MassLandlords Sues Boston, Claims City Hidden Public Records to Protect Mayor Wu and Cover Up Illegal Rent Control Lobbying

The Massachusetts Landlords Trade Association is in a legal battle with the city of Boston over public records it says the city withheld to cover up illegal lobbying by housing advocates that influenced the mayor’s stalled rent control plan.

Douglas Quattrochi, chief executive of MassLandlords, Inc., which last year sued the city of Boston in Suffolk Superior Court, claims in an Aug. 7 affidavit that the city has failed to produce 10 documents it believes exist regarding the formation City Rent Stabilization Advisory Committee.

“I found the aggregate response to be largely off-topic: documents that I believe exist are missing, another document that I know exists is missing and is intended in bad faith to conceal illegal lobbying activities, developer interests, and donor influence ” Quattrochi, whose organization opposes rent control, wrote in an affidavit.

“I believe Boston’s late and incomplete responses are consistent with a desire to shield from scrutiny certain public officials, particularly the mayor, and unregistered lobbyists who illegally advance their private interests at public expense,” he added.

First hearing on MassLandlords’ motion to have the court review the City of Boston’s email systems for records that Quattrochi said he knew existed as it relates to a rent control email he sent to Mayor Michelle Wu is scheduled for next Friday in Suffolk Superior Court.

If this document emerges, the MassLandlords proposal would require the city to take follow-up action to facilitate controlled access for the trade group to check the city’s information systems for other documents related to the records request.

On Friday, the mayor’s office delayed comment on the city’s latest Oct. 4 lawsuit, “especially where the first paragraph states that the city has provided all necessary documents and the case is moot.”

The Rent Stabilization Advisory Committee’s proposal “formed the basis of a home rule bill that would establish a form of rent control in Boston,” which the mayor presented to the City Council on Feb. 13, 2023, for submission to the Legislature, Quattrochi wrote. .

The committee includes mayor-appointed representatives from tenant advocacy groups focused on rent relief and eviction protections, politically connected developers, as well as labor unions and people with “no apparent relevant experience,” he said in written testimony.

“The policies promoted by RSAC were developed without the input of landlord organizations,” Quattrochi wrote. “This strongly reflects the interests of developers. It favors those who are well connected over those who are well informed. It gives preference to donors over non-donors. It rewards those who engaged in lobbying activities, even if those activities were not legally reported.

“The mayor benefited politically from this corruption. The city’s response confirms the mayor’s corrupt goals,” his court filing said.

Quattrochi’s affidavit cites records from the state Division of Campaign and Political Finance that “suggest that the reason for the appointment was undue influence.” Seventeen of the committee’s appointees were previous personal donors to political races in Boston, with the average donation per appointee through Feb. 17, 2023, being $10,462, he wrote.

“In my professional opinion and personal experience in Massachusetts, this is not typical of the average person affected by or involved in the housing crisis who gives little or nothing,” Quattrochi wrote.

His testimony also alleges “illegal” lobbying that he said was carried out by three housing groups represented on the committee: City Life Vida Urbana, the Hyams Foundation and the Boston Tenants Coalition. his request for data, leading him to believe the city’s incomplete response was “intended to conceal illegal activity.”

Under state law, individuals appointed to the Rent Stabilization Advisory Committee will be “legislative or executive agents if, in the normal course of their activities as a paid employee or contractor of any entity, they have contacted the city regarding rent control that requires a state stimulus act,” he wrote.

Quattrochi’s filings mention that the organizations and individual representatives of their committees have not registered as lobbyists with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and the attachments show his blank searches on the government website.