Fiance of Sharon Bialek says he is supporting her but did not find out until Friday
Filed for bankruptcy twice
Accused former boyfriend of harassing her to pay a loan
Cain appears on Jimmy Kimmel saying he will fight the accusations
Father found out about allegations on Monday
Lived in same building as top Obama aid
Fifth woman claims he asked aid to set up dinner date with him and an attractive audience member
By Rachel Quigley
Last updated at 9:32 PM on 8th November 2011
A 'gold digger' embroiled in legal and financial difficulties who has always lived above her station and will do anything to never have to work again.
This is the portrait that has started to emerge of the fourth woman to accuse Herman Cain of sexual harassment - the first to come out publicly.
Though her lawyer Gloria Allred painted a respectable and prestigious education and employment history for Sharon Bialek, 50, just a day later it has been revealed that she has not held a job for more than two years and has filed for bankruptcy twice.
The 50-year-old is a single mother and suburban homemaker who lives in a large five bedroom house with her fiance - who said he first heard about the 'shocking' allegations on Friday.
Mark Harwood, who has been dating the 50-year-old for several years after meeting online, said he will stand by his fiancée and believes coming out publicly was a 'gutsy' thing to do.
He said: 'It's not an anti-political thing. It's not a money thing. She's just trying to do the right thing, and that takes guts.'
A former employee of the National Restaurant Association Education Fund, Ms Bialek told a press conference in New York yesterday that when she went to Mr Cain for advice on finding a new job in July 1997, he 'put his hand on my leg under my skirt and reached for my genitals. He also grabbed my head and brought it towards his crotch'.
Herman Cain's campaign immediately released a statement saying the allegations were untrue and the embattled nominee appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel show last night saying he was going to come out fighting.
'I was listening very closely and then when it was all over with, I said, well I know what we got to do because there's not an ounce of truth in all of these accusations and my team is putting this stuff together.
'That is why I'm willing to do a press conference tomorrow to set the record straight. I'm in it to win it and I'm not going to be discouraged.'
Meanwhile, a friend of Ms Bialek, from Chicago, told the New York Post: 'She has a very infectious personality. It’s easy to see how she won [Cain] over. But the reality of her situation is -- she’s a complete gold digger. It’s all about the money.'
Adding that she was from a middle-income family but lives in a posh house while running from bill collectors, the source said: 'Most of her jobs ended in termination. It’s always the employer’s fault, not hers.
'This is a lady who lives off the system. She is hellbent on finding a way of never having to work and living the lifestyle she wants to live, a very affluent lifestyle.'
Meanwhile, a fifth woman has come out to talk about some suspect activity at the hands of Cain.
Former employee of the United States Agency for International Development Donna Donella, 40, from Arlington, said the Republican presidential candidate asked her to help arrange a dinner date for him with a female audience member following a speech he delivered nine years ago.
She told the Washington Examiner: 'After the seminar was over. Cain came over to me and a colleague and said, "Could you put me in touch with that lovely young lady who asked the question, so I can give her a more thorough answer over dinner?"'
When she declined to saying she didn't feel comfortable doing it, he then invited her to dinner. She accepted and brought two colleagues with her.
Though she said Cain exhibited no inappropriate sexual behavior during the dinner, he did order two $400 bottles of wine and left the women with the bill.
Details of a number of legal and financial difficulties belonging to Ms Bialek also emerged today, with the Chicago Tribune listing a long history with tax evasion and late or missed credit card payments.
The paper reported that Ms Bialek has filed for personal bankruptcy twice, first in 1991 and then again in 2001.
In 2001, she claimed $5,700 in assets and more than $36,000 in liabilities. Among the creditors seeking payment was a management firm demanding back rent of $4,500, four credit card companies and a lawyer asking for his legal fees.
She is also said to have accused a former boyfriend of harassing her for money he had loaned her after she borrowed $4,500 from him.
The IRS filed a tax lien against her in 2009 for nearly $5,200. In August, the Illinois Department of Revenue claimed Ms Bialek owed the state more than $4,300, including penalties and interest, relating to income taxes from 2004, according to county records.
Court records also show creditors took legal action against her during the past decade, including at least one lawsuit filed in Cook County.
But Mark Harwood, a corporate executive in the medical equipment industry, denied she had any financial difficulties and claimed he supports her so she can look after her 13-year-old son.
Her father, Chester Bialek, said he did not know about his daughter's allegation until Monday and said that though he was surprised, he is supporting her decision to come forward.
