Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said Tuesday that recent incidents involving two Boston city councilors have "hurt the credibility" of the entire body.
During an appearance on GBH News' "Boston Public Radio," the mayor was asked about recent incidents involving councilors Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara, and whether she thinks they have hurt the council's credibility.
"To be honest, I think it hurts the credibility on every issue," Wu said. "I will never hold myself up to be someone who is perfectly balancing everything that needs to be done and never making mistakes. In some ways, we need our elected officials and those in office to really understand the full range of what our reisdents are going through. I would never say there needs to be a standard of perfection for behavior."
"At the same time," she said, "I hear from a lot of residents that there’s great concern right now. It's just the kind of density of the frequency of different headlines that have been out there. And you know, all of us are on the ballot. That is the highest form of accountability for elected officials. There's an election coming up in two months in the city of Boston."
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Lara was driving a car that crashed into a home on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain on June 30, injuring her 7-year-old son and causing substantial damage to the building. According to a police report, she was driving an unregistered, uninsured car with a revoked license at the time of the crash, and her son was not secured in a booster seat as required by law. She is scheduled to appear in court on July 19 for a hearing in the case.
She issued a statement last weekend apologizing for the incident. "On June 30th, Zaire and I were involved in a car accident on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain while driving a friend's car. I am grateful for my family, friends and neighbors who have been by our side and provided the support Zaire and I needed to focus on our recovery," she said in the statement.
The crash came on the heels of Arroyo's recent admission of an ethics violation for representing his brother in a sexual harassment lawsuit. The councilor agreed to pay a $3,000 penalty for continuing to act as an attorney for his brother, Felix G. Arroyo, a former city councilor and one-time mayoral candidate, after he was sworn in as a city councilor. A month before that, City Councilor Erin Murphy had suggested he resign after it was found that former U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins had tried to influence last year's primary election for Suffolk County District Attorney in his favor.
The Lara and Arroyo incidents led City Council President Ed Flynn to speak out last week about "ethical and legal lapses" on the council.
"We're not living up to that high bar that we should be meeting," Flynn said.
He added that Bostonians want mature, responsible elected representatives who "demonstrate the ability to follow the same basic rules and norms as the people they serve when placing us in positions of public trust." The tweet that shared the post referred to "Troubling ethical and legal lapses."
