The mayor of Minot, North Dakota, resigned this week over an incident in which he sent a video of himself performing a lewd act to the city’s attorney.
Mayor Tom Ross, a Democrat, maintains he sent it accidentally.
“While I’ve done my very best to be a good leader, it’s clear that time has come to an end. … I have tried to be too much to too many people. I failed,” Mr. Ross wrote in his resignation. “I have had a professional and respectful relationship with every City of Minot staff member that I have come across. I am proud of that. Unfortunately, I have let them down as a leader, as I have with many in our community.”
On Jan. 14, Mr. Ross called City Attorney Stephanie Stahlheim on his personal phone to let her know that an officer she was investigating in the city’s police department had committed suicide. About 11 minutes later, she received a text message from Mr. Ross, and a call three minutes after that asking her not to open the text, according to a city report on the incident.
Ms. Stahlheim answered the call on speaker while a Minot human resources employee, Monica Porterfield, was in the office with her. Mr. Ross told Ms. Stahlheim that he had sent a video and asked her to delete it and not to look at it. She asked what the video was, and Mr. Ross explained that it was a “sexy video for his girlfriend,” per the report.
He then reiterated his request that she delete the video and asked that the incident stay between the two of them. But after Ms. Stahlheim collapsed from her chair upon hearing Mr. Ross’ description from the video, Ms. Porterfield ended the call.
Ms. Stahlheim then opened the message intending to delete the video, but saw a thumbnail from it showing a man’s genitalia. Ms. Stahlheim asked Ms. Porterfield to help her delete the video, which ended up playing in the process.
Mr. Ross confirmed to the investigator that he was the man in the video, and told them that he had recorded it on his lunch break, intending to send it to his girlfriend, whose first name begins with “C.” He had Ms. Stahlheim’s phone number saved under “City Attorney,” he said, and texts to her and his girlfriend were listed right next to each other in his list of most recent messages.
He said he would have never sent the video to Ms. Stahlheim on purpose.
Ms. Stahlheim told the investigator that she struggled with whether to report the incident because Mr. Ross was her direct supervisor and she had a review coming up at the time. She ended up filing a complaint.
She also told the investigator that she continued to be uncomfortable around Mr. Ross after the incident, and asked for a formal apology and that he consider resigning.
The investigator thought Mr. Ross’ claims that he sent the video accidentally were somewhat credible but also contended that Mr. Ross’ attempts to keep it quiet put undue pressure on Ms. Stahlheim. The investigator said the video “caused Stalheim’s inability to work in an environment free from unreasonable sexual harassment and created an offensive work environment,” violating city policy.
