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Boston City Council votes against creation of ethics committee
Multiple councilors said ethics oversight should be limited to independent, outside parties.
Boston City Council voted Wednesday to kill a measure that would have created an ethics committee made up of council members.
The resolution was first filed by Councilor Ed Flynn in the wake of Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson’s arrest last month. She was accused of orchestrating a kickback scheme involving a family member who was on her staff. Fernandes Anderson pleaded “not guilty,” and is ignoring calls to resign from Flynn, Mayor Michelle Wu, and others.
Despite multiple councilors offering their support for Flynn’s intention, most ultimately agreed that an internal ethics committee would be duplicative and susceptible to politicization. Councilors Gabriela Coletta Zapata, Sharon Durkan, Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Enrique Pepén, Henry Santana, Ben Weber, and Brian Worrell all voted against the measure. Councilors John FitzGerald, Erin Murphy, and Flynn voted in favor. Councilor Liz Breadon was absent. Fernandes Anderson voted “present.”
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In his resolution Flynn cited the precedent of similar committees in Congress, at the State House, in the New York City Council, and in the City Council of Portland, Maine.
“Elected officials placed in positions of public trust should demonstrate the highest standards of positive leadership,” Flynn said before the vote. “The residents of Boston deserve the highest standards of leadership from their elected officials. We must not drag our feet. Now is the time for leadership.”
The push for an ethics committee comes after multiple high-profile incidents involving council members in recent years. Former councilors Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara both lost their seats last year after unrelated scandals. Fernandes Anderson admitted to violating conflict of interest law last year as well.
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City Council members and their staff are required to attend annual training led by the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission. Two sessions are on the books for 2025. The Boston City Council is subject to the jurisdiction of both the State Ethics Commission and the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
After the measure failed, Flynn said on social media that his colleagues voted against a “common sense proposal,” and that they do not believe ethics reform and accountability are necessary.
Flynn’s resolution received a tepid response when it was first introduced, and support did not grow over the past month. Some of his colleagues took issue with Flynn’s move to try to establish a committee via a resolution like this. Committee creation is the purview of the Council President, and Louijeune is currently serving in that role. Louijeune said that she did not believe Flynn was following the correct process, a concern that was also voiced by Durkan.
Coletta Zapata said she was worried that a municipal-level ethics committee could interfere with the duties of the Ethics Commission and OCPF. Much of the work done by municipal ethics committees in other cities is already being done by these state-level entities, she added.
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But the most common concern among detractors was that a new ethics committee would actually end up decreasing public trust because councilors would be investigating and potentially imposing punishments on themselves.
Louijeune said that the body should pursue greater collaboration with the State Ethics Commission instead of creating a new internal committee that would be ripe for politicization.
“As a lawyer, as someone who has worked on one ethics investigation, I still don’t feel qualified to sit as judge and jury against you, my colleagues,” Louijeune said during the meeting. “I think it’s really important that anything regarding ethics remains independent so we maintain the public trust and that we hold it in high regard.”
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