WASHINGTON - October 30, 2011 - Politico reported on Sunday that when Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain was head of the National Restaurant Association, a post he held from 1996 to 1999, “at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior.”

According to Politico’s sources, the women left the lobbying group after signing agreements that provided them with financial payouts but prohibited them from talking about the reasons for their departure. These sources described the agreements as an attempt to cover up the matter rather than openly dealing with it.

Politico explains that it “learned of the allegations against [Cain], and over the course of several weeks, has put together accounts of what happened by talking to a lengthy roster of former board members, current and past staff, and others familiar with the workings of the trade group at the time Cain was there.”

According to Politico, there were multiple incidents, among them “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. There were also descriptions of physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable and that they regarded as improper in a professional relationship.”