The ongoing story involving former Godfathers Pizza CEO and front-runner-in-many-polls Republican Presidential candidate wannabe Herman Cain is proving to have legs: apparently two more. A new, fourth woman has reportedly surfaced to claim Cain sexually harrassed her and she has hired high-profile attorney Gloria Allred.
And, unlike the others, she will be talking to the press soon — with Allred by her side:
A new woman alleging sexual harassment by presidential hopeful Herman Cain will break her silence at a news conference with her powerhouse attorney Gloria Allred Monday afternoon in New York City, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.
The embattled GOP nominee has admitted that several women who worked at the National Restaurant Association during his tenure as president of the organization received settlements. Politico has reported that the settlements were given because of sexual harassment allegations.
The woman, who will be the first to go public on Monday, sought Cain’s help with an employment issue and was allegedly sexually harassed by him. Allred and her client will discuss, in detail, what she alleges occurred with Cain.
The Tea Party darling had hoped the scandal would die down, but that’s not happening. Once again, he clashed with reporters on Saturday night after a debate with Newt Gingrich. Cain refused to answer questions about the allegations, and said, “You see what I mean? I was gonna do something that my staff told me not to do and try to respond, okay? What I’m saying is this — we are getting back on message, end of story. Back on message. Read all of the other accounts. Read all of the other accounts where everything has been answered in the story. We’re getting back on message, okay?”
Over the weekend Cain put forth a somewhat exotic reply to reporters who keep peppering him with questions: he suggests the reporters who ask him tough questions are violating a reporters’ Code of Ethics
In fact, there is an informal but quite operative and pervasive Code of Employment that covers the bulk of print and broadcast reporters which states that He or She who doesn’t pursue a story unflattering to a public official just because the official says he/she doesn’t like it or insists he/she won’t talk about it will have to leave the job and go somewhere else.
In this case, the surfacing of a fourth woman means the story will most assuredly be kept alive. This further means:
*Cain will have many Republicans still rally to him.
*At least one poll shows the scandal has eroded his support and he will not be able to undo this erosion.
*He will be damaged goods if he gets the nomination, although Republicans will and can point to Bill Clinton’s escapades before he was nominated.
But this ensures the story will continue — and is likely to emerge in one form or another in future GOP debates.
Another danger for Cain: he had emerged as a kind of latter day, sunny dispositioned Ronald Reagan to some. Continued clips of him battling
with reporters and more stories of women alleging inappropriate behavior on his part will not help him expand his existing base.
With this new story, Newt Gingrich — most likely the next Anti-Romney poised to rise in the polls — must be smiling.
A CROSS SECTION OF OTHER VIEWS ON THIS STORY:
–-Michelle Malkin:
As much of a despicable publicity-seeker as the Paris Hilton of Lawyers is, it’s a mistake to completely write off Allred before the presser. The last time we saw her, I must remind you, she was attached like a barnacle to the side of one of Anthony Weiner’s sexting pals. And we know how that all — rightly — ended.
That said, while Cain botched the initial response to Politico’s vague story and the race-card playing by all sides has been over-the-top, the scandal qua scandal has so far been a dud.
Finally having a face and someone able legally to give us specifics about allegations against Cain will change things. But an obvious question – not answered in the reports I’m currently reading – is why she did not file a charge at the time. If it begins to look as if money is involved, then Cain could pull a Clinton – and survive.
Gloria Allred’s entrance into the Herman Cain scandal marks a new phase, one in which people are likely looking to get paid. (The Los Angeles lawyer isn’t best known for her pro bono practice.)
This should, in principle, harden Cain’s support among his defenders. After all, if it was difficult to pin political motives on women who filed complaints a decade ago and then refused to discuss them, it’s not so hard to pin a pecuniary motive on people whose press conferences with Allred leak to radar.
And yet: Ask Governor Whitman and Rep. Weiner how encounters with Allred usually turn out.
Her ubiquity in these cases is astonishing and, presumably, the result of new potential clients watching previous performances appreciatively.
As Talking Points Memo points out, Allred has already spoken out about the scandal, telling The Hill last week that she saw “a lot of inconsistencies” in Cain’s statements about the settlements and allegations.
This scandal was one of the biggest stories of last week and it will be interesting to see how much more interest the media and public has for it. At the beginning, the story didn’t seem to be affecting Cain too much but, recently, it has begun to take its toll.
Really, we’re just hoping this press conference will feature someone doing something filthy with a pizza slicer.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.