Key takeaways:
- St. Paul has hired an outside law firm to investigate sexual harassment allegations against Mayor Kaohly Her.
- Police Chief Axel Henry’s attorney alleged in an April 1 letter that Her sent inappropriate and unlawful text messages to city employees, including police department members.
- Her said she has cooperated with the investigation and said some of her attempts at humor fell short of the standard she expects of herself.
St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her is under investigation after the city’s police chief filed a sexual harassment complaint alleging she sent inappropriate messages to city employees, including members of the police department.
The city has hired an outside law firm to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations against Her, St. Paul’s first female mayor. Her, a Democrat and former state lawmaker, has been in office for seven months, NBC News reported.
Police Chief Axel Henry, who has led the St. Paul Police Department since 2022, made the complaint through an April 1 letter sent by his attorney, Christopher Madel, to City Attorney Irene Kao. The letter, obtained by KARE, the local NBC affiliate, and cited by other outlets, said Henry came forward after learning that Her’s conduct allegedly went beyond isolated incidents.
“The City is on notice that Mayor Her has engaged in illegal conduct towards City employees,” Madel wrote.
The letter said Henry became “aware that the Mayor’s conduct has extended beyond isolated incidents and has included sexual harassment of subordinate City employees, including members of the Saint Paul Police Department.” It said Henry was “not only seeking to address the wrongdoing but also create a measure of protection for his team, signaling that such conduct will not be tolerated.”
The complaint includes a screenshot of an alleged text message from Her to an unnamed city employee that reads, “Happy Weiner Wednesday! Wish I was having a (hot dog emoji) with you all on 6 today!” Below the message was an internet meme showing a swaddled baby with an adult’s head, which was redacted, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported. The caption read: “When she wraps you up in her blanket after you gave her a good weinering.” NBC News reported that “wienering” is internet slang for sexual intercourse and is often misspelled as “weinering.”
Madel’s letter alleges that Her used “one or more mobile phones to communicate inappropriate, and, indeed, unlawful text messages,” but it does not detail other specific communications. The letter said future litigation is “reasonably foreseeable” and demanded that the city “immediately take all steps necessary to perform a full filesystem extraction of each of Mayor Her’s mobile phones.”
Her said in a written statement to NBC News that she has cooperated with the investigation and believes the “full facts will come to light.”
“As Mayor, I take my responsibility to treat every employee with professionalism and respect very seriously,” she said. “I recognize that some of my attempts at humor fell short of the standard I expect of myself.”
Matt Wagenius, a spokesperson for the mayor, told The New York Times in an emailed statement, according to The Guardian, that he could not answer questions about the ongoing investigation. “The mayor has deep respect for city employees and regrets any unintended impact her actions may have had,” he said. Asked whether the investigative report would be made public, he said, “We will honor all applicable laws when making the determination.”
Police spokesperson Nikki Muehlhausen told NBC News, “Chief Henry and the department has no comment at this time.” Madel told The New York Times, according to The Guardian, that Henry would not give media interviews but “will do everything to ensure that appropriate conduct is modeled and followed in the St Paul police department.”
The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that St. Cloud-based Resolute Law, which describes itself as a women-owned firm, has been hired to investigate. The Guardian reported that the inquiry is being led by Cally Kjellberg-Nelson, an employment law expert at Resolute Law, citing The New York Times. The firm did not respond to requests for comment cited in the reports.
Her, 53, was born in Laos, spent part of her childhood in a refugee camp and came to the United States at age 3, according to her campaign biography cited by NBC News. The Star Tribune also reported that a former friend sought a restraining order against Her last year, alleging she sent “inappropriate or sexualized questions” and had her removed from the National Kidney Foundation Board. The petition was denied, with a court referee finding the messages did not show threats and that there was no proof Her played a role in the board removal, the newspaper reported.
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