Boston Mayor Michelle Wu dropped nearly $10,000 of taxpayer funds on travel accommodations for her March trip to Washington, D.C., where she faced down a Congressional oversight committee probing the city’s sanctuary policies.
Wu brought along 11 staff members to her high-stakes D.C. appearance, at a total cost of roughly $9,909, when factoring in hotel, flight, ride-share and other accommodations, per receipts provided to the Herald after a public records request.
The mayor flew economy both ways. She spent $348.79 on her flight and $855.48 for a two-night stay at the Hampton Inn & Suites Washington DC-Navy Yard hotel, for a total of roughly $1,204, records show.
Wu arrived at her hotel Monday, March 3 and checked out on Wednesday, March 5, the date of the sanctuary city mayors Congressional hearing.
The mayor brought along 11 high-ranking staff members and cabinet chiefs. Collectively, those staffers spent about $8,704 on travel accommodations.
The staffers who tagged along were:
- Tiffany Chu, Wu’s chief of staff: $1,142.08
- Ricardo Patrón, deputy chief of staff: $767.95
- Ezra Zwaeli, director of speechwriting: $348.61
- Mariangely Solis Cervera, chief of equity and inclusion: $943.87
- Michael Firestone, chief of policy and strategic planning: $791.64
- Avital Robbins, deputy chief of policy: $720.49
- Phyllis St-Hubert, director of scheduling and advance: $1,340.53
- Louis Mandarini, senior advisor for labor: $1,136.92
- Jessicah Pierre: chief of communications: $174.30
- Mohammed Missouri, director of stakeholder engagement: $773.79
- Sam Dinning, policy and strategic initiatives counsel: $564.66
Missing from the receipts were hotel costs for Zwaeli and return flight and hotel costs for Pierre. The mayor’s office reached out to the Herald to clarify that Zwaeli and Pierre stayed with friends and Pierre’s return was not at taxpayer cost.
St-Hubert submitted an invoice explaining that her higher reimbursement costs were driven, in part, by her being responsible for the mayor’s parking and food for the D.C. hearing.
The Herald previously reported that the mayor expected to pay up to $650,000 in city funds for legal work to prepare for the Congressional sanctuary hearing.
Those legal fees included preparation for Wu’s hours-long testimony on March 5, Congressional committee investigation, and production of related documents, Wu’s office said in early March.
Wu hired the law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindell, with a D.C. attorney leading a team that bills $950 an hour, all of which was on the taxpayers’ dime.
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