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The Smell Test
Author: BobR    Date: 11/02/2011 12:45:34

(UPDATE BELOW...)

Upon the release of a story Monday by Politico on "alleged" sexual harrassment by presidential hopeful Herman Cain, the news seems to be focusing on little else. They've been doggedly pushing Cain for details, and he has continued to be deliberately obtuse. His meme has been that he remembers little of the incident, and has tossed off one silly "example" of what "might" have been construed as sexual harrassment.

To this I call bullshit.

Most people reading this have worked or are working in the corporate world. The NRA (not THAT NRA) is a lobbying group which advocates for the restaurant industry. As such, they are like a typical office (albeit with a lot of lawyers) - receptionist, administrative assistants, accountants, and - this is the key - an HR department. In fact - go to their help wanted website and you can see they are a big "company" with several offices and a lot of employees.

As such, they are like any other company where most of us have worked. The HR dept has employee handbooks, presentations on various subjects, and documents that you must sign. One of those things will invariably involve sexual harrassment, whether it's a statement in the employee handbook, a pre-recorded video, or an in-office presentation. Companies take sexual harrassment VERY seriously. In a lot of cases it may be simply to protect their bottom line from lawsuits, but - whatever the motivation - they don't treat it lightly.

Which is why I call bullshit on Cain's feigned memory lapse of the entire incident.

In the event of a real sexual harrassment claim (much less 2), the HR dept would've called him into their office pronto and gotten a statement from him. Had he been a low-level manager, that meeting would have involved HR and at least his immediate supervisor. Considering he was pretty much at the top of the food chain there, it would've involved the company's legal lawyer.

At the meeting, they would have described the incidents and asked him for his responses to them. They may have asked him to sign a written statement. They would've asked him to be very specific about what took place, and his viewpoint on the incidents. Because the reality is: if someone claims sexual harrassment, the company will have the accuser specify the harrasment in detail, with as many examples and dates as possible. Cain would've been required by HR to answer to every one of those.

After the meeting, the company would need to assess the statements of the accusers and the accused, and then decide what to do. They could've decided it wasn't a problem and just filed the paperwork... they could've fired Cain (which would've been the likely outcome had he been a low-level manager), or they could've moved the two women to another dept where they wouldn't have to interact with him (which may not have been possible in this case). They apparently thought the complaints had enough merit to be taken seriously.

Instead, they chose to provide the women with generous severance packages (UPDATE: it was 1 year's salary) if they would simply leave and not talk about it anymore, and likely forego any right to sue. The women took this offer and walked. Had Politico not released the article, that would've been the end of it. Instead, this is now a big story because America loves a juicy sex scandal, even one that's not particularly juicy. Cain is not a "moral majority" Republican, so there is no hypocrisy angle here. One of the woman involved is apparently disgusted enough with Cain's overachieving memory lapse to have asked for the non-disclosure clause to be waived.

The bigger problem for Cain in the long run involves possible campaign finance law violations, to which Cain also pleads ignorance. This is actually a charge which - if it pans out - could lead to a criminal conviction.

In the end, the problem for Cain may not be an old sexual harrassment claim, or a campaign finance law violation by his campaign manager. It is that he continually pleads ignorance, when all common sense says that he MUST know. He is showing himself to be a chauvinist and a bad liar. These are not traits America looks for in a president.
 

91 comments (Latest Comment: 11/03/2011 03:07:25 by BobR)
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