Moriarty says Walz criticized her because she’s ‘queer.’ His supporters call the attack shameful.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty alleged publicly again Tuesday that DFL Gov. Tim Walz treats her differently than her male predecessor because she’s a queer woman, a claim swiftly rebutted by the governor and his allies.

Moriarty initially made the comment to a Star Tribune reporter on Sunday as she revealed that she would drop the murder and manslaughter charges against State Trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting of Ricky Cobb II last summer during a traffic stop.

The top prosecutor in the state’s most populous county talked at length about her critics, including the governor, saying they are delegitimizing the system.

She said the criticism was personal as well. “I never saw this happen to my predecessor,” she said in the interview. “Why is the governor treating me this way? Why is the governor questioning me is something I’ve asked myself and others quite a few times.”

When asked why she believes that to be the case, Moriarty said, “I think it’s because I’m a queer woman in this role. I think it’s because he looks at the political winds and which way they’re blowing and I think that’s what he reacts to, which is horrible.”

At a news conference Monday morning, Walz was asked to respond directly to that comment, which he was hearing for the first time. “Well, that’s false,” he said. “Next question.”

U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, a DFLer who was the first openly gay person elected to Congress from Minnesota, called Moriarty’s claim ridiculous. “Tim was a steadfast champion for the LGBTQ+ community well before many politicians would take the risk,” she said on X, formerly Twitter.

Kat Rohn, executive director of OutFront Minnesota, which advocates for the LGBTQ community, said she was surprised to see Moriarty’s claims about Walz.

Rohn, a transgender woman and member of the queer community, described Walz as a “huge champion” of the LGBTQ+ community, both through his public expressions and “enthusiastic support” for legislation, such as making Minnesota a transgender refuge state. He has attended meetings with the community himself, not delegating the task to staff. “That would indicate to me this is a real deep commitment,” Rohn said.

Moriarty was elected in November 2022 after serving as the chief Hennepin County public defender. She came into the prosecutor’s office on a platform of progressive criminal justice reform in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

She continued to criticize Walz later Monday in a staff meeting about her decision to drop the Londregan case and again Tuesday in a WCCO Radio interview.

At a private meeting with prosecutors and support staff in her office, one employee asked Moriarty about her Walz comment. The employee said he was disappointed in the governor and that friends had asked about the comment and wanted to know if there was more behind it.

“I didn’t say it out of frustration,” Moriarty said. She said Walz has treated her “with disrespect in the press.” She claimed that Walz treated long-time Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, also a DFLer, differently.

“Is the governor ever going to come out and say, ‘I’m homophobic?’ No,” Moriarty said in the meeting attended remotely by a Star Tribune reporter. “But none of this ever happened with Freeman.”

Moriarty said she’d been in only one meeting with Walz over the murder of Zaria McKeever, which the governor then reassigned to Attorney General Keith Ellison.

The prosecutor made additional criticism of Walz on the radio Tuesday as reporter Tom Hauser pressed her on whether she thought her gender and sexual orientation had something to do with the governor’s plan to take the Londregan case away from her office.

Moriarty said Walz has been a “constant critic” of her in public since her second month in office. She said she knows Walz disagreed privately with Freeman.

“What I know is I have been the subject of repeated attacks and criticisms by a governor of my own party throughout my tenure without the governor ever having spoken to me.”

Sen. Matt Klein, DFL-Mendota Heights, called Moriarty’s attack on Walz “lazy and misdirected.” The governor “has been a nation-leading trailblazer in making Minnesota a safe and supported home for the LGBTQ+ community,” Klein wrote.

Third Congressional District U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, a DFLer, called it a “shameful and unprofessional attack” by Moriarty. Phillips also called Walz “a champion for the LGBTQ+ community.”

Former DFL state Rep. Ryan Winkler, who briefly ran for Hennepin County attorney, was sharper on X. “Just like in the last job @MaryMoriarty got fired from, she has destroyed all trust and confidence in her leadership,” he said. “She is not a [credible] leader of a public institution.”

He called on her to resign instead of “dragging down the Hennepin County Attorney’s office.”

He referred to October 2020 when the Minnesota Board of Public Defense declined to renew Moriarty’s contract, citing her inability to work with others. At that time, Moriarty accused State Chief Public Defender Bill Ward of sexism and racism.

Ward had opposed her reappointment to another four-year term because of an inability to work with others and rebuild relationships.

The concern, Ward said then, was her “inability” to work collaboratively with other “stakeholders” and the state office. Moriarty refused to follow directives or take responsibility for her actions, he said.

In June 2021, Moriarty reached an out-of-court settlement of $300,000 with the state office over her dismissal. As part of the agreement, she agreed to retire from the public defender’s office and never again seek to work with Minnesota’s public defense board.

Star Tribune staff writer Andy Mannix contributed to this story.