Boston Mayor Wu dismisses call for City Hall dating probe, after allegations surface against top aide

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu defended the internal review process that led to the firings of two City Hall staffers involved in a domestic dispute, amid allegations by one of the staffers who claimed she was fired to protect a top Wu aide who had propositioned her, in order to avoid an election year scandal for the mayor.

A day after sexual harassment allegations against the city’s Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion Segun Idowu surfaced in a Boston Globe report, Wu beat back suggestions that the city should initiate an independent probe into the matter, despite calls from at least two city councilors.

Wu said instead that her administration had already completed an internal review around that “particular employment situation.” Her office had previously stated the review “found no violations of laws or city workforce policies by any other city employees,” besides the two who were fired.

“I am aware of what’s been reported and aware of the internal review that has been done,” Wu told reporters Tuesday after an unrelated event. “There had not been a report of this type filed previously or made aware to the city of Boston prior to the news report coming out.

“But anytime the city of Boston receives any kind of allegation or report or suggestion that there has been improper behavior by a city employee, we conduct a review,” the mayor added.

Asked whether the newly reported harassment allegations made by Marwa Khudaynazar, the city’s ex-chief of staff for the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, would prompt her to call for or support an independent investigation into the matter, Wu didn’t respond, but defended the city’s internal HR procedures.

City Hall has existing infrastructure in place, she said, that has been “built out,” “staffed up,” and revamped over the past three years to investigate complaints and allegations with a “clear set of protocols and systems in place to make sure that we are holding employees to the highest standards.”

“The internal review was completed around a particular employment situation that was triggered by knowledge of a police report and confirmed the city’s understanding that there was an invoking of official status as city employee to try to prevent the consequences of a police interaction,” the mayor said.

“That is not acceptable for any city employee to ever say that because of their status as city employees, they should be shielded from accountability. There had not been any additional reports received of other types of complaints at that time.”

A Boston police report taken for the alleged domestic dispute that occurred last month and led to the terminations of two city employees did not name Idowu, but did indicate that the dispute was triggered by cheating allegations.

Khudaynazar, 27, and Chulan Huang, 26, ex-neighborhood business manager for the Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, were fired last month, after their alleged involvement in a domestic dispute at Huang’s Chinatown apartment.

Both were arrested and charged with domestic assault. Khudaynazar was also charged with assault on a police officer. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The police report quotes Huang as saying of Khudaynazar, “She went on a date with my boss. And then they booked a hotel and she came here to rub it in my face.”

When contacted this week, Huang and Khudaynazar declined to comment by the Herald’s deadline.

Khudaynazar told the Globe that Idowu propositioned her, and that his alleged advances are what caused the altercation with Huang. She also told the outlet that investigators never asked her about Idowu’s alleged advances.

She further told the Globe that the reason given for her and Huang’s termination, that they had allegedly invoked their jobs at City Hall to avoid accountability, was a misunderstanding.

Idowu denied Khudaynazar’s harassment allegations through a statement from his attorney, Jeffrey Robbins, who also represents the Herald.

Robbins said city officials did interview Idowu as part of their investigation “and no finding of any improper, unethical or inappropriate conduct on his part was made, because he engaged in none.”

“Any suggestion by anyone that Mr. Idowu engaged in any form of sexual harassment whatsoever would be pure and unadulterated bullshit, and defamatory bullshit at that,” Robbins said.

After the mayor’s remarks on Tuesday, City Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy filed an emergency hearing order that they plan to introduce at Wednesday’s meeting, to “call for an independent investigation into City Hall terminations, retaliation claims and supervisory conduct.”

The councilors’ hearing order states that Khudaynazar has “alleged that her firing was retaliatory, resulting from her rejection of inappropriate advances by a senior administration official who invited her to meet him at a hotel.”

“She further alleges that her internal attempts to raise these concerns were ignored, and that she was ultimately terminated to shield him from accountability,” the councilors wrote. “The Mayor’s Office has publicly stated that both employees were terminated solely due to the incident itself and that an internal review found no wrongdoing by Segun Idowu.

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“These conflicting narratives raise serious concerns about potential retaliation, ethical lapses, and political protection within City Hall, undermining employee trust in the integrity of internal accountability processes,” their order states.

Flynn and Murphy both released separate statements ahead of the filing. Flynn, who had previously called for Idowu’s resignation, said “an independent investigation is warranted into all aspects of this troubling case, including workplace conduct and sexual harassment.”

“Now is the time for members of the City Council to make a difficult and independent decision,” Flynn said. “Put the residents of Boston before politics and support an outside, independent investigation.”

Boston.gov photos

Marwa Khudaynazar and Chulan Huang, the two City Hall staffers arrested in an alleged domestic incident. (Boston.gov photos)

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