Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has an enormous “#Me Too” downside in her administration, and easily whitewashing the investigation into one in all her prime aides doesn’t minimize it.
Seems Wu’s largest downside in her re-election marketing campaign will not be bike lanes.
In company America, Wu’s Chief of Financial Alternative and Inclusion, Segun Idowu, would in all probability have already been fired for allegations reported Monday by the Boston Globe that he inappropriately propositioned one other Metropolis Corridor worker, Marwa Khudaynazar.
However in Wutopia, Idowu has survived for now. The query is for the way lengthy.
No matter occurred to, “I consider the lady,” Mayor Wu?
Wu has chosen as a substitute to consider Idowu, the up-and-coming member of her Cupboard who now will in all probability be the topic of an embarrassing lawsuit in the course of a reelection marketing campaign.
Is she going to face by him or consider a lady who says she was inappropriately harassed?
This scandal exploding throughout Wu is much less about whether or not Idowu propositioned one other metropolis worker however extra about whether or not the mayor tried to tamp down the investigation to forestall it from hurting her marketing campaign.
Police have refused to launch physique digital camera footage from the officers who arrested Khudaynazar and her boyfriend, Chulan Huang, who works for Idowu, citing legal guidelines that hold confidential home violence proof. Khudaynazar has additionally requested the physique cam footage and has been denied to this point, in line with the Globe report.
Idowu is no longer speaking. The truth that he has employed outstanding protection legal professional Jeffrey Robbins, who additionally represents the Herald, will not be a superb signal for Wu.
Robbins, in a blustery e mail, mentioned metropolis officers did interview Idowu as a part of their investigation “and no discovering of any improper, unethical or inappropriate conduct on his half was made, as a result of he engaged in none.”
However that’s not the difficulty. The issue is that the investigators by no means requested Khudaynazar, who labored within the police accountability workplace, about Idowu’s alleged advances, she advised the Globe.
The town’s inner assessment after all “discovered no violations of legal guidelines or metropolis workforce insurance policies by some other metropolis workers” in addition to Khudaynazar and Huang.
Each of town employees had been fired after being arrested for a home altercation that obtained out of hand when police confirmed up and Khudaynazar allegedly struck an officer.
The rationale given for his or her firing is as a result of they allegedly invoked their jobs at Metropolis Corridor once they had been being arrested, which Khudaynazar advised the Globe was a misunderstanding.
Idowu’s alleged advances are what brought about the home altercation, in line with Khudaynazar’s facet of the story. Each she and Huang have pleaded not responsible.
The query is whether or not Idowu’s alleged advances represent a breach of town’s anti-harassment coverage. However the true potential downside for Wu is whether or not she is conveniently brushing the scandal beneath the carpet to guard her primary place within the polls.
Wu’s marketing campaign opponent, Josh Kraft, mentioned given the allegations by Khudaynazar and texts made public within the Globe “her declare {that a} thorough investigation ‘discovered no violations of legal guidelines or metropolis workforce insurance policies by some other metropolis workers’ is just not true. Clearly there was nothing thorough in regards to the investigation, and that assertion raises severe questions on Mayor Wu’s judgement and credibility on this matter.”
