A super PAC backing Josh Kraft reported spending more than $1.4 million earlier this month on a suite of billboards, digital advertisements, and television, radio, and streaming hits, a massive sum that comes only months before Boston voters are set to decide the mayoral contest.
The spend by the “Your City, Your Future” super PAC is the first major outside injection of cash into Boston’s mayoral contest, where the marquee matchup is between Kraft and Mayor Michelle Wu.
In a disclosure filed Friday with state regulators, the super PAC reported spending $200,000 on digital advertisements, $668,750 on television, streaming, and radio hits, and $550,000 on billboards — all to oppose Wu.
The filing also showed that the super PAC spent more than $10,000 on text messages with Opinion Diagnostics, a political firm run by Brian Wynne, the former campaign manager and senior political advisor to Gov. Charlie Baker.
The super PAC has drawn millions in donations from major business executives, including $1 million alone from Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, $100,000 from Kessler Group President Howard Kessler, and $1 million from New Balance Chairman Jim Davis, according to state data.
A spokesperson for “Your City, Your Future” did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry Monday afternoon.
Super PACs and the candidates they back are barred from coordinating under state law.
Kraft, the son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, pledged last week to give his campaign $2 million from his own personal wealth. He had just over $151,000 cash on hand at the end of April after raising $197,000 and spending $328,000 that month, state data showed.
Wu had a formidable $2.2 million in her campaign account after raising more than $376,000 and spending $168,000 in April, according to state data.
A spokesperson for Wu’s campaign did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry Monday about the super PAC spending.
After a city councilor called for Boston’s Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion Segun Idowu to be ousted, mayoral candidate Josh Kraft pressed Mayor Michelle Wu to reveal Idowu’s “role” in the City Hall domestic violence scandal.
Kraft released a statement Monday that his campaign said is “regarding questions surrounding the role of the city’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion in a recent dispute between several subordinates.”
“I share the concerns raised by City Councilor Flynn about the chief of economic opportunity and inclusion,” Kraft said. “While it is disturbing to learn that a domestic dispute involving two City Hall aides turned into an assault on a police officer, the suggestion that a cabinet chief, who is one of Mayor Wu’s most visible advisors, has played a role in this crisis needs to be addressed.
“The public deserves more information,” he added. “Mayor Wu needs to tell the public what she knows about the involvement of the chief of economic opportunity and inclusion in this matter. When it comes to being transparent about bad news — such as with the recent BPS bus tragedy — Mayor Wu has repeatedly failed to be straightforward with the public.”
Kraft, Wu’s principal challenge in the mayoral race, added, “The mayor should follow the protocol in place to handle allegations of improper conduct by any city employee by referring the matter to the Boston Police Department Anti-Corruption office, which has the authority to review such matters.”
Two city employees — Marwa Khudaynazar, 27, chief of staff for the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, and Chulan Huang, 26, neighborhood business manager for the Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion — were arrested and charged in an alleged domestic violence incident last week.
Both were charged with assault and battery on a household member, in connection with the alleged incident, which took place at a Chinatown apartment. Khudaynazar, a top official at the police accountability office, was also charged with assault and battery on a police officer.
The two employees pleaded not guilty to the charges at their arraignments at Boston Municipal Court last Thursday. They were “placed on unpaid leave while the city investigates,” a Wu spokesperson said in a statement last week.
Idowu was not named in the police report.
He has headed the city’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion since January 2022, and did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
The mayor’s office released a statement on Monday, following the Herald’s inquiries about Flynn and Kraft’s statements regarding Idowu, but did not mention the economic opportunity and inclusion chief.
“The city takes these allegations seriously,” a Wu spokesperson said. “When we learned of the incident last Thursday, both employees were placed on unpaid leave immediately. We are following the appropriate protocols as an employer and completing an internal review.
Flynn called for both employees charged in the incident to be fired upon their arrests becoming public last week. On Sunday, he called for Idowu’s resignation and termination as well, saying on X that the cabinet chief “failed to provide positive and ethical leadership to its employees, businesses and Boston residents.”
The councilor, who represents Chinatown, did not specify why he was calling for Idowu to be ousted. He did, however, rehash parts of a prior statement he released in response to the alleged domestic violence incident.
Flynn called for an “outside investigation into the hiring practices, workplace culture and environment” at several related city departments, the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, and Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services.
Mayoral candidate Josh Kraft (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald, File)
