The St. Paul City Council has voted in favor of hiring of another outside law firm to decide if taxpayer dollars should fund Mayor Kaohly Her's legal defense.
This decision comes on the heels of Police Chief Axel Henry filing a bombshell lawsuit accusing Mayor Her of sexual harassment and workplace retaliation last month.
While a previous statute usually forces cities to defend employees, the council wants these independent lawyers to determine whether the mayor's alleged actions cross legal lines that would block taxpayers from covering her defense.
Mayor Her has until October 16 to respond to the civil suit from the Chief.
Chief Henry is covering his own legal fees, and responded to the report released by the city last week through his attorney.
The investigative report details the allegations of misconduct by Mayor Her, and attorney Chris Madel told WCCO's Chad Hartman that the mayor was interviewed by investigators five times about the alleged misconduct.
"But during one of those five times, the first time she said, 'well, yeah, maybe I remember putting my hand on him.' Then the second time said, 'no, I don't remember that.' Her story is shifting," Madel explains.
The mayor said in the report that she believed a city employee was setting her up, and said the sexual harassment complaint was made because the city employee was not happy about the mayor "digging" into the police department's budget.
"You know this is something where when I get into discovery, and start getting into these text messages, and the email, and deposing Mayor Her, that's when the truth is really going to be coming out," Madel adds. "And I can tell you Axel Henry is not worried about that one bit."
