Boston City Council president suspends Arroyo’s committee chairmanships

Amid political controversy, Boston Metropolis Council President Ed Flynn Monday suspended councilor and Suffolk County District Lawyer candidate Ricardo Arroyo for 2 months from his chairmanship of two of the council’s highly effective committees.

The transfer comes because the Sept. 6 major enters its remaining stretch and Arroyo — who’s engaged in a bitter competitors for DA with interim prosecutor Kevin Hayden — tries to handle questions surrounding two sexual assault investigations reported final week by the Boston Globe. The newspaper reported that Arroyo was investigated for sexual assault in 2005 and once more in 2007, however he was not charged with a criminal offense in both matter.

“In what I consider to be in the perfect curiosity of the Boston Metropolis Council as a legislative physique, I’ve determined to quickly readjust committee assignments for the following sixty days,” stated Flynn in a letter to the Metropolis Clerk, pledging to reassess the transfer “with all out there data.”

The council president, in line with council guidelines, solely appoints committee chairs and members. Flynn rescinded his endorsement of Arroyo’s District Lawyer candidacy final week.

The change implies that management of the council’s Authorities Operations and Redistricting Committees will change.

At-Massive Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, a freshman on the physique, will chair the Authorities Operations Committee, which incorporates jurisdiction over pending laws on the make-up of the Boston College Committee; Allston-Brighton Councilor Liz Breadon will oversee Redistricting, one other contentious problem that might shift the boundaries of every district councilor’s house base by means of a pending readjustment course of.

In a press release posted on Twitter, Arroyo stated: “There are not any grounds for my removing from any of my committees. What Ed Flynn is doing is undemocratic and is a transparent try and affect redistricting. Maps are due by the beginning of November, sixty days away, and that is nothing greater than a blatant try and hinder my mission as Chair to create extra various and inclusive districts citywide.”

Sources aware of the council’s common operations stated the Redistricting committee’s work has been shifting slowly, however that critics have prevented going public due to the continuing DA race.

The fallout from the allegations towards Arroyo have roiled the council.

Final week, Dorchester Councilor Frank Baker, one of many physique’s extra conservative members, filed a subpoena to make public redacted paperwork associated the Boston Police investigations of Arroyo.

In an apparently retaliatory motion, Jamaica Plain Councilor Kendra Lara, a long-time pal and endorser of Arroyo, filed an analogous subpoena associated to Baker’s responsible plea to a 1993 cost of marijuana possession with intent to promote. Marijuana was nonetheless unlawful at the moment, and Baker was not elected to the council till 2011.

“It’s absurd to consider {that a} closed matter that didn’t even result in costs being filed is related as to whether or not you’re match to serve in elected workplace, particularly since one of many primary tenets of our nation is harmless till confirmed responsible,” stated Lara in a press release on social media Monday.

“Much more shocking is that, to my information, Councilor Baker is the one one among my colleagues ever to be convicted of a criminal offense. So, if he thinks the paperwork he’s requesting are related, he should additionally suppose that paperwork associated to his conviction for possession with intent to distribute are pertinent and ought to be thought of by the Metropolis Council,” she added.

When contacted by GBH Information, Baker declined to remark.