Jon Grunseth
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Jon Rieder Grunseth (born November 11, 1945) is an American businessman and former politician from the state of Minnesota. He was the
1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
Independent-Republican nominee for
Governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory ...
. Grunseth won his party's endorsement and its
primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...
, but was forced to quit the race nine days before election day in the wake of a
scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...
. Until the 1990 governor's race, Grunseth had been the Vice President of Public Affairs at
Ecolab Ecolab Inc. is an American corporation headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It develops and offers services, technology and systems that specialize in treatment, purification, cleaning and hygiene of water in a wide variety of applications. F ...
, and chair of the Chemical Specialties Manufacturers Association. After the scandal, he lost his job at Ecolab, and later moved to Australia, where he ran a cherry-growing operation.


1974 congressional candidacy

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 Richard Michael Nolan (December 17, 1943 – October 18, 2024) was an American politician and businessman who served as the U.S. representative from Minnesota's 8th congressional district from 2013 to 2019. He previously served as the U.S. rep ...
, 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 State auditors (also known as state comptrollers, state controllers, or state examiners, among others) are fiscal officers lodged in the executive or legislative branches of U.S. state governments who serve as external auditors, program eval ...
Arne Carlson Arne Helge Carlson (born September 24, 1934) is an American politician who served from 1991 to 1999 as the 37th governor of Minnesota. Carlson is considered a liberal Republican. Before his governorship, he served as the Minnesota State Audito ...
. He defeated Carlson again in the September 11, 1990 primary to become the main opposition to incumbent Governor
Rudy Perpich Rudolph George Perpich Sr. (born Rudolph George Prpić; June 27, 1928 September 21, 1995) was an American politician who served as the governor of Minnesota from 1976 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor ...
.


Sex scandal

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. Grunseth denied the allegations, but they severely damaged his candidacy. Nine party attendees submitted affidavits stating that they had witnessed nude swimming. Two members of the rock band that had performed at the party that evening remembered seeing men and teen aged girls swimming naked. Carlson soon decided to reenter the gubernatorial race as a
write-in A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...
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 Rudolph Ely “Rudy” Boschwitz (born November 7, 1930) is an American politician and businessman from the state of Minnesota. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the United States Senate from 1978 to 1991. From 1987 to ...
, 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. 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 Ecolab Inc. is an American corporation headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It develops and offers services, technology and systems that specialize in treatment, purification, cleaning and hygiene of water in a wide variety of applications. F ...
) as recently as July 1989. Facing certain defeat, Grunseth withdrew from the race on October 28. Carlson, the runner-up in the primary, replaced him on the ballot and defeated Rudy Perpich.


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 ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...
'', 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. 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. Grunseth later moved to Barnes Bay,
Bruny Island Bruny Island is a coastal island of Tasmania, Australia, located at the mouths of the Derwent River and Huon River estuaries on Storm Bay on the Tasman Sea, south of Hobart. The island is separated from the mainland by the D'Entrecasteaux C ...
,
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
, Australia, where he purchased property in 1997 and founded Lennonville Orchards, a large cherry-growing operation. He later lived in France, and , he lives in the
Hebrides The Hebrides ( ; , ; ) are the largest archipelago in the United Kingdom, off the west coast of the Scotland, Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Ou ...
, in Scotland.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grunseth, Jon 1945 births 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American business executives American expatriates in Australia American expatriates in France American expatriates in Scotland Candidates in the 1974 United States elections Candidates in the 1990 United States elections Living people Minnesota Republicans