A Fox News reporter confronted Ms Bialek during an interview today about living in the same building as Obama top aid David Axelrod.
She was asked: 'One of the things is that you lived at a 505 North Lake Shore Drive apartment, right? This is the same building, it happens to be the same building David Axelrod lives in. Do you know David Axelrod? Ever have any interaction with him at all?'
A witness has also come out today to say that she saw the encounter between Ms Bialek and Herman Cain at a convention in Chicago last month.
Ms Bialek told the press conference yesterday that she didn't know he was going to be there but went up to shake his hand and said he looked 'uncomfortable'
But WIND radio co-host Amy Jacobson told the Chicago Sun Times what she believes she witnesses at the TeaCon convention when the two met after, she said, Ms Bialek ' was hell bent on going backstage, where she cornered him'.
'It looked sort of flirtatious,' she said. 'I mean they were hugging. But she could have been giving him the kiss of death for all I know. I had no idea what they were talking about, but she was inches from his ear.
'I couldn't believe it when I saw she was the fourth accuser, I was shocked.'
The 50-year-old replied: 'I saw him in the gym. I mean -- everybody nods to each other. It is friendly building but I never had any interaction with him.'
On Monday night, Sharon Bialek told Piers Morgan she regarded Cain as someone she 'went to for help' and is shocked that he would 'use his power in such a way'.
She said that she is not coming forward for the purpose of making money and is aware of the backlash that she faces, claiming she can handle it.
When asked about the potential effects on her teenage son's life, the single mother said: 'He's the love of my life... I want him to know that his mommy did something good for women, that she stood up for what she believed in, and I think that's a more important lesson to learn.'
In a news conference earlier Monday, Ms Bialek went public with her claims, accusing the Republican frontrunner of being 'aggressive' and 'sexually inappropriate' towards her.
When she asked him what he was doing he replied: 'You want a job don't you?'
The single mother, who worked for the National Restaurant Association under Cain from 1996 to 1997, made an appeal to the embattled nominee saying: 'I really didn't want to be here today, but I want you, Mr Cain, to come clean. Just admit what you did. Admit you were inappropriate to people...and then move forward.
'Mr Cain, I implore you, Make this right.'
Cain's office immediately released a statement after the press conference saying: 'Just as the country finally begins to refocus on our crippling $15 trillion national debt and the unacceptably high unemployment rate, now activist celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is bringing forth more false accusations against the character of Republican front-runner Herman Cain.
'All allegations of harassment against Mr Cain are completely false. Mr Cain has never harassed anyone.
'Fortunately the American people will not allow Mr. Cain's bold '9-9-9 Plan', clear foreign policy vision and plans for energy independence to be overshadowed by these bogus attacks.'
The fifth round of sexual harassment claims come after the GOP presidential candidate's popularity dropped from 66 per cent to 57 per cent, leaving Mitt Romney leading the polls with 63 per cent.
Ms Bialek agreed by phone to travel to Washington to meet him for a drink to discuss her options either with the company or with another.
The former cooking show co-host said Herman Cain sat beside her many times at dinners, luncheons and conventions when she was employed by the NRA, and had spoken with her extensively at this time.
It was her boyfriend at the time who suggested she go to him for advice, believing he thought 'highly' of her.
When she arrived at the Capitol Hilton hotel, she found that he had upgraded her room to a palatial suite, which she initially thought was done by her boyfriend until Cain later told her, 'I upgraded you.'
They met for drinks in the lobby and then had dinner at an Italian restaurant when he asked her, 'Why are you here?'
She explained that she was reaching out to him at the behest of her boyfriend for help finding a job.
Describing the actual moment of the alleged sexual harassment, Ms Bialek, fighting back tears, told the news conference: 'He suddenly reached over and put his hand on my leg...under my skirt and reached for my genitals. He also grabbed my head and brought it towards his crotch
'When I asked him what he was doing he said, "You want a job don't you?" I told him to stop and he did, I asked him to leave me to my hotel and he did.'
She said she was surprised and shocked at his actions.
Introducing the single mother, her lawyer Gloria Allred said she was 'disgusted' at Herman Cain's behaviour and said that he 'provided Sharon with a stimulus package of his own' when she went to him for advice.
Written, sworn statements were later read out by Ms Allred from Ms Bialek's former boyfriend, a pediatrician, and a businessman friend and mentor whom she also confided in at the time.
