Jon Grunseth

In 1974, Grunseth was the endorsed candidate of the Republican Party for the U.S. House of Representatives for Minnesota's 6th congressional district. He lost by a margin of 55% to 45% to DFL candidate Rick 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 September 11, 1990 primary to become the main opposition to incumbent Governor Rudy Perpich.{{cite web|url=http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/11/04/carlson-grunset-revisited/|publisher=Minnesota Public Radio|title=Recent race tame compared to 1990 gubernatorial contest|first=Curtis|last= Gilbert|date=November 5, 2010|accessdate=August 11, 2011}}

On October 14, 1990, public allegations of sexual misconduct were made against Grunseth. On July 4, 1981, Grunseth held a pool party at his home. It was alleged that his daughter entered the pool naked, and Grunseth joined her, also naked. 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, now adults, levied accusations against Grunseth, which two other women, Lisa Hare and Heather Charles, corroborated.{{cite news|first1=Allen|last1=Short|first2=Paul|last2=McEnroe |first3= Dave |last3=Hage|title=Taylor says Grunseth tried to deceive voters|newspaper=Star Tribune|date=October 29, 1990|page= 11A}} Grunseth denied the allegations, but they severely damaged his candidacy. Nine party attendees submitted affidavits stating that they had witnessed nude swimming.{{cite news|first=Chris|last=Ison|title=Grunseth stands firm; IR leaders talk|newspaper= Star Tribune|date= October 18, 1990|page= 1A}} Two members of the rock band that had performed at the party that evening remembered seeing men and teen aged girls swimming naked.{{cite news|first=Allen|last=Short|title=Allegations rock governor's race; 2 women claim improper behavior by Grunseth at '81 party; he denies it|newspaper=Star Tribune|date=October 15, 1990|page= 1A}}

Carlson soon decided to reenter the gubernatorial race as a write-in candidate.

The situation divided the Minnesota 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. Republican 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 since then and been faithful to his wife, the former Vicki Tigwell, since their 1984 marriage.{{cite news|first1=Allen|last1=Short|first2= Paul|last2= McEnroe|title=When did Grunseth 'wild years' end?|newspaper= Star Tribune|date=October 28, 1990|page= 1A}} 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.{{cite news|first1=Allen|last1=Short|first2=Paul|last2=McEnroe|first3=Dave|last3=Hage|title=Taylor says Grunseth tried to deceive voters|newspaper=Star Tribune|date= October 29, 1990|page= 11A}} Facing certain defeat, Grunseth withdrew from the race on October 28.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-29-mn-2704-story.html |agency=Associated Press|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|title=Republican Quits Minnesota Governor's Race|date=October 29, 1990}}{{cite web|url=http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2010/11/05-carlson-timeline/|title= 20 years ago: A three-week political roller coaster |first=Curtis|last=Gilbert|publisher=Minnesota Public Radio|date= November 5, 2010|accessdate=October 28, 2014}} Carlson, the runner-up in the primary, replaced him on the ballot and defeated Rudy Perpich.{{cite news|page=18A|date=August 18, 1994|title=Rough start, better finish|newspaper=Star Tribune}}

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 his mistress Taylor alleged was the last she had spent with Grunseth. The amount of the lawsuit was based on what Grunseth would have earned had he not been fired from Ecolab.{{cite news|newspaper=The Gainesville Sun|title=A question of private business; a matter of public responsibility|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jEZWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=buoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1343%2C7007651|first=Curt|last=Pierson|date=May 23, 1993|page=3G}}{{cite news|first=Chris|last=Ison|title=Grunseth suit says hotel violated privacy|newspaper= Star Tribune|date= May 14, 1993|page= 1B}} 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.{{cite book|pages=201–202|title= Communication Law in America|first=Paul|last=Siegel|edition=4th|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2014|isbn=978-1442226234}}{{cite court|litigants=Grunseth v. Marriott Corp.|vol=872|reporter=F.Supp.|opinion=1069|date=1995|court=D.D.C.|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11171994540802747192}}, affirmed {{cite court|vol=79|reporter=F.3d|opinion=169|court=D.C. Cir.|date=1996}}

Grunseth later moved to Barnes Bay, Bruny Island, Tasmania, Australia, where he purchased property in 1997 and founded Lennonville Orchards, a large cherry-growing operation.{{cite web|url=http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=15269|work= Fresh Plaza|title=Many Australian cherry growers caught by extreme heat|first=Lody |last=van Berkel|date=January 28, 2008}} He later lived in France, and {{as of|2022|lc=yes}}, he lives in the Hebrides, in Scotland.{{cite news|url = https://www2.startribune.com/jon-grunseth-arne-carlson-rudy-perpich-1990-campaign-governor/600203007/|title = Did a TV debate decide one of Minnesota's most scandalous elections?|last = Furst|first = Randy|date = September 2, 2022|accessdate = September 18, 2024|newspaper = Minneapolis Star Tribune}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Governor of Minnesota| years=September–October 1990}}

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Category:1945 births

Category:20th-century American businesspeople

Category:21st-century American businesspeople

Category:American business executives

Category:American expatriates in Australia

Category:American expatriates in France

Category:American expatriates in Scotland

Category:Candidates in the 1974 United States elections

Category:Candidates in the 1990 United States elections

Category:Living people

Category:Minnesota Republicans