Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s nationwide status as a progressive chief took a significant hit with the revelation that she compiled a listing of vocal critics and despatched it to her police division.
The Nixonian tactic of preserving an enemies checklist, which Wu justified as a safety measure, would possibly dent her picture as a liberal darling within the nationwide media.
The widespread Democrat, the primary Asian American mayor in Boston’s historical past, might need her sights set on increased workplace within the coming years, with the doable opening of a U.S. Senate seat or appointment to a Democratic Biden administration.
But the enemies checklist is simply the sort of factor that might observe her across the nation.
The story concerning the checklist, first reported by the Boston Herald, went viral amongst conservative-leaning media retailers and social media websites, which in contrast her to former President Richard Nixon.
Getting lumped in with Nixon, who was pressured to resign in shame due to the Watergate scandal, is rarely a very good factor in politics.
Critics jumped on the revelation of the enemies checklist, which was first uncovered in an electronic mail by her opponents, as proof that she’s dictatorial and infringing on folks’s rights to protest.
The checklist included anti-vaccine activists who’ve been protesting exterior Wu’s Roslindale residence, in addition to North End restaurant house owners who sued the Wu administration, and City Council candidate Catherine Vitale.
It was compiled as Wu took motion towards protesters by passing an ordinance prohibiting loud demonstrations exterior her residence throughout sure hours.
Vitale stated in an electronic mail to the Herald that days after the checklist was forwarded to police she was “strong armed” and had her megaphone confiscated by police. And weeks later she says she was arrested whereas protesting peacefully at Wu’s residence.
A Wu spokesman stated the checklist of 15 folks was forwarded to the police division after Wu had been “harassed and physically intimidated” by protesters exterior her residence and at metropolis capabilities like parades and occasional hours.
“The request (from police) came after many of the individuals on the list repeatedly impeded the Dorchester Day Parade to harass Mayor Wu and her family and staff, yelling through megaphones at her and her children for nearly ninety minutes as they marched in the parade despite being asked by parade organizers to leave the parade route,” Patron stated.
“Following the Dorchester Day Parade on June 5, 2022, Boston Police met with City staff on June 10 to make a safety plan for the upcoming Bunker Hill Day parade on June 12, and the then-Captain of the District overseeing Charlestown asked for a list of individuals who had been involved in public disruption and harassment of the Mayor at the Dorchester Day Parade and outside her house,” he added. “The email was sent as a follow-up immediately after that meeting.”
The disclosure of the critics checklist – which her opponents name a “hit” checklist – comes amid elevated rigidity between Wu and the Boston City Council.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”