The business card the alleged victim held when she was employed by the NRA was also shown at the conference.
Ms Bialek said she was coming forward now to give a 'face and a voice to the other women'.
A woman who received a cash settlement from the restaurant association in response to her harassment claim rejected Cain's denials on Friday.
She said through her lawyer she was the victim of a 'series of inappropriate behaviours and unwanted advances' by Cain in 1999.
Cain revealed over the weekend that it is his wife Gloria who has been hardest hit by the decades-old allegations.
But his popularity among the voters has also taken a hit as the percentage of Republicans who view the Tea Party darling favourably dropped 9 percentage points.
And among all registered voters, Cain's popularity declined 5 percentage points, to 32 per cent from 37 per cent.
He said in the interview: 'My wife, obviously like most spouses, actually took it harder than I did because she knew about this, she knew that there was baseless from 1999.
'And I've had people telling me that usually the family members, um, they're the ones that emotionally take it so much - take it harder than the candidates.
'See the candidate being me, it's like I'm in the boxing match every day, throwing punches back, alright.
'Well when you've got to turn on the TV and watch all of the, uh, exaggerations and innuendos about your husband that you know hadn't done anything wrong, it can have an emotional toll. But she's doing fine now, she's doing fine now.'
Cain has continued to vehemently deny the accusations and has charged the presidential campaign of Texas governor Rick Perry with leaking the story.
Perry's campaign denies any involvement, which surfaced in Politico more than a week ago.
But now four woman have accused Cain of sexual harassment from his time as the restaurant industry's top lobbyist in the late 1990s.
Cain has given conflicting accounts of the cases since the news broke a week ago. He insists the claims were baseless and that he was wrongfully accused.
The allegations have received wide attention. The Reuters/Ipsos poll found more than 80 percent of respondents had heard of them, with Republicans the most aware, at 88 per cent, while independents the least aware, but still at a relatively high 64 per cent.
Talking about the last week, Cain recognised that things had gotten off to 'a little bit of a bumpy start'.
He said: 'I knew that that there was nothing to these faceless claims. I knew that.
'And even though I may not have responded on Monday morning as crisply and precise as I did later in the day, I'd do it all over again if I had to.'
He also said he was in the race 'for the long haul' and cited last week's fundraising figures, which showed him netting hundreds of thousands of dollars on the web.
He said: 'I am in it to win it. And far as we're concerned, these allegations aren't going anywhere. I mean people might make up some more stuff. We are in it to win it.
'And here's one other thing. Last week, in the middle of this fire storm, we have had the best fundraising week in the history of this campaign. The American people are sick of government politics.'
Despite the poll result, which showed 53 per cent of respondents believed the allegations were true despite his denials, Cain predicted his campaign will not be adversely affected by them.
It also revealed that Republicans were less likely to believe they are true, with 39 per cent thinking they are accurate.
Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson said: 'The most striking thing is that Herman Cain is actually seeing a fairly substantial decline in ratings toward him particularly among Republicans.'
Four in 10 poll respondents said the harassment issue had made them less favourable toward Cain. And about one in three Republicans, or 35 percent, said the controversy had made them less favourable toward Cain.
Jackson said it may well be that the wave of support that carried the conservative Cain to the top of the Republican field was now cresting.
He said: 'I think he is probably cresting now. I think this week, last week, were sort of the high-water mark.'
WHO IS SHARON BIALEK?
Born and raised in Chicago, Ms Bialek graduated from Carl Schurz High School and briefly attended Northeastern Illinois University before enrolling at Arizona State University. She graduated from ASU in 1983 with a communications degree, a school spokesman said.
In 1996 she was hired by the National Restaurant Association Education Fund as the manager of industrial relations before being fired a year later.
After that, she worked for five years in WGN Radio's marketing department, Gloria Allred said. She is also said to have spent two-and-a-half years at CBS radio as managing director for nontraditional revenue.
It was also revealed at the press conference that she co-hosted a cooking show on television for nine years and worked for Revlon as an account manager and for the Easter Seals Society in corporate development.
Gloria Allred described her client as a 'registered Republican', but the 50-year-old does not have an active voter card in Illinois, election officials said. The state does not allow voters to register by party, but records show she pulled a GOP ballot in the 2008 primary.
As well as becoming acquainted with Cain, Ms Bialek is also said to have dated current White Sox analyst Steve Stone in the 1980s.
Source: Chicago Tribune
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