The presidential campaign of Herman
Cain attempted to conceal the employment of aide Scott Toomey, an
openly gay man, the AP
reported.
The allegation surfaced in testimony by
Kevin Hall, a former Iowa straw poll coordinator for the Cain
campaign.
In the process of securing unemployment
benefits, Hall alleges he resigned after the campaign attempted to
recruit him to take part in the cover-up.
Toomey was treasurer of Cain's
political action committee and served as senior political adviser
through May. In 2008, the board of Madison Pride, which organizes
the city's annual gay pride festival, removed Toomey as treasurer
over “financial discrepancies.” After fleeing to Florida, Toomey
filed for bankruptcy in 2009.
“A conservative candidate, Mr. Cain
is on the record as stating that he believes homosexuality is a sin
and a choice,” Hall testified. “And they [campaign aides] know
that, if his top adviser, his highly paid adviser, is openly gay that
it would cast a negative light on Mr. Cain and would cost him in his
efforts to become president. Basically the campaign was trying to
cover up the fact that Mr. Toomey was still involved. They asked …
me to help them cover up that fact.”
Hall claimed that campaign manager Mark
Block told him in June that the campaign would conceal Toomey's
continued work with the campaign by paying his consulting firm,
instead. Toomey's The Soarin' Group began receiving payments less
than two weeks after his departure.