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.
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