St. Paul Police Chief Submits Harassment Complaint Against Mayor
The Police Chief of St. Paul, Minnesota, Axel Henry, has filed a sexual harassment complaint against the city’s first female mayor, Kaohly Her. Allegations surfaced that she behaved inappropriately towards him and other department members. Reported by the local NBC affiliate, these claims have prompted the city to hire an external law firm to investigate.
In an April 1 letter addressed to the St. Paul City Attorney, Chief Henry, through his lawyer Christopher Madel, outlined the allegations against Mayor Her, who has been serving as mayor for seven months. ‘The City is on notice that Mayor Her has engaged in illegal conduct towards City employees,’ the letter reads, as obtained by KARE 11, an NBC affiliate.
The complaint emerged after Chief Henry learned of the mayor’s conduct extending beyond isolated incidents, allegedly involving sexual harassment of subordinate city employees, including police department members. According to the letter, Chief Henry aims to address the misconduct and safeguard his team, sending a clear message that such behavior is unacceptable.
‘Happy Weiner (sic) Wednesday! Wish I was having a (hot dog emoji) with you all on 6 today!’ a text message from Her to an unnamed employee purportedly read, accompanied by an internet meme. The meme depicted a swaddled baby with an adult’s head, captioned, ‘When she wraps you up in her blanket after you gave her a good weinering.’
The slang term ‘wienering’ refers to sexual intercourse and is often misspelled as ‘weinering.’ The letter accuses Her of using mobile devices for inappropriate and unlawful messaging, but does not detail additional examples of such communications. Madel noted potential future litigation and urged the city to perform a complete filesystem extraction of Mayor Her’s mobile devices.
The St. Paul city officials, including Matt Wagenius, Mayor Her’s spokesperson, have not provided comments to NBC News. Similarly, police spokesperson Nikki Muehlhausen stated the department has no comment regarding the complaint. Resolute Law, a women-owned firm located in St. Cloud, is tasked with investigating the allegations and has not commented on the inquiry’s status.
Background information reveals that Mayor Her, aged 53, was born in Laos and lived part of her childhood in a refugee camp before moving to the United States at age three. Her earlier life unfolded in Illinois and Wisconsin, as per her campaign biography. Previously, a restraining order petition was filed against her by a former friend last year for sending inappropriate or sexualized messages. However, the petition was dismissed by Ramsey County District Court Referee Elizabeth Clysdale, who found no threats in the messages and acknowledged Her’s husband’s attempts to mediate the issue. Furthermore, there was no evidence that the mayor influenced the woman’s removal from the National Kidney Foundation Board, according to reports from The Star Tribune.