明尼阿波利斯——这位四面楚歌的明尼苏达州共和党领袖被迫辞职，此前有人指控她经营了一家“道德沦丧”的企业，充斥着辱骂、恐吓和不当性行为。
珍妮弗·卡纳汉最初拒绝了辞职的要求，称她不知道针对一名著名捐赠者和当地大学共和党分部领导人的性交易指控。她说“一种暴民心态以这种方式出现，诋毁、玷污并试图破坏我的个人和职业声誉。”
周四晚些时候，该党15名成员组成的董事会以8票对7票，决定给卡纳汉三个月的工资，约3.8万美元。卡纳汉对她的离职投了决定性的一票。
董事会还批准了对该党财务和人力资源协议的调查。
卡纳汉在投票后的一份声明中说:“担任明尼苏达州共和党的女主席是我一生的荣幸。“然而，我报名参加这个政党是为了帮助我们选举共和党人，我想确保我们能够继续这样做。”
在一位亲密的朋友，共和党捐赠者安东“托尼”拉扎罗因联邦性交易指控被捕后，要求卡纳汉下台的呼声越来越高。卡纳汉坚称，在上周他的起诉书被启封之前，她对针对他的指控一无所知。
卡纳汉还被指控制造了一个有毒的工作场所环境其中个人和职业界限模糊，对性骚扰的担忧被忽视，没有排队的员工会遭到报复。
本周早些时候，明尼苏达州共和党最近的四名执行董事发表声明，强烈谴责她的领导。
“十年前，主席托尼·萨顿辞职，因为在他的领导下，明尼苏达州共和党财政破产。今天，由于主席詹妮弗·卡纳汉的领导，该党道德沦丧，”声明中写道。
Embattled Minnesota Republican Party leader resigns
MINNEAPOLIS -- The embattled leader of the Minnesota Republican Party has been forced to resign following accusations that she ran a “morally bankrupt” operation that was rife with verbal abuse, intimidation and sexual misconduct.
Jennifer Carnahan initially resisted calls to resign, saying she had no knowledge of sex-trafficking allegations against a prominent donor and a local college Republican chapter leader. She said a “mob mentality came out in this way to defame, tarnish and attempt to ruin my personal and professional reputation.”
Late Thursday, the party's 15-member board voted 8-7 to give Carnahan three months salary, about $38,000. Carnahan cast the deciding vote on her severance.
The board also approved investigations into the party's finances and human resources protocols.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as chairwoman for the Republican Party of Minnesota,” Carnahan said in a statement after the vote. “However, I signed up for this party to help us elect Republicans and I want to ensure that we can continue to do that.”
Calls for Carnahan to step down intensified after a close friend, GOP donor Anton “Tony” Lazzaro, was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges. Carnahan insisted she knew nothing about the allegations against him before his indictment was unsealed last week.
Carnahan was also accused of creating a toxic workplaceenvironmentin which personal and professional lines were blurred, concerns about sexual harassment ignored, and employees who didn’t fall in line were subjected to retaliation.
Earlier this week, the four most recent executive directors of the Republican Party of Minnesota released a statement strongly condemning her leadership.
“Ten years ago, Chair Tony Sutton resigned because under his leadership, the Republican Party of Minnesota was financially bankrupt. Today, the Party is morally bankrupt due to the leadership of Chair Jennifer Carnahan,” the statement read.
