PRESIDENT BARACK Obama’s re-election campaign must be delighted to see Republican challengers turn on each other as the scandal over candidate Herman Cain’s alleged sexual harassment of employees wears on.
In an interview with Forbes magazine, Mr Cain accused Texas governor Rick Perry’s campaign of leaking the information that two employees of the National Restaurant Association, which he headed in the late 1990s, filed complaints of sexual harassment by Mr Cain and departed after obtaining financial settlements.
Such revelations are “one reason why people don’t get involved in politics”, Mr Cain’s campaign manager, Mark Block, told Fox News. “The actions of the Perry campaign are despicable. Rick Perry and his campaign owe Herman Cain and his family an apology.”
Two men who worked for Mr Cain’s unsuccessful 2004 Senate bid, Curt Anderson and Tony Fabrizio, now work for Mr Perry. Mr Cain claims he told Mr Anderson about one of the sexual harassment cases in 2003. Mr Anderson says he did not hear of the story until October 31st, and that Mr Cain owes him an apology.
“There is not one shred of evidence that any member of the Perry campaign had anything to do with the recent stories regarding Herman Cain – because it isn’t true,” Mr Perry’s spokesman, Ray Sullivan, said.
Mr Sullivan attempted to shift blame to the campaign of the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, noting that Mr Romney’s backers had close ties to the Restaurant Association. The Romney campaign also denied having anything to do with the story.
While Republicans traded accusations, reports emerged of a third and fourth woman alleging inappropriate behaviour by Mr Cain; a development reminiscent of the “bimbo outbreaks” of the Clinton years. The third woman told the Associated Press that she considered filing a complaint but did not because two of her colleagues had already done so. And a talk show host in Iowa said Mr Cain made his receptionist feel uncomfortable.
Chris Wilson, a pollster who worked at the Restaurant Association and who now supports Mr Perry, told a radio station in Oklahoma that he saw Mr Cain harass a low-level employee who was “maybe two years out of college” in a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia. “If she comes out and talks about it ... it’ll probably be the end of his campaign,” Mr Wilson said.
Mr Cain is under pressure to publicly ask the Restaurant Association to release the two women from the non-disclosure agreements they signed in exchange for settling their complaints. Joel Bennett, a Washington lawyer who represents one of the women, yesterday asked the association to allow him to release a statement on his client’s behalf.
Influential Republicans, including Mississippi governor Haley Barbour and the political strategist Karl Rove, have called on Mr Cain to lift the confidentiality restriction.
But the right-wing billionaire Donald Trump defended Mr Cain. “I think it’s a very ugly witch hunt,” Mr Trump told Fox News. “You say, ‘Oh, hello, darling, how are you?’ and you get sued because you’ve destroyed somebody’s life. It’s ridiculous.”