Contact: Gloria Allred
(323) 653-6530
E-mail: [email protected]

GLORIA ALLRED Statement

I am here today with my client, Sharon Bialek, who will speak about her interactions with Mr. Cain during and after she was employed at the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association (“NRA”) in Chicago, Illinois in 1996 and 1997.

Sharon is a registered Republican.

Ms. Bialek was born and raised in Chicago and has spent the majority of her life there. She is the mother of a 13 year-old son. She is a college graduate. Prior to working for the Foundation for nine years she was the co-host of a cooking television show, had worked for six years for Revlon as a key account manager, and then as Manager and Director of Corporate Development at the Easter Seal Society where she had received an outstanding service award.

Subsequent to her work at the Foundation her jobs have included five years at WGN Radio in marketing and two and a half years at CBS Radio as Managing Director of Non Traditional Revenue. For the past two years she has been a full time homemaker and single mom.

In 1996 Ms. Bialek was recruited by a former Easter Seal colleague who was then working at the National Education Foundation to work for the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. She was hired for the position of Manager, Industry Relations as reflected on her business card.

Part of her job was to work on a new initiative called the “Hospitality Business Alliance” which was implemented to raise funds to provide scholarships to worthy high school students who wished to continue their education in the restaurant industry.

She was employed at the Foundation from the end of 1996 until mid-1997 at which point she was let go. They told her, among other things, that she had not raised enough money. This made no sense to her as she had raised more in the short time that she was there than had been raised in prior years.

However, the Foundation, like most employers, had at-will employment policies which meant that they could let her go for any reason so long as the reason was not illegal. Therefore she had no legal recourse although she felt that it was unfair.

During the time that she worked at the Educational Foundation she had met Mr. Cain. On at least three occasions during the NRA Convention Mr. Cain was seated next to her during dinners and a lunch where Mr. Cain was the keynote speaker. She had spent a substantial amount of time speaking with him there at the NRA Convention which took place about a month before she was terminated. At the suggestion of her boyfriend, a pediatrician whom she had dated for four years, she reached out to Mr. Cain for help in finding another job.

Instead of receiving the help that she had hoped for, Mr. Cain instead decided to provide her with his idea of a stimulus package which she will describe.

We have obtained written statements under oath from the doctor that Ms. Bialek was dating at the time and from a businessman in the Chicago area who has known Ms. Bialek for 30 years. She told each of them separately shortly after Mr. Cain’s sexual harassment that Mr. Cain had engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior with her and that she was upset and surprised by his behavior. She told the businessman that Mr. Cain had been aggressive with her.

Our client is very brave to have come forward. She will explain why she has decided to do so in her own words. She could have attempted to sell her story, but chose not to do so. . She knows that by stepping out into the light that she will face public scrutiny. We applaud her for her courage.

If all of these allegations by all the women who have been reported to have made them are true then I, for one, am disgusted at Mr. Cain’s serial sexual harassment of women because Mr. Cain while running for President is actively lying to Americans, showing disdain for our common sense and intellect and showing that he could care less about the impact of his behavior on the dignity of these women.

It is time to hold politicians to a much higher standard. We need to know the truth about those that are running for office. We cannot afford to once again elect someone to office who will ignore the law, take advantage of those without power and who will abuse the opportunities that the office of President provides. Enough is enough. We have to fight back- that is what our client is doing here today.

Gloria Allred
Attorney at Law
representing Sharon Bialek
November 7, 2011