Minnesota Pol Faces Sex Scandal

(Duluth, Minnesota) Last month, 56-year-old state Representative Kerry Gauthier, D-Duluth, admitted to sexual contact with a 17-year-old boy at a Minnesota rest stop.

Rep. Kerry Gauthier, 56, hasn’t been charged in the July incident, and authorities said he wouldn’t be because the boy was older than 16, the legal age of consent, and no money was exchanged.

Police say the teenager responded to the lawmaker’s Craigslist ad for “no strings attached” sex.

Gauthier admitted to the liaison, according to police reports made public late last week. The teen told police the two had oral sex, according to the reports.

The scandal has hurt Democrats’ hopes of retaking at least one chamber of the Legislature. They need to pick up at least six seats in the House, and Gauthier’s Duluth-area seat usually is reliably Democratic. But if he drops out, any Democrat seeking to replace him would have to run as a write-in candidate, making the race much more difficult to win.

Minnesota Democrats have asked Gauthier to withdraw from the race for reelection while allowing him to collect pay and benefits for the remaining months of his term.

Republicans called for Gauthier to resign immediately.