Did Herman Cain and the National Restaurant Association pay hush money in sexual harassment complaints?

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is denying reports that the National Restaurant Association, which he was the CEO of in the 1990s, paid two women high six-figures to settle sexual harassment complaints that were filed against him.

A reporter from the political website Politico confronted Cain about the accusations Sunday morning outside the CBS building in Washington DC.

As Cain was leaving the building, where he had appeared on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” the reporter asked him about the allegations to which he replied: “Have you ever been accused, sir, in your life of harassment by a woman?”

Politico released a story Sunday evening saying:  “During Herman Cain’s tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group.

The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association.  The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures.”

Cain’s campaign manager and chief of staff Mark Block told MSNBC earlier today that “Herman Cain has never sexually harassed anybody.  Period.  End of story.”

J.D. Gordon, Cain’s spokesperson, told the Associated Press that the allegations are “old and tired” and “never stood up to the facts.”

Gordon went on to say that “inside-the-Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain.  Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the CEO at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990x, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts.”

For some odd reason I do believe the allegations.