Jon Grunseth
| Jon Grunseth | |
|---|---|
|
Independent-Republican candidate for Governor of Minnesota |
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Election date 1990 |
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| Opponent(s) |
Rudy Perpich (DFL) Arne Carlson (Write-In/I-R) |
| Incumbent | Rudy Perpich |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 11, 1945 (age 71) |
| Political party | Independent-Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Vicki (to 1998) |
| Children | 5 |
| Occupation | Businessman |
Jon Rieder Grunseth (born November 11, 1945) 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. 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.
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.)
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.
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. 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. Two members of a rock band that performed at the party remembered seeing men and teenaged girls swimming naked. Carlson soon decided to reenter the gubernatorial race as a write-in candidate.
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