Citing public’s loss of faith in Boston City Council, Ed Flynn renews push for ethics reform

Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn said the public has “lost complete faith” in the scandal-plagued City Council and is renewing his push for “comprehensive ethics reform.”

Flynn cited concerns raised by the state Ethics Commission about a councilor on Monday, and potential open meeting law violations arising from backroom negotiations over the Council’s budget vote that he said were taking place between councilors and Mayor Michelle Wu’s office during a break in Wednesday’s Council meeting.

“In light of significant concerns from residents across the City of Boston surrounding ethics and today’s discussion on the FY27 operating budget, I am renewing my call for a comprehensive ethics reform package to apply to Boston city councilors, the mayor, City of Boston department heads, and cabinet chiefs,” Flynn wrote Wednesday in a letter to Wu and Council President Liz Breadon.

Flynn mentioned that his past push for a standalone Council ethics committee was killed by the Council, soon after former Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was arrested and indicted by the feds on public corruption charges. She pleaded guilty to two of the six charges after accepting a plea deal that dropped the four others, and spent a month in jail.

His push for the committee, Flynn said, was driven by “years of moral, legal and ethical lapses at the Boston City Council.”

In 2023, former Councilors Fernandes Anderson and Ricardo Arroyo paid fines for their separate state ethics violations during their time on the Council.

Arroyo was also enmeshed in a scandal tied to text messages he exchanged with ex-U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins, who resigned her position in 2023 after being scorched in two federal reports for her attempts to tip the scales of the Suffolk DA’s election in favor of Arroyo, who has denied any wrongdoing.

Rollins leaked non-public Department of Justice information to the media that was damaging to Arroyo’s opponent DA Kevin Hayden, and was later issued a public reprimand by the state Board of Bar Overseers for the ethics breach cited in the reports. Rollins is now running against Hayden for Suffolk DA, her old job.

Ex-Councilor Kendra Lara pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license, after being arrested in connection with crashing a car into a Jamaica Plain home in 2023 while she was a sitting councilor. A city spokesperson said Lara “regularly” drove to work at City Hall without a valid driver’s license, which had been suspended for a decade.

More recently, Flynn criticized Councilor Sharon Durkan for suggesting last month that pulling back Council raises would lead to more corruption on the body like the recent federal bust of ex-Councilor Fernandes Anderson for a $7,000 kickback scheme.

In his letter to Wu and Breadon, Flynn references this week’s public disclosure by Council Ways and Means Chair Ben Weber that the state Ethics Commission had raised concerns about his oversight of a Council budget process that could financially benefit an immigration nonprofit his wife, Alexandra Weber, works for.

The nonprofit receives grant funding from the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement, which is included as part of the city budget. The Ethics Commission advised Weber to recuse himself from a budget vote on that particular line item, according to Weber, who said he sought the guidance.

“The establishment of an ethics committee would provide the opportunity to conduct additional ethics training, review conflict of interest matters and investigate any alleged violations for relevant action,” Flynn wrote.

In addition to councilors filing their required financial disclosure forms annually, Flynn said, “It is appropriate to also include an annual disclosure statement as to whether any relatives may stand to benefit from city-sponsored grants or funding.”

Flynn also referenced private negotiations he said were taking place between the mayor’s office and councilors in regards to how they were planning to vote on the $4.9 billion city budget during a break in Wednesday’s Council meeting.

While the Council deadlocked, 6-6, on a budget vote last month, the mayor’s budget passed overwhelmingly, 12-1, this week, with nearly $11.2 million in amendments.

“Even during the first recess at today’s Council meeting, it was clear that councilors were negotiating directly with members of the mayor’s office and one another — likely violating the open meeting law,” Flynn wrote. “We must acknowledge the public has lost complete faith in the City Council.

“To regain public trust, it is appropriate to consider an immediate halt to all Council business until we have a serious discussion about ethics,” Flynn added. “The residents of Boston deserve the highest standards of leadership from their city government.”