Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, may be asked to testify in court to defend her highly publicised and contentious “enemies list,” according to the Boston Herald.
After a judge consented to include Wu’s list in the discovery process in a lawsuit against a North End restaurant owner suspected of firing at a competitor, The Herald reported that Wu’s administration may need to submit evidence and communications about her list.
Owner of Monica’s Trattoria Patrick Mendoza’s attorney said she is interested in learning how Mendoza came to be on Wu’s enemies list and what the police did with it.
“I want to know who generated the list, what it was intended for and why it was sent to the Boston Police Department,” attorney Rosemary Scapicchio said in an interview with the Herald.
“I’m trying to get the information because it could be exculpatory to my client.”
The judge ruled on Friday that Wu’s administration must turn over all emails, texts, and other correspondence regarding the list. The order also suggests that Wu or other important Boston officials would be required to testify under oath in court.
Wu, a Democrat, faced criticism after it was revealed by her administration that she had compiled a list of her most vociferous detractors and sent it to local law enforcement.
“The list was made in response to a request from the Boston Police Department after the Mayor had been harassed and physically intimidated by individuals for several months outside her home, at city functions such as the annual neighbourhood parks coffee hours, and at other public events,” Wu’s spokesperson Ricardo Patron said in a statement to the Boston Herald.
Following the discovery of the list in an email received by Wu’s opponents via a public records request, the administration acknowledged that it had created the document, the site reported.
The administration’s methods raise questions about whether Wu and her team are seeking to intimidate or suppress its detractors, many of whom have demonstrated in front of Wu’s house.
“The request (from police) came after many of the individuals on the list repeatedly impeded the Dorchester Day Parade to harass Mayor Wu and her family and staff, yelling through megaphones at her and her children for nearly ninety minutes as they marched in the parade despite being asked by parade organizers to leave the parade route,” Patron said, according to the Herald.
“Following the Dorchester Day Parade on June 5, 2022, Boston Police met with City staff on June 10 to make a safety plan for the upcoming Bunker Hill Day parade on June 12, and the then-Captain of the District overseeing Charlestown asked for a list of individuals who had been involved in public disruption and harassment of the Mayor at the Dorchester Day Parade and outside her house,” Patron added. “The email was sent as a follow-up immediately after that meeting.”
On August 24, the case will have its next hearing.
