Tag Archives: sexual harassment

It appears Herman Cain has brought this new wave of media scrutiny upon himself.

Not because he’s being accused of sexually harassing two women in the late 1990s, and not because his responses to these allegations have appeared “Clintonian” at least and scattered at most, but because in his public statements about these charges Cain made “disparaging remarks” about one of the alleged victims, which may be a violation of the confidentiality agreement he signed.

According to The Hill:

Attorney Joel Bennett told CBS’s “The Early Show” on Wednesday that his client hasn’t spoken publicly because of the confidentiality agreement, but that Cain’s comments might have cleared a path. … “She would like to speak out for the record, only because Mr. Cain has stated that he didn’t sexually harass anyone, that there wasn’t any substance to the allegations, and basically made it look like she was some type of frivolous claimant looking for money.” According to Bennett, one of the stipulations of the confidentiality agreement was that neither party could make disparaging remarks about the other. Bennett said Cain violated that agreement on Fox News on Monday when he said that he had been told that the accuser’s performance in the workplace “was not up to par.”

I cannot say one way or another whether these allegations are true. But at this point, it doesn’t matter. It is incidences like this that influence elections, and as unfair or ridiculous as that may be – that allegations yet to be proven as factually accurate can destroy a man’s career or political prospects – that’s the nature of the game. Politics is politics, and sex scandals sell more newspapers than policy debates.

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