Council member barred from St. Francis business

St. Francis Council Member Leroy Schaffer has been legally barred from the city's new tattoo shop after allegedly pressuring the owner, Amanda Swart, to go out on a date with him. Swart filed a trespass notice with the St. Francis Police Department, which blocks Schaffer from her business, InknMaven, its alley, parking lot or property for a year, effective March 16.

In a police report filed last week, Swart said she "is concerned that Councilman Schaffer is going to attempt to retaliate and try to have her business shut down."

It's the latest in the saga of the councilman's troubles. His first term was marked by three censures, two of which had to do with treatment of young women. In 2007 he was censured for making what the council called inappropriate sexual remarks to a young woman at a community event. In 2009 he was censured after the city attorney found that he had publicly humiliated the 19-year-old daughter of City Council adversary Tim Brown, and over an altercation with the public works director.

It is the second trespass notice filed against Schaffer. Last September, resident Ron Benkler, a former supporter, filed a notice aimed at keeping Schaffer away from Benkler's home. That was after he complained to the City Council about an sexually suggestive verbal encounter his daughter allegedly had with Schaffer at a bar where she works.

Reached Friday afternoon, Schaffer, 71, said first that he did not ask Swart out, then that he was kidding around. He said he never threatened retaliation.

"That's in her own imagination," he said. "I cannot be responsible for people's imaginations, what they perceive and speculate. I did not make any threats to her about her business."

But Mayor Jerry Tveit said residents and business owners have complained to him about Schaffer's behavior on their properties. He worries that Schaffer's conduct will expose the city to a lawsuit.

If Schaffer shows up at either the tattoo shop or the Benkler home he could be arrested. The trespass notice is a tool created by the St. Francis Police Department two years ago to document trespass violations that are enforceable by law, said Police Chief Jeff Harapat. Residents fill out a notice, which is sent by certified mail to the offending person and filed at the department, marking the start of the one-year period.

Schaffer was reelected to his at-large council seat last fall.

Is the city being put at risk by Schaffer's purported behavior?

It depends, said Teresa Ayling, a Minneapolis employment attorney. It could be a sexual harassment issue if delivery of city services were dependent on Swart's response to Schaffer's alleged advances, or if her rejection of him resulted in loss of services or real economic damage, or if there were threats of retaliation.

Swart opened her business last September. In an interview, she said she met Schaffer on New Year's Eve at a St. Francis bar where she was celebrating with friends and her fiance. She said she danced with him and gave him a business card. In the next few days, she said, Schaffer left three messages, each of which included his name and position with the city, and requests to go out with him. Transcripts of those messages are part of the police report.

For his part, Schaffer said he did not remember calling Swart, except perhaps on city business. He said he visited the shop to try to solicit a donation for a civic group, a way to promote her business. Schaffer said he always conducts himself as a gentleman, and that it's not his fault "if someone gets their feathers ruffled."

Swart said Schaffer hasn't returned to the tattoo shop since she filed the trespass notice, but said she got a dog and carries pepper spray for protection.

"I'm definitely walking on eggshells," she said. "I felt safer in downtown L.A. than I do here, and that's sad."