Battenfeld: Messy arrest scandal threatens to undermine Michelle Wu

A messy sex embarrassment in Boston Mayor Michelle Wu s inner circle has exploded into community view exposing her and a top Cabinet member to scrutiny which could unravel rapidly The outrage erupted when Wu s chief of staff for the Office of Police Accountability was charged with assaulting a police officer Particular irony there The assault was in connection with a lovers spat involving another City Hall staffer who works as a neighborhood liaison for the city s office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion The chief of staff Mawra Khudaynazar and the other staffer Chulan Huang were put on unpaid leave after being arrested for assault and battery on a household member Khudaynazar is accused of biting Huang s arm as he was trying to hold her Both have pleaded not guilty This has all the ingredients of a tawdry affair in a woke office of one of the most of progressive mayors in the country The last thing Wu requirements is explosive details emerging in the middle of a reelection campaign Wu calls the arrested staffers unit members and says she knows both of them are going through chosen challenging situations She has also called the claims disturbing they are in fact charges and says the city is taking them seriously Both Khudaynazar and Huang accused each other of cheating when police responded to a call Huang accused her of having an affair with his boss but the police overview does not specify who that is But City Councilor Ed Flynn is calling for the resignation of Segun Idowu a top member of Wu s Cabinet as Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion Flynn says Idowu failed to provide positive and ethical leadership Wu s mayoral opponent Josh Kraft as well as the police union have also called for an internal probe of the matter Flynn did not outline the reasons he believes the Cabinet official should be fired But if Idowu was involved Wu necessities to dump him Related Articles Boston Mayor Wu leads legal challenge to Trump administration s plans to strip immigration protections Boston city councilors push for review of BPS drivers after bus kills -year-old boy Josh Kraft pushes Mayor Wu to reveal cabinet chief s role in Boston City Hall dispute Councilor Flynn calls for Economic Opportunity and Inclusion chief s resignation Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was K in debt at time of K kickback He s becoming a major credibility obstacle Especially when Wu already has major transparency issues Idowu named a Bostonian of the Year by the Boston Globe and a big proponent of police body cameras demands to come forward with a complete explanation of what happened and if he had any involvement as is rumored Wu s usual tactic is to ignore it and hope it goes away But is this a trouble that will be solved by her usual head in the sand approach At what point will her Teflon wear thin Last week it was the school bus accident This week it s the police accountability and inclusion office Wu is going to end up wearing the disgrace if it gets out of hand And if it does escalate it could end up becoming a national issue further undercutting Wu Boston MA Mayor Michelle Wu presents the Fiscal year budget at the annual budget breakfast Nancy Lane Boston Herald