Wu defends DA endorsement
Mayor Michelle Wu is defending her endorsement of City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo for Suffolk district attorney, saying any comments focused on his age and experience is about “upholding the status quo.”
Wu over the weekend backed Arroyo, city councilor for District 5 who used to be a public defender at the Committee for Public Counsel Services.
The mayor’s endorsement led to current Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden’s campaign ripping Arroyo as “a novice attorney with zero public safety experience.”
Wu, speaking on the radio on Monday, said comments about “someone not being old enough or experienced enough… is code and signal for upholding the status quo.”
“I think many of the comments that we’re hearing now are similar to those that we’ve heard for a long time when in Massachusetts and in Boston we’re trying to present a vision of change that can build community,” the mayor added on WBUR’s Radio Boston.
Hayden has been the Suffolk DA since Rachael Rollins was appointed U.S. Attorney of Massachusetts. Gov. Charlie Baker tapped Hayden to the DA post.
“If Mayor Wu believes a novice attorney with zero public safety experience should be the top law enforcement officer in the county, that’s her choice,” Hayden campaign spokesman Adam Webster said after Wu’s endorsement of Arroyo. “We’re confident voters will disagree.”
Wu on Monday said Arroyo’s platform of “really reducing crime while healing and providing the resources to build community is exactly what we need.”
“We want to see the types of reforms that former District Attorney Rollins had put into effect, which have been documented through research and data to bring about outcomes that, in fact, reduce crime and heal communities and stabilize and reduce recidivism,” Wu said. “So that is the approach, and that’s the progress that we want to see keep going.”