A REPUBLICAN presidential candidate, Herman Cain, who has in recent days vaulted into the position of frontrunner, has admitted that he had been the subject of a complaint or complaints for sexual harassment in the 1990s, but he had denied the allegations.
It remains to be seen whether, like former president Bill Clinton and Supreme Court judge Clarence Thomas before him, Mr Cain will recover from the scandal, which was revealed by the Politico website on Sunday night.
"I have never sexually harassed anyone," he told Fox Newsyesterday after he and officials in his campaign avoided giving a clear answer to journalists from Politico for 11 days. "I was falsely accused while I was at the National Restaurant Association."
The White House hopeful has based his campaign on his successful stewardship of the Godfather’s Pizza chain.
After Godfather’s, he became the chief executive of the National Restaurant Association from 1996 until 1999.
It was during that period that at least two women employed by the association complained to colleagues and senior officials within the group that Mr Cain had behaved inappropriately towards them.
Both left after receiving five-figure financial settlements.
Mr Cain however has claimed ignorance of the settlements.
“If the Restaurant Association did a settlement, I wasn’t even aware of it,” he said. “And I hope it wasn’t for much because nothing happened. . . If there was a settlement, it was handled by some of the other officers that worked for me at the association.”
On Sunday, a journalist asked three times whether Mr Cain had ever been accused of harassment by a woman.
“Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?” Mr Cain snapped back at the reporter.
According to Politico, the incidents which upset the women who complained about Mr Cain "include conversations allegedly filled with innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature taking place at hotels during conferences, at other officially sanctioned restaurant association events and at the association's office".
The Cain campaign responded to Politico's publication of the report with a statement saying that "inside the Beltway, media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain . . . Sadly, we've seen this movie played out before – a prominent conservative targeted by liberals simply because they disagree with his politics."
The allegations have arisen as Mr Cain vies with, and sometimes surpasses, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for first place in the Republican contest. Mr Cain received 23 per cent of intended votes in a poll by the Des Moines Register at the weekend, compared to 22 per cent for Mr Romney.
Mr Cain headed a poll published yesterday by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune, with 27 per cent, compared to 26 per cent for Texas governor Rick Perry and 12 per cent for Texas congressman Ron Paul.
Republicans have proved extremely fickle in the campaign so far, transferring their affections from Donald Trump to Michele Bachmann to Rick Perry and now to Herman Cain. Mr Romney consistently receives between 20 and 25 per cent of intended votes, but he generates little enthusiasm and suffers from a reputation as a “flip-flopper”.
Mr Cain has been dismissed often as a “joke candidate”. Asked whether the party would “fall out of love” with him too, Mr Cain replied: “The people have propelled my candidacy, not the party . . . The flavour of the week is now the flavour of the month – and it still tastes good.”
Mr Cain, a self-made millionaire whose African-American father worked as a janitor, barber and chauffeur, is more colourful than the quintessentially establishment Mr Romney.
A video recently emerged of him singing "Imagine there's no pizza" to the tune of John Lennon's Imagine. A bizarre advertisement in which Mr Cain's campaign manager exhales cigarette smoke towards the camera, followed by a devilish grin from Mr Cain, went viral last week.
The sexual harassment allegations may worry social conservatives who were upset by Mr Cain’s changing position on abortion. In past interviews, he said he was “pro-life with exceptions” in cases of rape and incest.
Faced with criticism from Evangelical Christians, he amended that to “100 per cent pro-life” and “pro-life from conception, period.”
At a press breakfast at the American Enterprise Institute yesterday, Mr Cain elaborated on his pro-business policies, including a “9-9-9” plan which would establish 9 per cent income tax, 9 per cent sales tax and 9 per cent corporate tax for all.
“We wanted it to be simple because if the American people understand it, they are going to demand it,” he said.
Experts say the plan would favour the rich and hurt the poor.
“I believe the government’s role to create fairness should be zero,” Mr Cain said.
“Level the playing field. Where the government gets into picking winners and losers, where does it stop? That’s why we’re in the mess we’re in,” he added.