As Herman Cain’s sexual harassment scandal continues to captivate the attention of every news medium, logically one wonders, what else don’t we know about Mr. Cain? The answer? That he is a businessman who is more interested in turning a profit than preserving jobs and championing benefits for private sector restaurant workers. And, not surprisingly, he has had a relationship with Washington for much longer than he would have us all believe.
In 1986 at the age of 40 Cain took over as president and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. With the chain suffering an $8 million dollar loss in 1988 he did what any capitalist must do at a time of crisis in order to save costs – he closed more than 200 stores and laid off thousands of proletariats stating, “If I had been able to make a rapid initial assessment, I would have made all the cuts from the beginning. Later, after you spend a while working with some people, it gets difficult.” As Cain would so passionately justify, those men and women only had themselves to blame for being fired from low-wage jobs, oh and for not being rich.
By 1994 Cain was elected president of The National Restaurant Association (NRA). The NRA sounds friendly enough; protecting the common restaurant worker from things like government mandates requiring restaurant owners to provide health insurance to their employees working more than 17.5 hours a week. Traveling the country with his “one voice” campaign and making national headlines by opposing then president Bill Clinton on the effects of the mandate and the healthcare reform bill on small business owners, Cain became somewhat of a conservative “media darling.” In a 1995 article for “National Restaurant News” Cain dismissed rumors that he was entering politics at the time, but this rise into the national political scene became a foreshadowing of what was to come.
Under the leadership of Cain, by 1996 the NRA became one of the most influential lobbies in Washington, financing and helping to elect pro-business conservative lawmakers and protecting restaurant workers from additional ills of the government like raises to the minimum wage. It was in this year that Cain also became president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association’s PAC. Under the auspices of this PAC, Cain had the authority to donate almost $780,000 dollars to Republicans and even served as a senior adviser to Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign. Washington outsider status so you say? I highly suggest clicking on the link above for a barrage of even more fun “I’ve been cozy with Washington for longer than I would have you think” facts.
So just what will Cain have us believe? That he was unaware of sexual harassment charges, was a great champion of private sector jobs and benefits, and that he is not your typical Washington insider? It would seem that by doing some basic historical research, the facts speak differently. If he is to have any credibility, maybe it’s time to start speaking the truth.
