Herman Cain Payout Detailed by Guardian

Herman Cain sexual harassment accuser 'received $45,000 payout'   More allegations emerge as Cain's team back off from claim that Rick Perry strateg st Curt Anderson had planted the story Ewen MacAskill in Washington guardian.co.uk, Thursday 3 November 2011 15.38 EDT Article history Herman Cain had suggested earlier this week that the woman had received a payout of two to three months' salary. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP Fresh allegations have surfaced in the Herman Cain sex row with a report that one of the women involved had received a payout of $45,000, substantially more than the Republican presidential candidate suggested she had. The report undermined attempts by Cain, the Republican frontrunner in the battle to take on Barack Obama for the White House next year, to divert attention from a scandal that has dominated the media all week. Politico first reported on Sunday that two female staff had complained about Cain's behaviour while working for him at the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s and that both had left after receiving financial settlements. Cain, who denies sexually harassing the women, on Monday said he could not recall any such settlements. He told journalists at the National Press Club in Washington: "As far as a settlement, I am unaware of any kind of settlement. I hope it wasn't for much, because I didn't do anything. But the fact of the matter is, I'm not aware of a settlement that came out of that accusation." But he later amended this to say he recalled one but it had only been for two to three months' salary, though he changed this again to say perhaps it had been six months'. Politico said Thursday that one of the women had received $45,000, believed to be more than just a few months' salary. This comes after the New York Times reported the other woman had received $35,000. In another setback, Cain's team backed off its claim that rival Rick Perry's team had originally planted the story in a dirty tricks operation. Cain had blamed a Perry strategist, Curt Anderson, as the source. But Cain's team on Thursday was forced into a climbdown after Anderson denied it. Anderson said he had known nothing about the sexual allegations until he read about them on Politico. He added that he continued to have enormous respect for Cain and would not speak negatively about him either on or off the record. Mark Block, Cain's campaign chief, said: "Until we get all the facts, I'm just going to say that we accept what Mr Anderson has said, and we want to move on with the campaign." Anderson had worked for Cain as a consultant in a failed bid for the Senate in 2004. Cain's team claim he was briefed at the time about the sex harrassment allegations. Perry's team suggested that another rival, Mitt Romney, might have been the culprit, noting that one of Romney's big donors was in the restaurant industry. AP reported Wednesday that a third woman had come forward to say she had considered lodging a complaint against Cain's behaviour towards her at the restaurant association. Cain's camp described the report as "baseless". One of the women in the Politico report, who has opted for anonymity, is considering issuing a statement through her Washington-based lawyer, Joel Bennett. Bennett said he is planning to approach to restaurant association to see whether it will free her from a pledge of silence on the issue so her statement can be released. In Iowa, a conservative radio talkshow host, Steve Deace, suggested Cain was compromised. No polls have yet appeared indicating that Cain's support was crumbling but Deace is influential in the state, where the first of Republican contests is due to be held on 3 January. Deace claimed Cain had made inappropriate comments about two of his female staff. After three days of being in the media glare in Washington, Cain remained in the city on Thursday intent on adopting a lower profile. At least one campaign event has been cancelled, but he has not yet pulled out from a radio interview scheduled for Thursday evening. Cain, throughout his campaign for the Republican nomination, has kept his family strictly in the background but, following the pattern of candidates caught up in previous sex rows, he may field his wife Gloria for the first time in public, with negotiations underway for a possible television interview on Friday. The former chief executive of Godfather's Pizza is the surprise candidate of the Republican race so far, rising to the top of the polls in spite of having no political or foreign policy experience.