HMC disavows former board president Cole Hanson

NO INTERIM WARD 4 CITY COUNCIL MEMBER YET

At three recent city council meetings, the council has failed to agree on a procedure or new appointee to fill the vacant Ward 4 City Council seat. The seat has been officially vacant since March 8, following Jalali’s leave of absence. According to the city charter, the city council has 30 days to appoint an interim member following a resignation.

The council took an unexpected recess at its Wednesday, April 2, 2025 meeting, holding conversations behind closed doors before reconvening to take a third unsuccessful vote on a new council appointment.

Confusion followed council President Rebecca Noecker’s call for an impromptu recess midway through the meeting.

Most council members rose from their seats, including Noecker, Kim, Bowie and Johnson. Jost was calling into the meeting remotely and later said she didn’t know what was happening. Yang remained back in the chamber.

The four who left the chamber did not all meet together during the recess. This is important because, if they had all met, the meeting would have constituted a quorum and could have been considered an unauthorized closed session. Instead, council members Noecker and Kim confirmed later that they met with council member Bowie. They said they were trying to confirm that Bowie understood what they were voting on during the portion of the meeting dedicated to filling Jalali’s seat.

Johnson decried the decision to call a recess after holding virtually no conversation about the items publicly during council meetings.

“Community members have constantly asked for us to be transparent,” Johnson said. “They trust in our government elected officials to make decisions, sometimes easy ones and sometimes hard ones. But it is the deals that happen behind closed doors that repeat centuries of issues and disparities and lack of trust from community.”

Because the council failed to come to an agreement on this interim replacement before its deadline, the appointment will now go to the mayor.

Jalali’s former aide Matt Privratsky and Union Park District Council member Lisa Nelson are being considered for the seat. Privratsky does not plan to run for the permanent seat and it is unclear if Nelson plans to.

Tensions around the interim appointment first came to a head last week when council member Jost moved to name Privratsky to the interim seat while Noecker was absent on bereavement leave.

Kim and Yang opposed the motion, saying the council had agreed to address the issue when all members could be present last Friday. When the Friday special meeting rolled around on March 28, Noecker adjourned after only three minutes, stating her disappointment in the council not having reached consensus.

- Information from the MinnPost article by Winter Keefer, “St. Paul City Council disagreement reaches boiling point behind closed doors.”

UPDATE: MAYOR APPOINTS PRIVRTSKY

On Monday afternoon, April 7, 2025, Mayor Melvin Carter appointed former Ward 4 aide Matt Privratsky as the interim Ward 4 city council member.

UPDATE: Lewandowski suspended

On April 3, the HMC executive committee suspended HMC Director of Organizing Justin Lewandowski for two weeks, in part for speaking to the Monitor, according to internal documents.

UPDATE: Liu resigns

On Monday evening, April 7, Grace Liu submitted her resignation letter to fellow board members, resigning as president and as a board member effective on April 8.

Audio

HMC disavows former board president Cole Hanson_Tesha M. Christensen.mp3

Attachments

20250407-210706-c78-HMC 501(c)(3) _ 2025 city council campaign resolution.pdf

20250408-104213-ac8-HMC_Bylaws_passed_102522.pdf

Stating that former Board President and current Ward 4 city council candidate Cole Hanson engaged in activities that jeopardized the Hamline Midway Coalition’s tax-exempt status and public trust, the Hamline Midway Coalition (HMC) has disavowed Hanson.
Hanson is running for the Ward 4 City Council seat vacated by Mitra Jalali.
Hanson’s run for the Ward 4 city council seat probably should have begun with his resignation as president from the Hamline Midway Coalition. However, unlike many of St. Paul district councils, HMC’s bylaws do not have rules on whether its board members can run for office.
Hanson officially launched his candidacy on Feb. 26 with a Facebook page and website. On it, he used the Hamline Midway Coalition slogan, “With our neighbors, for our neighbors.” Coinciding with using it on his campaign materials, Hanson logged into the HMC website and changed the slogan there.
Hanson has since changed his campaign slogan to be: “For our Neighborhoods/Our Neighbor’s Choice.”
The slogan for the district council was created last year and has been in HMC printed materials, local advertisements, and community outreach efforts, in addition to being on its website.
Hanson also used a photo featuring himself and HMC staff on his campaign website, creating the appearance of an implicit organizational endorsement, such endorsement is expressly prohibited by 501(c)(3) regulations.
According to the HMC resolution, while serving as board president, Hanson engaged in campaign-related activities at an HMC-sponsored event, in violation of IRS rules prohibiting 501(c)(3) organizations from engaging in campaigning.
In the resolution approved by the board on March 31: “By taking the above actions – each constituting prohibited political campaign involvement – Mr. Hanson created the appearance of organizational support for a partisan candidate and misused organizational resources to directly benefit his candidacy for public office. Such conduct placed HMC at risk of IRS penalties, including the potential revocation of its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
“WHEREAS, these actions have exposed HMC to potential legal liability, public scrutiny, and reputational harm; and,
“WHEREAS, HMC affirms its commitment to strict adherence to nonprofit law, including IRS regulations and the Johnson Amendment, and to maintaining neutrality in all political campaigns; and,
“NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that HMC officially disavows the actions taken by Cole Hanson, as outlined above, and affirms that these actions were unauthorized and contrary to HMC’s policies and legal obligations; and,
“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that HMC reaffirms its commitment to nonpartisan conduct, explicitly stating that no board member, staff member, or affiliated individual may use HMC resources, branding, or events for any political campaign.” Full resolution at www.MonitorSaintPaul.com.
“Following the passage of the resolution, staff discovered that Mr. Hanson had downloaded sensitive internal HMC data – including donor information, event sign-in sheets, and community contact lists – shortly after announcing his candidacy and prior to losing access to his board email and Google Drive following his resignation,” observed HMC Director of Organizing Justin Lewandowski. “The organization is actively consulting with legal counsel to review the matter, and an updated board resolution will likely be required to explicitly address the unauthorized downloading and use of this sensitive information.”
HMC has consulted with two attorneys related to these issues. HMC officials point out that they had communicated concerns with Hanson throughout the launch of his campaign.
HMC Board members include Grace Liu (president), Anna Best (secretary), Ilya Garelik (Co-Vice President), Melissa Tallman (Co-Vice President), Gunnar Aas (who is engaged to Grace Liu), Kaitlynn Fuller, Cameron Fure, Dawn Einwalter and Ahmed (Meddy) Ali. Executive committee members include Liu, Best, Garelik, Tallman and Aas.
Hanson officially resigned as board member, a role he held since 2023, on March 4. Grace Liu was voted in as the new HMC Board president.
HMC is currently in the middle of board elections. Applications and questionnaires were due on April 7, with the election April 14-28.
It is unclear how many board members have been involved in Hanson’s campaign.
In a statement to the Monitor on April 6, Liu wrote: “I am not currently involved in Cole Hanson’s campaign in any way. I’ve remained focused on my responsibilities as board president and on protecting the integrity and neutrality of HMC as a nonprofit organization.”
Liu had volunteered for Hanson’s campaign prior to being elected as board president, and she knows of at least one other board member that is currently helping with Hanson’s campaign.

