Allred.

After leaving the restaurant foundation in 1997, Bialek worked for five years in WGN Radio's marketing department, Allred said. A Tribune Co. spokesman declined comment on her employment with the station.

Bialek also spent 21/2 years at CBS Radio as managing director for nontraditional revenue, Allred said. She previously had co-hosted a cooking show on television for nine years and worked for Revlon as an account manager and for the Easter Seals Society in corporate development, according to her lawyer.

Allred described her client as a "registered Republican," though Bialek does not have an active voter card in Illinois, election officials said. The state does not allow voters to register by party, but records show she pulled a GOP ballot in the 2008 primary.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 5523.story

Too convenient and it stinks.

Although the National Restaurant Association has a government relations office in the Washington D.C. area, it's main headquarters is in Chicago, where the annual show is held and where the state restaurant associations network with another.

Interestingly, the Illinois Restaurant Association (IRA), located in Chicago, is headed up by Sheila O'Grady. Ms. O'Grady, who was the chief of staff to former Chicago mayor Richard Daley, was appointed President of the IRA in 2007.

. . . .

O'Grady served as Mayor Daley's chief of staff for a number of years until 2007. Daley, no stranger to controversy himself, was recently slapped with a lawsuit last spring by John Brooks, Chicago's former fire Commissioner. Brooks claimed that Daley threatened to smear him over what Brooks said were false sexual harassment allegations if Brooks did not retire on his own.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/wat ... icago-bac/

Interesting . . . very interesting. Note that the lawyer in the Bialek case is none other than David Axelrod.

https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/coo ... 0BFIICG0MD

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

Interesting . . . very interesting. Note that the lawyer in the Bialek case is none other than David Axelrod.

https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/coo ... 0BFIICG0MD

yes that is iinteresting