Vato
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What a beta move. Everyone knows women can't really sexually harass a man. Let's hope he is laughed out of the courtroom by the judge and the lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice.
St. Paul Police Chief Sues Mayor, Accusing Her of Sexual Harassment
The lawsuit comes days after an independent review found that Mayor Kaohly Her had treated employees in an “offensive and inappropriate way” and created an “uncomfortable work environment.”
St. Paul Police chief Axel Henry’s lawsuit adds detail to claims he made last spring.
The police chief in St. Paul, Minn., sued Mayor Kaohly Her on Wednesday, accusing her of pursuing an intimate relationship while engaging in a monthslong pattern of unprofessional conduct, sexual harassment and retaliation.
The lawsuit in state court by the police chief, Axel Henry, represented a stark escalation of claims he made in a complaint last spring. It describes in greater detail what Mr. Henry says were inappropriate remarks, touching and pranks that severely strained the relationship between the mayor of a major American city and a top subordinate.
In one incident, the lawsuit says, Ms. Her placed her hand on Chief Henry’s groin during a meeting. In another, it says, Ms. Her removed personal photographs from his office and replaced them with altered images depicting the chief and other officers posing as shirtless bodybuilders and boy band members. The mayor’s behavior led one deputy police chief to retire early, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit was filed five days after St. Paul’s top human resources official announced that an independent review found that Ms. Her had treated employees in an “offensive and inappropriate way” and created an “uncomfortable work environment.” But the city’s summary of the investigation said it did not substantiate claims that Ms. Her sexually harassed colleagues.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ms. Her apologized for “any discomfort” she caused and acknowledged that she had been “too informal in my communications and crossed lines that are not consistent with the standards” for municipal employees.
The mayor, in office since January, said she had not read the full investigation, but was relieved that the summary did not find she had sexually harassed employees. The city has not released the report, which was written by a law firm.
Generated image of Mayor Her attempting to give a gift likely full of her used underwear and intimate massagers to Chief Henry.
The conflict between mayor and chief is deepening at a challenging time. St. Paul is still reeling from President Trump’s immigration crackdown last winter, facing a budget shortfall and grappling with a contentious debate over homeless encampments.
Ms. Her, the daughter of Laotian refugees, was a state legislator and top city official before running for mayor. She was elected as the first female mayor last year in an upset of an incumbent who had appointed Chief Henry to a six-year term in 2022.
Chief Henry, who leads a force of about 800 officers and civilians, declined to be interviewed on Wednesday.
In the 70-page lawsuit, Chief Henry, a 28-year department veteran, said that he filed his initial complaint last spring so that others on the force would not face harassment.
Chief Henry said the mayor began behaving in alarming ways shortly after her victory. Ms. Her, he said, started working out at the department gym before her inauguration and once complimented his body, calling it “beefy.”
St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, who was elected last year, has acknowledged that she had at times “become too informal in my communications.”
More inappropriate behavior followed, the lawsuit says.
Early in Ms. Her’s tenure, she and Chief Henry discussed disparities that had some high-ranking police officials earning less than lower-level officers.
Chief Henry said the mayor told him the city had resolved a similar issue for firefighters, whose union, she noted, had endorsed her, unlike the police union. The mayor then said the fire department “will get nice things because they are doing nice things to me.” She added: “You are going to need to do extra nice things to me,” the lawsuit says.
During her first weeks on the job, Ms. Her replaced the photos in Chief Henry’s office, encouraged him to order alcohol at a dinner and asked him whether he wanted to be “friends, colleagues or neither” — a comment Chief Henry interpreted as a suggestion that he could “enter into a sexual relationship,” the lawsuit says.
Chief Henry says he began to avoid one-on-one interactions with the mayor.
At a budget meeting attended by several people in mid-March, the lawsuit says, Ms. Her sat next to Chief Henry and twice placed her hand near his groin.
That month, colleagues told Chief Henry the mayor had made suggestive remarks about the breasts of female officers in the gym locker room, the lawsuit says. One, Deputy Chief Shari Falkowski, was interviewed by the independent investigator.
In a statement Wednesday, a lawyer for Ms. Falkowski said she had retired early this year “because of the mayor’s conduct and its impact on her ability to continue doing her job.”
Ms. Falkowski “is disappointed that the summary released by the mayor’s office does not appear to fully reflect the seriousness of what she experienced,” said the lawyer, Joseph Thompson.
After Chief Henry’s initial complaint, Ms. Her and other officials retaliated by retaining a public relations firm to shape coverage, the lawsuit says. That led to false reports suggesting the chief accused the mayor of wrongdoing to gain leverage over budget decisions, Chief Henry said.
The lawsuit also accuses the mayor of attempting to interfere with the review by offering a promotion and a raise to an officer featured in the doctored pictures. That officer was a witness in the investigation, the lawsuit says.
City officials have not said whether they will release the law firm’s report to the public.
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