Cain Campaign Aims to Discredit His Accuser

By Lindsey Boerma

Updated: November 8, 2011 | 1:33 p.m.
November 8, 2011 | 1:31 p.m.

Sharon Bialek, left, of Chicago, prepares to address a news conference at the Friars Club, with her attorney Gloria Allred, in New York on Monday. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In a second mass e-mailing aimed at discrediting Herman Cain’s accuser, the Republican candidate’s presidential campaign delved into the background of Sharon Bialek of Chicago and highlighted her financial problems and her involvement in several lawsuits.

“As Ms. Sharon Bialek has placed herself in the public spotlight through making patently false allegations against Herman Cain, it is only fair to compare her track record alongside Mr. Cain’s,” the campaign’s e-mail said. “In stark contrast to Mr. Cain’s four decades spent climbing the corporate ladder rising to the level of CEO at multiple successful business enterprises, Ms. Bialek has taken a far different path.”

“The fact is that Ms. Bialek has had a long and troubled history, from the courts to personal finances – which may help explain why she has come forward 14 years after an alleged incident with Mr. Cain, powered by celebrity attorney and long term Democrat donor Gloria Allred.”

The statement cites six lawsuits including Bialek’s personal bankruptcy, which she acknowledged in interviews on nationally televised news shows Tuesday morning. The e-mail does not offer specifics on the other lawsuit citations, except to say one involved “paternity.” Bialek, the mother of a 13-year-old son, also acknowledged on the shows that she had been involved in a custody battle with an ex-husband.

The Cain e-mail also slams Bialek for working “for nine employers over the last seventeen years.”

Bialek on Monday accused the former executive of the Godfather’s Pizza chain of aggressively propositioning her in a car in 1997 after she asked him for help finding a job. At the time, Cain headed the National Restaurant Association, and Bialek had recently left a job with the trade group. Three other women who worked for the NRA during Cain’s tenure there have claim he sexually harassed them, although Bialek is the only one to go public with her story.

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