Harassment claims against Ore. GOP Senate candidate emerge for 2nd time

Monica Wehby, Republican Senate candidate in Oregon. (FNC)

Allegations of harassment have emerged for the second time in a week against the front-runner in Tuesday's Republican Senate primary in Oregon -- though the candidate says the reports have nothing to do with her campaign and are being used as a "political weapon."

Candidate Monica Wehby, who is vying for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeff Merkley, is leading in the polls against primary opponent Jason Conger.

But she was hit with back-to-back reports in recent days about former companions calling police as a relationship deteriorated.

According to a police report made public Monday, Wehby's ex-husband Jim Grant called police to accuse her of harassing him as they were going through a divorce in 2007.

The December 2007 report said he called police during an altercation at the couple's Portland home; it says Grant told an officer he "is tired of the ongoing harassment by his wife."

"Jim said over the last year Monica has pulled his hair, slapped him and thrown items at him. Jim said he had been violent with her in the past approximately three years or so ago," the report said, as first reported by The Oregonian.

On the night he called, he said Wehby slapped him with a pad of paper. The officer wrote that he saw a small red dot on Grant's cheek, but wasn't sure what might have caused it.

Wehby denied hitting Grant with a pad of paper and portrayed Grant as the aggressor, saying he began swearing and yelling at her while she was on the phone with the nanny.

The report did not result in any charges.

"Like a lot of women, I've gone through a divorce that was a trying time in my life for me and for my family," Wehby, a pediatric neurosurgeon, said in a statement. "I'm deeply saddened that such a personal matter, which bears no relevance to my Senate campaign, has been used as a political weapon to attack my character."

On Friday, a separate police report showed Wehby's former boyfriend, Andrew Miller, called police last year reporting that she was stalking him and harassing his former employees. Miller later funded a super PAC attacking Wehby's Republican primary opponent, Conger, and said he regretted calling police.

Neither of the incidents is likely to weigh heavily on the outcome of the election, though. Oregon holds a mail-in primary, with Tuesday being the last day.

In previous primaries, fewer than half the ballots were cast in the last two days of the election, so the impact of the latest revelations on Wehby's fortunes will be limited. Through Sunday, 24 percent of registered Republicans had cast a ballot.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.