St Paul Mayor Kaohly Her is reportedly under investigation for sexual harassment, following a complaint filed by the Minnesota city’s police chief, Axel Henry. City leaders have contracted an outside law firm to conduct an independent inquiry into allegations that Ms Her sent inappropriate messages to employees, including members of the police department.
Reports from the New York Times and NBC News state that Mr Henry's lawyer, Chris Madel, sent a letter to the city attorney on 1 April, claiming Ms Her engaged in a prolonged campaign of harassment against a number of workers using mobile phones. The letter reportedly included a screenshot of a message allegedly sent by Ms Her to an employee, which contained a misspelt reference to sexual intercourse.
Ms Her, who was elected in November, stated to NBC that she has cooperated with the investigation and believes the “full facts will come to light”. She added that she takes her responsibility to treat every employee with professionalism seriously and recognises that some of her attempts at humour “fell short of the standard I expect of myself.”