Politics

Councilor Flaherty calls on Lara to resign

Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara has said she will seek reelection this fall despite the fallout from her June 30 crash.

Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty. Pat Greenhouse/Boston Globe

July 24, 2023

3 minutes to read

Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty called on fellow Councilor Kendra Lara to resign in an interview that aired Sunday. Flaherty’s comments are the latest fallout from a June 30 crash in which police say Lara swerved a car into a Jamaica Plain house.

Flaherty, who announced earlier this month that he will not seek reelection after 10 terms on the council, told the hosts of NBC10 Boston’s @Issue that Lara should resign.

“The behavior is one of a habitual scofflaw,” he said. “To go 10 years without a license isn’t a mistake; it’s the middle finger, frankly.”

Flaherty’s office did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Lara is accused of driving an uninsured car more than double the speed limit without a valid license at the time of the crash. Police also said she did not have her 7-year-old son in a booster seat at the time. Her son received stitches at Boston Children’s Hospital for a cut above his left eye.

Lara appeared in court last week, where a judge agreed with a recommendation from prosecutors that Lara should face charges of operating negligently so as to endanger and recklessly permitting bodily injury to a child under 14. She is also charged with driving a car with a suspended license.

After reviewing security camera footage, officials said that Lara “regularly” drove to work at City Hall in the car that was involved in the crash.

Last week, Boston police released body camera footage from the moments after the crash. It includes interviews with Lara and the unidentified man who Lara said she swerved to avoid, causing the crash.

The man told police that he “was just beginning to pull out and she came by like a bat out of hell and just swerved,” according to the footage. An audibly upset Lara can be heard telling officers that she swerved and did not have time to hit the brakes.

“I am wanting to be fully accountable for my mistake, and I plan on doing everything possible to remedy any issues,” Lara told reporters outside a West Roxbury courthouse last week. “There are often circumstances that prevent good people from checking off all of their boxes, and that sometimes manifests itself as things like unpaid fines. I know that, as an elected official, I have to hold myself to a higher standard, and I intend to do that.”

In his NBC interview, Flaherty said he and other councilors have been receiving calls from residents all over Boston demanding that the City Council call for Lara’s resignation. The body does not have a mechanism to do that, he said.

“I would argue that that decision should have already been made, that the councilor should have taken her own inventory, looked at the facts,” Flaherty said.

City Council President Ed Flynn admonished Lara and Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, who admitted to violating conflict of interest laws by continuing to represent his brother in a sexual harassment lawsuit after Arroyo joined City Council.

“Both Councilors Lara and Arroyo do not demonstrate the maturity, ethics or professionalism to be an effective leader and have failed their constituents and the city,” Flynn said in a statement to The Boston Globe.

Arroyo and Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson attended Lara’s court date to support her, the Globe reported.

Outside the courthouse last week, Lara said that she plans to continue representing District 6 and will seek reelection this fall.

“I also know that, because of the situation that I find myself in today, I understand intimately the challenges that my constituents are struggling with,” she said. “I plan to really engage with this process, and I have full faith and trust that the court is going to handle this integrity.”