Kaohly Her investigation follows police chief harassment complaint
St. Paul hired an outside law firm after Police Chief Axel Henry accused Mayor Kaohly Her of sexual harassment, KARE reported.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
The Kaohly Her investigation in St. Paul is now in the hands of an outside law firm after the city’s police chief filed a sexual harassment complaint against the mayor, according to reporting by NBC affiliate KARE and The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Police Chief Axel Henry alleges that Her, St. Paul’s first female mayor, acted inappropriately toward him and other city employees, including members of the police department, according to an April 1 letter from his attorney, Christopher Madel, to the St. Paul city attorney. Her has been mayor for about seven months.
The city hired Resolute Law, a St. Cloud firm that describes itself on its website as women-owned, to investigate the allegations, The Star Tribune reported. The firm did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment on the status of the review.
Why is Kaohly Her under investigation?
Henry’s complaint alleges that Her engaged in illegal conduct toward city workers, according to the letter obtained by KARE. Madel wrote that Henry wanted to address alleged wrongdoing and protect members of his department.
The letter says Henry became aware that the mayor’s alleged conduct was not limited to isolated events and included sexual harassment of subordinate city employees. It also alleges that Her used one or more cellphones to send inappropriate and unlawful text messages.
One example included with the letter, according to KARE and The Star Tribune, was an alleged text from Her to an unnamed city employee that said, “Happy Weiner Wednesday! Wish I was having a (hot dog emoji) with you all on 6 today!”
Below that message was an internet meme showing a swaddled baby with an adult’s head, which was redacted, The Star Tribune reported. The caption said, “When she wraps you up in her blanket after you gave her a good weinering.” The Star Tribune noted that “wienering” is internet slang for sexual intercourse and is often misspelled as “weinering.”
The letter did not lay out other specific alleged communications. Madel wrote that future litigation was “reasonably foreseeable” and asked the city to preserve and extract the full filesystems of Her’s mobile phones.
What has the mayor said?
In a written statement Wednesday, Her said she has cooperated with the investigation and expects the “full facts will come to light.”
“As Mayor, I take my responsibility to treat every employee with professionalism and respect very seriously. I recognize that some of my attempts at humor fell short of the standard I expect of myself,” Her said.
St. Paul police spokesperson Nikki Muehlhausen said, “Chief Henry and the department has no comment at this time.” Henry has led the St. Paul Police Department since 2022.
Her, 53, was born in Laos and spent part of her childhood in a refugee camp, according to her campaign biography. She came to the United States at age 3 and grew up in Illinois and Wisconsin, the biography says.
The Star Tribune also reported that Her faced a prior accusation of inappropriate conduct last year from a former friend who sought a restraining order. The former friend alleged that Her had sent “inappropriate or sexualized questions” and had gotten her removed from the National Kidney Foundation Board.
Ramsey County District Court Referee Elizabeth Clysdale denied that petition, The Star Tribune reported. Clysdale wrote that the submitted texts did not show threats by Her, that Her’s husband had tried to help resolve the dispute and that there was no proof Her played a role in the woman’s removal from the board.
This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.