“Gold-Digger” Sharon Bialek Lived In Same Building As David Axelrod, Once Accused Ex-Boyfriend Of Harassment

Herman Cain categorically denied all the sexual harassment charges made against him, including the latest allegations of sexual misconduct and is having a press conference this afternoon in Phoenix to specifically address Bialek’s charges. (UPDATE:Live stream, here.)

One person – either Cain or Bialek is clearly lying, so now it unfortunately becomes necessary to look into the character of the person making the charges because she has the potential of derailing the campaign of the frontrunner in the Republican Presidential primary. If these allegations against Cain are false, a monumental injustice has been done not only to an innocent man, but to the entire country denied the opportunity to vote for him. If they are true, well –  I don’t want to see a serial lecher and liar become the Republican standard bearer.

Who is Sharon Bialek? How credible is this woman?  How credible is her story? What little we know of her is not terribly flattering.

According to this Daily Mail report, she’s a “gold digger” who’s filed for bankruptcy twice,  has not held a job for more than two years, always lived above her station, and will do anything to never have to work again. She has accused an ex-boyfriend of harassment, and her own father only heard her shocking story about Cain for the first time, yesterday. Her live-in fiance heard about it for the first time, last Friday.

Does it seem a little odd to you that she wouldn’t have told her fiance about such a noteworthy thing? The frontrunner in the Republican party had once made a pass at her? Not worthy of comment? Seems weird.

Meanwhile, a friend of Ms Bialek, from Chicago, told the New York Post: ‘She has a very infectious personality. It’s easy to see how she won [Cain] over. But the reality of her situation is — she’s a complete gold digger. It’s all about the money.’

Adding that she was from a middle-income family but lives in a posh house while running from bill collectors, the source said: ‘Most of her jobs ended in termination. It’s always the employer’s fault, not hers.

‘This is a lady who lives off the system. She is hellbent on finding a way of never having to work and living the lifestyle she wants to live, a very affluent lifestyle.’

That’s some “friend”.

Details of a number of legal and financial difficulties  belonging to Ms Bialek also emerged today, with the Chicago Tribune listing a long history with tax evasion and late or missed credit card payments.

The paper reported that Ms Bialek has filed for personal bankruptcy twice, first in 1991 and then again in 2001.

In 2001, she claimed $5,700 in assets and more than $36,000 in liabilities. Among the creditors seeking payment was a management firm demanding back rent of $4,500, four credit card companies and a lawyer asking for his legal fees.

She is also said to have accused a former boyfriend of harassing her for money he had loaned her after she borrowed $4,500 from him.

The IRS filed a tax lien against her in 2009 for nearly $5,200. In August, the Illinois Department of Revenue claimed Ms Bialek owed the state more than $4,300, including penalties and interest, relating to income taxes from 2004, according to county records.

Court records also show creditors took legal action against her during the past decade, including at least one lawsuit filed in Cook County.

***

Gloria Allred described her client as a ‘registered Republican’, but the 50-year-old does not have an active voter card in Illinois, election officials said. The state does not allow voters to register by party, but records show she pulled a GOP ballot in the 2008 primary.

There’s also this:

A Fox News reporter confronted Ms Bialek during an interview today about living in the same building as Obama top aid David Axelrod.

She was asked: ‘One of the things is that you lived at a 505 North Lake Shore Drive apartment, right? This is the same building, it happens to be the same building David Axelrod lives in. Do you know David Axelrod? Ever have any interaction with him at all?’

***

The 50-year-old replied: ‘I saw him in the gym. I mean — everybody nods to each other. It is friendly building but I never had any interaction with him.’

Hmmmm.

RCP video of that interview with Fox’s Martha MacCallum, here.

Here’s Cain’s appearance on  Jimmy Kimmel Live, last night:

See also:

The Other McCain: ‘Unwanted Advances’:

The Accuser is an attractive woman and we may assume that she has been the object of many “unwanted advances” over the years, all but one of which she considered unworthy of a Manhattan press conference.

A New York Times headline characterizes the accusation against Cain as “lewd behavior,” but such behavior goes on all the time — yea, verily, even in New York! — without meriting a headline in the Times.

Gloria Allred described her client as a ‘registered Republican’, but the 50-year-old does not have an active voter card in Illinois, election officials said. The state does not allow voters to register by party, but records show she pulled a GOP ballot in the 2008 primary.

Ace of Spades HQ still thinking where there’s smoke, there’s fire, links to Bill Bennet in his Great Big Cain Roundup:

Bill Bennet kinda doubts this is a high-tech lynching.

Four women are not an insignificant number. One or two anonymous charges, perhaps. Three anonymous charges (where, as I understand the story, Cain knows of at least two of the women) plus one woman who went very public and opened herself up to all manner of investigation are a lot. It is no longer insignificant. Neither is it insignificant that the Cain campaign discounted the charges in the initial stories, saying they were based on anonymous sources, only to make a mockery by blaming other campaigns with less substantiation than the original stories.If Herman Cain wants to be taken seriously as a public advocate for anything, never mind running for the chief executive and commander in chief of the most powerful and important and blessed country in the world, he needs to give a full press conference dedicated exclusively to this issue and these allegations.

I have watched long enough and held my tongue long enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, but can no longer say this is a witch hunt, “a lynching” to use his word, or any other euphemism. There are allegations out there that matter and they have stacked up. For we who led the charge against Bill Clinton on a number of related issues to continue to blame the media or other campaigns or say it simply doesn’t matter makes us the hypocrites as well.

Read it all – he covers all the latest.

Backyard Conservative, Ann Leary has a round-up of her own: Chicago Media Icon: Bialek Has a History

Kerry Picket:  Latest woman to accuse Cain brings Chicago back in the picture

In a big way. Check this out:

I received a press statement from Ms. O’Grady’s office last week after a blog post of mine on the water cooler regarding a source close to the Cain camp believed Mayor Rahm Emanuel had something to do with the exchange of information regarding sexual harassment charges against Mr. Cain. Mayor Emanuel has denied any involvement.

Below is Ms. O’Grady’s statement:

The Illinois Restaurant Association is an entity independently managed and operated apart from the National Restaurant Association. Sheila O’Grady was appointed President of the Illinois Restaurant Association in 2007. She does not have a prior connection to Mr. Cain (whose time at the National Restaurant Association pre-dated her appointment by more than a decade), nor does she have any knowledge of the current allegations stemming from his tenure at the organization. Any reports suggesting otherwise are baseless.

O’Grady served as Mayor Daley’s chief of staff for a number of years until 2007. Daley, no stranger to controversy himself, was recently slapped with a lawsuit last spring by John Brooks, Chicago’s former fire Commissioner. Brooks claimed that Daley threatened to smear him over what Brooks said were false sexual harassment allegations if Brooks did not retire on his own.

I made no mention of O’Grady in any previous blog post. One Chicago radio host, however, did mention her name following my post on Emanuel. Other than that, why is O’Grady speaking up now?

Tweet