Hennepin County commissioners advanced a resolution that would give even more money to a left-wing group partnering with Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty.
Last week, the board’s public safety committee voted 5-2 to add $60,000 to an existing agreement between Hennepin County and the Wren Collective, a left-wing nonprofit that focuses on “reimagining the way our country approaches the criminal legal system.”
According to a proposed county resolution, the Wren Collective provides communications support to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO). The resolution would extend the agreement’s term through 2026 and brings the agreement’s total value to $210,000.
However, the county attorney’s office already has a designated, in-house public information officer (PIO) to communicate with the media and public. On top of that, the HCAO can get temporary communications assistance from other Hennepin County departments.
At last Tuesday’s meeting of the public safety committee, Hennepin County commissioners discussed the amendment, and a representative of the HCAO explained the position of the county attorney’s office.
According to the HCAO representative, the county attorney’s office has communications staff already, but the HCAO would need to hire a “professional-level communications person to be able to replace the work of the Wren Collective.” He also noted that the cost of hiring someone would be “significantly more than the current ask of this contract.”
Commissioner Heather Edelson said her community was strongly against the payments to the Wren Collective. However, Edelson supported the $60,000 contract increase because the money was coming from the HCAO’s existing budget.
Commissioner Jeff Lunde was highly critical of the resolution and said that Wren Collective “is not a PR firm, they are an advocacy group.”
“To me this is nothing more than advocacy. Taxpayers should not pay for it. If Ms. Moriarty wants to pay for it, [then] use campaign money because that’s what this is. It is not a good use of our services. We don’t have the money,” Lunde continued.
🚨WATCH: A Minnesota elected official is stunned to learn taxpayer dollars are going to a group that claims "Trump’s longing for the days of Jim Crow."
The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners recently approved a request from County Attorney Mary Moriarty to pay "The Wren… pic.twitter.com/ygMRnPx8iH
— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) December 3, 2025
Hennepin County is currently proposing $3.09 billion budget for next year and considering a property tax levy increase of up to 7.79%.
“If we need help with PR, we have people who can help, or we can hire,” added Lunde. “But the Wren Collective is not a PR firm. If you look at their website, I don’t think I found anything that actually said ‘helping with press.’ They are a narrative-driver. They are here to push an agenda. The fact that we’re paying and using money has a lot of people upset.”
Concluding his remarks, Lunde said, “I’d be happy to support a real PR firm; this isn’t one of those.”
Another Hennepin County commissioner, Angela Conley, also noted that she did not see “contracted media work” as a part of what Wren Collective does. Conley asked the HCAO representative about how the county attorney’s office conducted the bid process for the communications work.
The HCAO staffer said he was “not familiar” with how the bid process was conducted, but he did say the Wren Collective has worked with Moriarty’s office since 2023. He said, in his experience, the Wren Collective has done communications work for HCAO.
The resolution to give more money to Wren Collective was advanced on a 5-2 vote. Only Commissioners Lunde and Kevin Anderson voted against the resolution. The resolution will now go before the full Hennepin County Board of Commissioners for a final vote.
Alpha News reached out to the HCAO and the Wren Collective but did not immediately hear back.
On its website, the Wren Collective describes itself as “a team made up of former public defenders and policy experts who support elected officials, grassroots advocates, and other allies on policy development and implementation along with narrative change.”
The left-wing group also publishes regular newsletters which are available on its website.
In one newsletter published after President Donald Trump was elected to a second term, the nonprofit makes its position quite clear by saying, “in the years to come, we will see a lot of horrible things happen. We will see our undocumented friends deported, political prosecutions increase, and surveillance over dissenters grow at an alarming pace.”
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
