Despite multiple discrimination complaints filed about the Boston mayor’s alleged “electeds of color” holiday party, the state is not investigating the incident.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell “has no open investigation into this event,” according to a spokesperson for the AG’s office.
The controversy came up when an email invitation in December from Mayor Michelle Wu’s office was supposed to be sent to six city council members “of color” but ended up sent to all on the panel, including seven white members.
Boston’s first Asian American mayor was slapped with four complaints alleging concerns of public accommodation law violations, Fox News reported.
“Campbell’s office has received four complaints about the event, three of which were filed by people out-of-state and a fourth who did not confirm a state of residence,” the outlet reported.
Fox News cited the Massachusetts Public Accommodation Law which prohibits, among other things, “making any distinction, discrimination, or restriction in admission to or treatment in a place of public accommodation based on race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, deafness, blindness, or any physical or mental disability, or ancestry.”
However, the AG’s office contends that the public accommodation law could not be violated since the event was not even open to the public.
Wu, whose home was later “swatted” on Christmas Day, went into action to pour cold water on the backlash that erupted after news broke of the “Electeds of Color Holiday Party.”
“There are many, many events that are private events for all different sorts of groups, so we’ve clarified that and look forward to seeing everyone at one of the dozens of other opportunities to celebrate the holidays together,” the Democrat told NBC Boston at the time.
“I think we’ve all been in a position at one point where an email went out and there was mistaken recipients so there was truly just an honest mistake,” Wu told reporters shortly after her assistant reportedly sent the emails.
The assistant followed up on the mistake by issuing another email within minutes.
“I wanted to apologize for my previous email regarding a Holiday Party for tomorrow. I did send that to everyone by accident and I apologize if my email may have offended or came across as so. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused,” Wu’s assistant reportedly wrote.
Wu touted the diverse group in a post on Instagram where she shared a photo from the dinner event.
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While many local lawmakers said they were not offended at the time, Howie Carr, a conservative columnist for the Boston Herald, begged to differ.
“What if the reverse had happened – what if a white mayor had held a whites-only party at a city-owned building, after specifically disinviting all the non-white members of the City Council?” Carr wrote in an op-ed in December.
Wu continued to defend herself in the weeks that followed and called out the “misinformation” about the event, telling the Boston Herald that “those with a particular motive will sort of cast the facts as they see them.”
“While last Wednesday night’s party at the Parkman House was open to elected officials of color from this particular ‘affinity group,’ the mayor held a larger holiday party at the same venue Monday afternoon, that was open to all city councilors, Wu cabinet members, and the city’s State House delegation,” the outlet reported.
“The party was poorly attended, according to a source familiar with the matter, who said that of the more than 40 elected officials invited, only three state representatives, a state senator and two city councilors attended.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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