@hawkeye10,
Quote:We know that in straight wage she is at $43K a year
And, after NYC, NYS, and federal income taxes were taken out of her checks, her actual take-home pay would be a very modest amount, and probably just enough to cover the most basic costs of living in NYC for her and her daughter. She likely made some additional income in tips, but there is no way of knowing how much because tipping of hotel maids tends to be somewhat rather random in both frequency and amount.
So, all we know is that she was a hard-working woman who had a steady, relatively decent job that allowed her to support herself and her daughter, and that she was considered a good employee for the three years she at been at the Sofitel.
Of course, none of this is at all related to the issue of whether Strauss-Kahn is guilty of sexually assaulting her, or of why he might have targeted her for such an attack. But, at least one person has said this was not the first time that DSK had sexually assaulted a worker at the NYC Sofitel hotel, and that the Sofitel had covered-up for him in the past. The following translation is somewhat fractured, but the content is clear:
Quote:
While relatives of Dominique Strauss-Kahn rehabilitate the “conspiracy theory” by suggesting that their champion is the victim of a great international conspiracy, Bernard Debré, UMP deputy from Paris, just drop a charge to the extremely serious against the IMF chief.
Asked by Express after a hard ticket he had already published Sunday on his blog, Debre said that Dominique Strauss-Kahn...[had] assaulted in the past... other women in the same... Sofitel New York. He said the multiple attacks were ignored by management against the wishes of employees.
“We must abandon the hypocrisy. This is not the first time that DSK was engaged in this type of behavior at the Sofitel. Here he continued to descend. It was produced several times and for several years. Everyone knew the hotel, “said Bernard Debre, currently traveling in China.
employees were about to revolt. Management knew but dared not say anything until then. It has stifled all other cases. Other maids before Ophelia – a woman charming 32 year old who was working very well – had been assaulted. You have to stop playing virgins. You think the cops in New York reportedly arrested on the plane if they did not accurate information? “added the MP.
“This is humiliating for our country. This is a great shame. Here I am in Shanghai. The Chinese look at me and laugh. They say that all French are obsessed with sex. If we continue to say nothing, it will help the National Front, “says Bernard Debre.
What to make of these very serious charges, Bernard Debre, at a time when all the relatives of DSK assure us that acts of violence alleged in the poll favorite in France does not look like him? Debre he defames his opponent, who seemed in the best position to beat Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012...Is it part of the...plot of the mega international conspiracy that Strauss-kahnienne Michelle Sabban, Vice-President of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, imagine
Or is it simply courageous, and dare we say out loud what everyone in the small political world knows and prefers to hide from the public? One remembers that at the time of the great campaign of vaccination against influenza A/H1N1, Bernard Debre was the only “authoritative voice” to denounce the scandal of this manipulation by fear.
It may be noted that Bernard Debre attended a few years ago the Club of Ropes, like Gilles Pelisson, Director – General Manager of Accor Group, which owns the Sofitel. Is this club that Bernard Debre would been made aware of the alleged culpable conduct of DSK
http://economicsnewspaper.com/economics/bernard-debre-dsk-accused-of-other-sexual-assaults-25552.html
I am inclined to believe that there may be some truth to what Debre says about DSK's prior behavior at the Sofitel, because a history of prior similar assaults is the one element that might have convinced the hotel management to finally involve the police, whether because of the condition and emotional state of this particular maid, or simply because they had had enough of covering-up for him, and it is the one element that explains why the police and D.A. were so immediately convinced of this maid's credibility and why they moved so quickly to arrest him.
The Sofitel, of course, has denied covering-up any prior incidents, but they have an image to protect and they are involved in a criminal case. But, if true, this sort of information might well emerge at trial because it would reveal a pattern of behavior on DSK's part with regard to hotel workers at that particular establishment. Both the prosecution and the defense would have reasons to withhold such information from the public right now--the prosecution would not want to risk having any of those potential witnesses tampered with, bribed, threatened, or besieged by the media, and the defense would definitely not want such potentially damaging and prejudicial information about their client leaked to the public.
So, I'm not surprised we haven't heard much more about the allegations Debre has made, all sides would have a vested interest in keeping a lid on this sort of information prior to a trial, and that would include other possible past assault victims of DSK at the hotel who would likely not want to get involved in the very ugly business of this case any sooner than necessary.
If the current complainant was not DSK's first assault victim at the Sofitel, it helps to explain a number of things, but mainly why the police and D.A. were so immediately convinced of guilt that they made an arrest within hours, and before DSK could leave the country. They knew the brouhaha and repercussions that would follow from this particular arrest, but they moved pretty decisively and pretty fast despite that. What Debre has alleged might well have been a part of why they responded that way.