NEXT STEPS FOR HMC
“As a board, we’ve worked hard to ensure HMC remains a trusted and nonpartisan neighborhood institution,” stated Liu. “While the majority of the board does not believe there was malicious intent behind the former board president’s actions, we acknowledge the serious nature of the concerns and are committed to learning from this experience and strengthening our internal policies.”
About half of the city’s district councils do not have a policy requiring that when board members seek an elected office that they either resign from the district council or take a leave of absence. HMC intends to adopt a new bylaw provision following this incident.
The HMC board also intends to strengthen its conflict-of-interest policy and expand board education to provide clearer guidelines and comprehensive training on nonprofit compliance, ensuring board members fully understand their legal obligations and the importance of maintaining HMC’s nonpartisan integrity.
In an effort to reaffirms its commitment to non-partisanship in elections, HMC will not be involved in candidate forums for the upcoming special election. HMC will not host, co-host, or sponsor any candidate forums, but may promote forums organized by neighborhood partners.
Hamline Midway Coalition is a 317A Minnesota nonprofit corporation exempt from income tax pursuant to 501(c)(3) and, as such, is bound by the regulations set forth in the Internal Revenue Code that explicitly prohibit charitable organizations from engaging in partisan political activities.

HANSON’S STATEMENT ON ‘MISSTEPS’
When asked about the issues in the HMC resolution, Hanson labeled them “missteps, driven by inexperience.”
He added, “I want to be clear: I never intentionally misused HMC resources or intellectual property, nor did I knowingly act in a way that would harm the organization. I was simply unequipped to navigate the finer points of nonprofit and campaign law as a first-time candidate and longtime volunteer leader.”

BOARD PRESIDENT SEEKS TO PREVENT STAFF FROM TALKING TO MONITOR
The current HMC Board President sought to prevent HMC’s Organizing Director from speaking to the media about this issue.
On April 2, Liu emailed the Midway Como Frogtown Monitor, writing, “I was recently made aware that our organizing director, Justin Lewandowski, may have made statements to you regarding a resolution passed by the HMC board this Monday, March 31 relating to Cole Hanson, former board president. Justin’s statements were made to you without the permission of the executive director or board of directors. He was acting as an unauthorized spokesperson for the organization, and any statements he made to you should be retracted.”
Currently, Lewandowski is the only staff member in the HMC office as executive director Jenne Nelson has taken a leave of absence and is working in the Ward 4 City Council office.
Per the HMC media relationship policy:
• “The executive director or their designee will be the primary spokesperson for the HMC. Only the executive director or their designee is authorized to provide statements to the media on behalf of the organization. The executive committee of HMC can designate an alternate spokesperson for HMC at any time. HMC staff and executive committee are encouraged to seek out resources for media training.”
Lewandowski considered himself the official designee of the executive director while on leave, with the authority to be the spokesperson for the organization, when he responded to the Monitor’s questions in a timely manner, which is called for in the HMC media policy. On Friday, April 4, the HMC executive committee suspended Lewandowski for two weeks. (*Note an earlier version of this story said April 3.) He had already let the organization know he was taking several days of vacation time.
Liu emailed her resignation letter to fellow board members late on April 7.

WARD 4 CANDIDATES
In addition to Hanson, three others have announced their bid for the vacant Ward 4 seat: Molly Coleman, Cristen Incitti and current school board member Chauntyll Allen.
Former Ward 4 council member Mitra Jalali’s term was set to end in 2028. A special election will be held on Aug. 12.