WHAT DID BPD DO WITH LIST?
Mayor’s tally of troublemakers leaves questions
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu still refuses to answer a key question about compiling a list of vocal critics and protesters and forwarding it to her police department.
What did police do with the list, which critics have compared to a Nixonian enemies list?
The email from a top Wu aide to police included the names of 15 people, including North End restaurant owners, anti-vaccine activists who had been protesting at Wu’s house, and a City Council candidate.
Did police follow these people? Conduct surveillance or background checks? Wu’s office won’t say.
Have police alerted other police departments to put them on some kind of watch list?
Does the new commissioner push back? Or does the mayor’s press office pull the strings of the police department?
Several were arrested after the list was compiled, according to a Wu opposition group.
She also has tried to portray the story as a right-wing attack on her because of her liberal policies.
“This is really a matter of safety and having to protect the city workers who unfortunately like my family for over a year have been subject to situations that have crossed the line,” she said on Tuesday, the first time she has responded to revelations about the list first reported in the Boston Herald.
“The people who were on this list, that was in preparation for safety — safety prep for a parade. The reality is we have a public safety plan for nearly all of our public events now because it’s necessary, and we’re in close coordination with Boston Police.”
Wu’s comments raise the possibility that other lists of opponents and protesters have been forwarded to police.
But she pointedly declined to say what police did with the original list, sent by email more than a year ago.
Wu’s office also claims the list was actually requested by police — not her office — which is also hard to believe. Why would police request a list to be sent to themselves?
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Wu to answer these questions. The only way they may be answered is in court, if the protesters file a First Amendment lawsuit.
Wu would like the entire issue of the list, which made national headlines, to blow over, but her critics won’t be going away.