COMMENTARY | One of the original two unidentified women in the Herman Cain sexual harassment scandal has identified herself. Karen Kraushaar announced on Nov. 8 that she was one of the women that was anonymously sourced by the Politico article that revealed presidential hopeful Cain had been the subject of at least two sexual harassment allegations while president/CEO of the National Restaurants Association (NRA) in the late ’90s. And in an interview with CNN Tuesday, Kraushaar said that she wanted the truth to come out and that no matter how many women came forward, Cain would probably continue to deny their stories simply because he was a “serial denier.”
“He’s a serial denier,” she said. “He will deny if it is four or 40 women.”
Kraushaar spoke with CNN after Cain denied again at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that he had ever sexually harassed anyone. He has denied the allegations since the story broke on Halloween.
“They simply didn’t happen. They simply did not happen.”
Kraushaar is the second woman involved in the scandal to publicly identify herself. She came forward after Sharon Bialek, a former NRA employee, announced that she had been sexually harassed by Cain shortly after being laid off by the association when she called on Cain to help her find another job. Cain dismissed Bialek’s story as one of a “troubled” woman being led by his political opponents to discredit him.
Bialek, appearing on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight,” said she hoped her coming forward would encourage others to do so. “Unfortunately for Herman, he’s still in denial,” she said.
Whether or not Cain is a “serial denier” or just “in denial” or even telling the truth about the sexual harassment allegations, the scandal could ultimately be ruinous to his campaign and may have already done irreparable harm. The public doubt about the scandal and the accumulating publicity connected with simply reporting the developments cannot but hurt him in the long run, because if anything, politics is a numbers game. Continued revelations and constantly having to deny allegations — regardless of their veracity — will damage his electability. Even though Cain is currently holding steady, tied in the latest USA Today/Gallup poll with co-frontrunner Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination, continued bad publicity will likely take its toll on his poll numbers, if not among his core constituents, then with the general voting electorate.
And especially among female voters.
But Kraushaar has suggested a combined press conference with all the accusers telling their stories. And she still has copies of her original sexual harassment complaint to the NRA — which she is contemplating releasing to the public.
“There is safety in numbers,” she said. “It is important that it happen in one conference.”
And if the number of details continue to pile up (and the number of accusers continue to increase), Cain can be certain of one thing with regard to his presidential aspirations: His number is up.