Jon Grunseth

Jon Rieder Grunseth (born November 11, 1945)^[1] is a Minnesota businessman and politician. He was the 1990 Independent-Republican nominee for Governor of Minnesota. Grunseth won his party's endorsement and its primary election, but was forced to quit the race nine days before election day in the wake of a scandal.^[2] Until the 1990 governor's race, Grunseth had been the Vice President of Public Affairs at Ecolab, and chair of the Chemical Specialties Manufacturers Association. After the scandal, he lost his job at Ecolab, and he now lives and runs a cherry-growing operation in Australia.

1974 congressional candidacy

In 1974, Grunseth was the endorsed candidate of the Republican Party for the U.S. House of Representatives for the Minnesota's 6th congressional district. He lost by a margin of 55 to 45 percent to DFL candidate Richard Nolan, who had lost to the Republican incumbent in 1972. (Nolan was re-elected twice and in 2012 was elected to the House from Minnesota's 8th congressional district.)

1990 gubernatorial candidacy

Grunseth earned the Independent-Republican Party's gubernatorial nomination endorsement at its state convention, defeating moderate State Auditor Arne Carlson. He defeated Carlson again in the primary to become the main opposition to two-term incumbent Governor Rudy Perpich.^[3]

On October 14, 1990, public allegations of sexual misconduct were made against Grunseth. On July 4, 1981, Grunseth had held a pool party at his home. It was alleged that after his daughter entered the pool naked, Grunseth joined her, also naked, and that when two of his daughter's friends, Elizabeth Mulay, 12, and Liane Nelson, 13, refused to swim naked, Grunseth attempted to tear off their swimsuits.

Nine years later, Mulay and Nelson, then adults, levied accusations against Grunseth, which two other women, Lisa Hare and Heather Charles, corroborated.^[4] Grunseth denied the allegations, but they severely damaged his candidacy. Sixteen party attendees submitted affidavits that they had witnessed no nude swimming or underage drinking, but seven of those had left before the nude swimming began or weren't sure when they left the party.^[5] Two members of a rock band that performed at the party remembered seeing men and teenaged girls swimming naked.^[6] Carlson soon decided to reenter the gubernatorial race as a write-in candidate.^[7]

The situation divided the Independent-Republican Party. Some defended Grunseth and charged that the accusations were politically motivated, while others wanted Grunseth replaced with 1986 gubernatorial candidate Cal Ludeman. U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz, who was waging his own campaign for reelection, led a moderate faction that wanted Grunseth replaced by Carlson. Boschwitz's stance alienated some of his supporters and was cited as a factor in his defeat.

In reply, Grunseth claimed that he had engaged in adultery and other bad behavior in the past, but that he had changed and been faithful to his wife, the former Vicki Tigwell, since their 1984 marriage.^[8] A former mistress of Grunseth's, Tamara Jacobsen Taylor, 32, then came forward claiming that she had engaged in sexual relations with Grunseth during his professional visits to the nation's capital (as a lobbyist for Ecolab) as recently as July 1989.^[9] Facing certain defeat, Grunseth withdrew from the race on October 28.^[10][7] Carlson, the runner-up in the primary, replaced him on the ballot and defeated Perpich.^[11]

Post-political career

After the election, Grunseth was fired by Ecolab. In 1993, he sued the Marriott hotel chain for $4 million, claiming that they divulged records to the Star Tribune, from the night he stayed at the hotel in July 1989, the night Taylor alleged was the last she spent with Grunseth. The amount of the lawsuit was based on what Grunseth would have earned had he not been fired from Ecolab.^[12][13] The court ruled against him, saying the receipt did not contain "private facts", simply showing that he booked a room in the hotel rather than demonstrating whether he was having an affair.^[14]

Grunseth now lives in Barnes Bay, Bruny Island, Tasmania, Australia, where he purchased property in 1997 and founded Lennonville Orchards, a large cherry-growing operation.^[15]

References