Allowed to Speak, One Cain Accuser Stands by Her Complaint
The National Restaurant Association has allowed one of the women who accused Herman Cain of sexually harassing her to waive the non-disclosure agreement, and her lawyer said, "My client stands by the complaint she made," but declined to give more details of the incidents. Speaking at a press conference Friday, the accuser's lawyer, Joel Bennett, called Cain's sexual propositions while the head of the National Restaurant Association "inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances from the CEO." Observers have criticized the Cain campaign and the NRA for keeping both women who reached settlements bound by a non-disclosure clause when Cain is allowed to tell his side of the story very publicly. And while some political watchers will be a little disappointed with her continued anonymity, we're not particularly surprised that given that right, she would politely decline to become a public figure in a lurid political scandal. Politico's Alexander Burns reports that Bennett's statement to the press read, in part:
In 1999 I was retained by a female employee of the National Restaurant Association concerning several instances of sexual harassment by the then CEO.
She made a complaint in good faith about a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances from the CEO.
Those complaints were resolved in an agreement with her acceptance of a monetary settlement. She and her husband see no value in revisiting this matter now, nor in discussing this matter further, publicly or privately. In fact it would be extremely painful to do so.
She is grateful that she was able to return to her government career, where she is extremely happy serving the American people to the best of her ability.
