Boston Mayor Michelle Wu calls on Josh Kraft to release tax returns, disclose business 'entanglements'
Published in News & Features
BOSTON — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu called on her top challenger Josh Kraft to release his tax returns to reveal any financial interests or business “entanglements” he may have with the city that could impede his ability to effectively serve as its mayor.
Wu was not present for an event organized by her campaign near City Hall Tuesday, when her supporters, including state Sen. Lydia Edwards, called on Kraft, a son of the billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and longtime philanthropist, to release his tax return and financial disclosure forms — but the mayor did make similar statements in a video she posted to her social media pages.
“Candidates and elected officials should be honest and transparent about their finances and other conflicts of interest,” Wu said. “When Josh Kraft launched his campaign months ago, he said he would share his tax returns, and after I shared mine, he said once again that he would release his tax returns in the near future.
“That was over 50 days ago. So what does this mean? It means that Josh Kraft is keeping Boston voters in the dark about his financial interests, his business entanglements, his conflicts of interest, like the Everett stadium. Boston voters deserve a full and complete accounting of candidates’ financial pictures and all of their entanglements and conflicts,” the mayor added in the video.
Wu further accused Kraft of “trying to run out the clock before the September preliminary,” by delaying the release of his tax returns and financial disclosures.
Wu filed her 2024 tax return jointly with her husband, Conor Pewarski, a former banker who has been a stay-at-home-father since she became mayor in the fall of 2021. Thus, Wu’s was the only income on the couple’s tax return.
The mayor made $184,241 in federal adjusted gross income last year, nearly all of which came from her mayoral salary, which is $207,000 before taxes.
Wu, who has sought to draw parallels between what she has described as her more modest financial background and upbringing compared to Kraft’s billionaire family connections, says in the video that her financial disclosures filed with the city shows that she has “zero” interest in corporate trusts, charitable trusts, family trusts, and real estate trusts.
“It’s zero because I don’t come from that kind of background,” Wu said. “The mayor of Boston should work for the people of Boston and no one else.”
Kraft has dipped into his personal bank account to put millions into his campaign, which he has said was a necessity given that he was “going against the power of incumbency” of a mayor who’s had four years to fundraise.
Before departing his role as head of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, Kraft drew a roughly $350,000 salary in fiscal year 2020. He was not paid a salary in recent years as head of the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, his family’s philanthropic arm, according to publicly available 990 forms.
Kraft campaign spokesperson Eileen O’Connor said in a Tuesday statement to the Herald that Kraft’s “2024 tax return is on extension and information regarding the return will be made available when completed.”
“If Michelle Wu actually believed in transparency, she would tell us what the real price for White Stadium is going to be,” O’Connor said. “She would release details about the investigation into the tragic death of a 5-year old boy killed by a BPS bus. She would be honest about her own policies that are preventing more housing from being built so working people can afford to live in Boston.
“She would be honest about how and why so many city-run swimming pools are still closed after more than three years of empty promises and finger pointing. She would disclose when cabinet officials or members of her senior team are arrested.
“Rather than talk about the issues that people actually care about and how she has failed to make the city work for everyone, from housing to schools to making City Hall more transparent and responsive to residents’ concerns, Michelle Wu is trying to change the conversation while overseeing the least transparent City Hall in generations,” O’Connor added.
At the Wu campaign event, Edwards, a state senator who represents part of Boston, called on Kraft to release his statements of financial interest, along with his tax forms. She said she views his decision not to release his financial forms thus far as a delay tactic designed to help him hide information before he eventually does release his tax returns.
“It doesn’t take you five months to be transparent,” Edwards said. “It does take you five months to hide. It does take you five months to try and maybe clean up tax returns and prevent people from actually knowing where your money is going.
“He’s not Trump, I’ll say that fundamentally, but he’s acting Trump-like when you don’t disclose where your money’s going,” the senator added.
When asked why Wu wasn’t present at the campaign event to speak for herself, Edwards said, “I’m sure the mayor is being the mayor,” and, “We’re happy to be here for her while she is doing the good work for the people of Boston.”
A city spokesperson said, “The mayor is in Maine for the week with her family. She is available and in close communication with the team.”
Edwards also batted away a question about whether the Wu campaign and its supporters, by way of the day’s call for greater financial transparency from Kraft, meant that the campaign saw him as a greater threat to Wu than the latest poll suggests from Suffolk University — which showed him down 30 points on Monday.
“As far as the campaign and the folks here are concerned and volunteers, we’re fighting like he is our opponent,” Edwards said. “We’re not concerned about what those polls are. They’re nice to see, but at the end of the day, the only poll that matters is in September and November. We’re going to keep fighting.”
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