Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo rejected calls for his resignation on Friday in the wake of a pair of federal investigations showing he received hidden support from U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins to attack his political rival in the primary race for Suffolk County district attorney’s office.
The investigations, which prompted Rollins’ resignation this week, found that she inappropriately used her position to influence the DA race in Arroyo’s favor, ignoring government ethics standards.
One of the investigations concluded that Rollins acted as a functional campaign advisor to Arroyo “providing him guidance and direction on sensitive issues to advance his campaign” as she worked behind the scenes to sabotage his opponent, now-Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden.
Arroyo denied knowledge of Rollins’ attempts to plant stories with reporters and resisted the notion that extensive text message exchanges documented between them in the federal investigations were unlawful or unethical.
“I’m not resigning,” Arroyo told a swarm of media at City Hall on Friday. “I’ve read both these federal investigation reports. ... None of them allege any wrongdoing on my part, or misconduct on my part and to be clear, neither one of those allege that I ever asked her to do the things she did, nor did I know that she was doing them.”
Arroyo expressed support for Rollins’ resignation.
“Do I think that her stepping down was appropriate? Yes. Do I think that what she did was unethical? Yes,” he said.
One of Rollins’ exchanges with Arroyo showed him inquiring whether her office was investigating his opponent.
“My request was whether or not there was any [thing] actually being done, or if there were any announcements coming,” Arroyo said. “I never once pressured her to conduct an investigation, I never asked her to leak anything about an investigation.”
Neither federal report shows Arroyo making a specific request for leaks. But his denial did not address several text message exchanges within the federal reports which show he had knowledge of Rollins’ discussions with journalists at the Boston Globe.
At least one City Councilor, Erin Murphy, is now calling on Arroyo to resign.
Murphy blasted Arroyo’s conduct in a statement, accusing him of having “eagerly welcomed” Rollins’ efforts to sway the election.
“As an attorney and current representative of Suffolk County residents in District 5, Ricardo Arroyo, quite simply, should have known better,” Murphy said in statement earlier this week.
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, an economically oriented conservative nonprofit, also publicly called for Arroyo’s resignation this week in the wake of the reports.
City Council President Ed Flynn said the people of Boston “deserve strong and ethical leadership,” but he stopped short of calling for Arroyo’s resignation.
“This is hurting our city at a critical time, and the residents of Boston deserve better,” Flynn said of the situation.
Arroyo dismissed the comments as politically motivated.
