Pinboard Links,  The Afternoon Flap

The Afternoon Flap: November 7, 2011

These are my links for November 7th from 09:06 to 12:43:

  • Big labor favor: DNC may replace local workers with out-of-state union labor for convention – Charlotte, N.C. Mayor Anthony Foxx, a Democrat with close ties to President Barack Obama, is taking political heat as several reports show he plans to replace local workers with out-of-state union workers during the Democratic National Convention next year.

    Foxx’s mayoral Republican challenger, Scott Stone, has been a vocal opponent of Foxx’s purportedly anti-local business policies. Stone recently held a press conference asking Foxx to pledge he wouldn’t give DNC jobs to out-of-state unions, but Foxx refused to commit.

    After the press conference, RedState’s Ben Howe discovered that the DNC was “discriminating against” a local large format sign printing company because it does not employ union labor. Since then, more reports of “discrimination” against non-union shops in Charlotte have surfaced.

    The Ritz Carlton hotel in Charlotte, where the president is reportedly staying during the DNC next year, plans to temporarily lay off its employees, LaborUnionReport.com reports. LaborUnionReport.com spoke with a Ritz Carlton non-union employee who confirmed “they had been told they would be laid off during the convention.”

    The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) disputes the LaborUnionReport.com report. “The claim is totally fabricated and false,” said DNCC spokesperson Kristie Greco. “There is no Democratic Convention-related obligation to cause the furlough of hotel workers convention week.”*

    The local newspaper of record, the Charlotte Observer, ran a front page story this weekend also bashing the Democratic Party for its lack of transparency in planning the DNC convention.

  • Accuser Details Lewd Behavior by Cain – Attorney Says Corroborates Claim – In an interview after Ms. Bialek’s news conference, Joel P. Bennett, a lawyer for one of Mr. Cain’s anonymous accusers, said that Ms. Bialek’s claims were “very similar” in nature to the incident that occurred between his client and Mr. Cain.

    His client has not said whether Mr. Cain touched her physically. In a statement Friday on her behalf, Mr. Bennett alleged that Mr. Cain had engaged in a “series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances” toward his client.

    “It corroborates the claim,” Mr. Bennett said of Ms. Bialek’s allegation. Asked whether that meant that Mr. Cain had physically touched his client inappropriately, Mr. Bennett said “I can’t get more specific” but added that “I can say it is corroborating.”

    Mr. Bennett also said that a woman named Sharon from Chicago left a message on his answering machine over the weekend saying that she, too, had been the subject of harassment at the hands of Mr. Cain. Mr. Bennett said he called her back to suggest that he could arrange for her to come forward confidentially, but that she said that she would think about it.

    After watching the news conference, Mr. Bennett said: “I guess she got over her shyness.”

    Ms. Bialek is the first woman to come forward publicly with such allegations. In her statement to the press, Ms. Bialek said that she had been fired at the association after about a year working for the group’s educational foundation in its Chicago office. She said she sought Mr. Cain’s help to find other employment during a trip to Washington about a month after he left the group.

    During that trip, she said Mr. Cain had secretly upgraded her hotel room before drinks and dinner that the two had to discuss possible future employment. She said that after dinner, he put his hand on her leg and ran it under her skirt and pulled her head toward his crotch.

  • BREAKING: Cain accuser says candidate groped her in 1997 – A woman who claimed Herman Cain sexually assaulted her in 1997 said Monday she hoped the Republican presidential candidate would come clean about other allegations of sexual misconduct.

    Sharon Bialek said Cain reached under her skirt and pressed her head toward his crotch when Bialek was visiting Cain in Washington to get job hunting advice after she had been “terminated” from the National Restaurant Association.

    Bialek said that when she protested, Cain asked, “You want a job, right?”

    Bialek worked at the educational foundation of the National Restaurant Association beginning from 1996 to 1997, when she said her superiors released her from her position, citing poor fundraising numbers.

    Bialek said she was already acquainted with Cain after meeting him at NRA conferences, and visited him in Washington in July 1997 to see if he could help her regain her position or find another position within the organization.

    When Bialek and Cain were returning from dinner, Bialek said Cain made inappropriate advances in a parked car.

    “He put his hand on my leg, under my skirt, and reached for my genitals,” Bialek said. “He also grabbed my head and pushed it toward his crotch.”

    Cain’s campaign denied Bialek’s allegations in a statement before the press conference began.

    “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,” the statement read.

    “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.”

  • Woman says Cain put hand up her skirt – Sharon Bialek alleged at a news conference today that Herman Cain reached under her skirt in 1997 as she sought help in finding a job.

    The Chicago-area mother, described by her lawyer as a registered Republican, urged the GOP presidential candidate to “come clean” and admit how he was “inappropriate” with her and other women.

    Bialek’s story was immediately denied by the Cain campaign, which sent out a news release as the woman spoke publicly at a New York City news conference with her lawyer, noted defense attorney Gloria Allred, by her side.

    The stories of three other women have been reported by Politico and the Associated Press.

    “All allegations of harassment against Mr. Cain are completely false,” the Cain campaign statement said. “Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone.”

    The disclosure by Bialek brought a shocking twist to the allegations of sexual misconduct by Cain, which date back to his time as head of the National Restaurant Association from 1996-1999.

    Cain’s campaign has been roiled for more than a week by the allegations. He is tied with Mitt Romney for the GOP presidential nomination in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. But a majority of Republicans say they wouldn’t vote for a candidate proved to have sexually harassed employees.

  • President 2012: How Does the Electoral College Look – One Year Out? | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: How Does the Electoral College Look – One Year Out? #tcot #catcot
  • The Morning Flap: November 7, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – The Morning Flap: November 7, 2011 #tcot #catcot
  • Taxpayers Take On L.A. County’s Unconstitutional Grocery Bag Tax | FlashReport – Taxpayers Take On L.A. County’s Unconstitutional Grocery Bag Tax
  • Flap’s California Morning Collection: November 7, 2011 » Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: November 7, 2011