Herman Cain denies allegations of sexual harassment

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is denying allegations that he had been accused of sexual harassment when he was head of the National Restaurant Assn.

The allegations were revealed Sunday night in a report by Politico. Cain had refused to comment on the charges when approached by Politico earlier in the day.

Cain campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon told the Associated Press late Sunday night that the campaign denied the report.

“Inside-the-Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain,” Gordon said in a written statement to the Associated Press. “Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the Chief Executive Officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts.”

Asked by the AP if the campaign was denying the report, Godon said, “Yes.”

The Republican presidential candidate and retired pizza chain executive was accused of sexual harassment by at least two women during his tenure as head of the National Restaurant Assn., Politico reported in a story that cites multiple anonymous sources and a review of documentation that described some of the allegations.

The two women had worked at the restaurant trade group under Cain, but left their posts after complaining about his behavior. The women signed agreements with the association that included financial payouts and barred them from discussing their departures, according to the Politico report.

Sources told Politico that the behavior included “conversations allegedly filled with innuendo or personal questions of a sexually suggestive nature, taking place at hotels during conferences, at other officially sanctioned restaurant association events and at the association’s offices.”

kim.geiger@latimes.com