Did Rahm Emanuel Leak Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Allegations?

By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 3, 2011 3:40PM

Cardboard pizza kingpin and GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain is trying his damnedest to get ahead of recent reports of sexual harassment against him while he was head of the National Restaurant Association. Now it appears as though Cain has taken a "see what sticks" approach to fighting the claims.

The New York Times reported Cain accusing Texas Gov. Rick Perry's campaign of leaking the story. A Perry campaign spokesman called Cain's charges "reckless and false."

The Washington Times, which is just to the right of Fox News on the fair and balanced scale, has added Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's name to the mix. They quote a source close to the Cain campaign as saying an employee in the National Restaurant Association's Chicago office may have been influenced by Emanuel to leak the story to the Perry camp.

Perry advisor Curt Anderson, who Cain's camp is accusing of leaking the claims, denies any responsibility.

"I’ve known Herman Cain for about 7 years. I was one of several consultants on his Senate race in 2004 and was proud to help him. I'd never heard any of these allegations until I read them in Politico, nor does anything I read in the press change my opinion that Herman is an upstanding man and a gentleman. I have great respect for Herman and his character and I would never speak ill of him, on the record or off the record. That's true today and it's not going to change."

Although neither the Perry nor Cain campaigns has been ready for prime time, the surfacing of Emanuel's name is curious mainly for his ties to the Obama administration as the President's former Chief of Staff. Though Emanuel has put on a happy face since being elected Chicago's mayor, his reputation for getting dirty politically when necessary does precede him. We wouldn't be surprised to see the narrative in the Cain story shift so that it implicates Obama, regardless of the degrees of separation.