St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her under sexual harassment investigation

Kaohly Her Axel Henry sexual harassment St. Paul independent investigation

St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry filed a formal sexual‑harassment complaint against Mayor Kaohly Her, alleging she used mobile phones to send inappropriate and unlawful text messages to city employees, including a meme that read “Happy Weiner Wednesday! …”. The complaint states the conduct extended beyond isolated incidents and involved subordinate staff of the police department.

The city has hired the law firm Resolute Law to conduct an independent investigation, and the city attorney has been asked to extract data from the mayor’s phones. Mayor Her issued a statement saying, “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,” and pledged full cooperation with the probe.

St. Paul City Council members Molly Coleman and Saura Jost criticized the lack of transparency, with Coleman calling it “unacceptable.” The investigation, begun in April, remains ongoing, and officials warned that litigation could be “reasonably foreseeable.”

Entities: Axel Henry · Kaohly Her · Resolute Law · St. Paul · St. Paul City Council

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.

[○ 1 SOURCE] The city hired an outside law firm to investigate the allegations against Mayor Her. (Article reporting)
[● 3 SOURCES] The complaint alleges Mayor Her sent a text message saying “Happy Weiner Wednesday!” to a city employee. (Police chief's complaint letter)
[○ 1 SOURCE] Police chief Axel Henry has not commented on the investigation. (Police department spokesperson)
[● 3 SOURCES] Chief Henry's lawyer Chris Madel wrote an April 1 letter to city attorney Irene Kao detailing the allegations. (Article description)
[● 3 SOURCES] Police chief Axel Henry filed a sexual harassment complaint against Mayor Kaohly Her. (Chief Henry's attorney Chris Madel in an April 1 letter)
[○ 1 SOURCE] The mayor’s office declined to comment on the investigation, citing confidentiality. (Statement from mayor’s office)
[● 3 SOURCES] The complaint demands a full filesystem extraction of Mayor Her's mobile phones. (Police chief's attorney Chris Madel)
[○ 1 SOURCE] Mayor Kaohly Her has been in office for about seven months as St. Paul's first female mayor. (Background information)