Suspended city attorney John Houton is suing the mayor and City of Boston, alleging that the Wu administration retaliated against him when he pursued a bid for mayor, by placing him on leave and taking steps to keep him off the ballot.
Houton filed a lawsuit in Boston federal court earlier this month against the city, Mayor Michelle Wu, the Boston Election Department and its commissioner Eneida Tavares, the city’s corporation counsel and his boss Adam Cederbaum, the city’s chief financial officer Ashley Groffenberger, and Secretary of State Bill Galvin.
“The city maliciously suspended plaintiff because it was their intent to thwart plaintiff’s candidacy,” Houton wrote in the Nov. 3 lawsuit. “The City of Boston through the actions of Cederbaum and Wu sought to prevent candidate Houton’s ideas from being heard, considered, debated or accepted by the electorate.”
“The placing of plaintiff on leave has essentially ended his career at the city, ruined his professional reputation and amount to the constructive dismissal of plaintiff from his job while imperiled his candidacy for mayor of Boston,” he added.
The complaint is reflective of what Houton told the Herald and other media outlets when the city placed him on leave in May — that the Wu administration, including Cederbaum, retaliated against him for taking out papers to challenge the mayor, by suspending him and making false statements about him to the media that damaged his reputation and hindered his ability to get on the ballot.
A city spokesperson issued a statement to the media about Houton’s suspension in mid-May, saying that the move was made to keep the law department “non-political” and sought to distance Mayor Wu from the matter.
“In order to perform its essential functions, the law department’s work depends on being fully non-political in its operations, and, importantly, the department must be perceived as non-political by cabinet chiefs and department heads seeking advice and counsel,” a Wu spokesperson said in a statement at the time.
“Employment decisions relating to Mr. Houton, a law department official who represents the city’s finance department, are being handled by the city’s office of human resources, in consultation with outside counsel. Mayor Wu is not involved.”
Houton challenges the legitimacy of that statement in his lawsuit, pointing out that Kerry Augustin, another city employee who took out papers to run for mayor, was not placed on administrative leave and stayed on the job during this election cycle.
He also mentioned the mayor’s backing of several city employees who have run for City Council in this fall’s election cycle, and the one that took place in 2023. Wu backed city employee Alexandra Valdez in her bid for councilor-at-large this year, and endorsed two then-city employees Enrique Pepén and Henry Santana when they first ran for city council two years ago.
Houton ultimately fell well short of the 3,000 signature threshold, and did not make the ballot for the September preliminary election. Wu, Kraft, and two other candidates made the ballot. Wu defeated her principal opponent Kraft by 49 points in the primary, leading Kraft to drop out of the race two days later and Wu to cruise to uncontested reelection this month.
Houton said his efforts to gather signatures and connect with voters around the city were hindered by the city’s actions to suspend him and damage his professional reputation with its “false and defamatory” statements to the media — “painting him as a partisan staff attorney,” rather than the “professional, experienced assistant corporation counsel” he has been for years, the lawsuit states.
Many voters he met with refused to sign his nomination papers, citing media reports that stated he was placed on administrative leave and the city’s statement, Houton’s lawsuit states.
He told the Herald that he remains on paid administrative leave, and would like to return to his job as assistant corporation counsel in the city’s law department. Houton, a 59-year-old South End resident, has worked in the city’s law department for the past 18 years, and, per city payroll records, was paid $147,668 last year.
“Assistant corporation counsel for the treasury department has been the best job of my career,” Houton told the Herald Thursday. “I have served four administrations — professionally, ethically and responsibly. I’ve acquired unique and specialized knowledge and valuable experience at the city. This administration doesn’t value any of it.”
Houton declined to comment, when asked whether he anticipates the city will take any action, as it relates to his job, for filing a lawsuit against his employer, while citing the pending litigation.
The lawsuit also centers on a second, more administrative complaint.
The other is that Houton contends the Boston city charter’s signature threshold for mayoral candidates, with 3,000 signatures required to get on the ballot, is prohibitive to aspiring candidates, given the short timeframe candidates are allotted to gather signatures by the city’s Election Department after taking out papers.
He alleges in his lawsuit that the city’s system is designed to help incumbents like Michelle Wu, and other candidates that have the financial means to deploy volunteers to gather signatures like Josh Kraft, a son of the billionaire Patriots owner who lost to Wu, while excluding everyone else. Houton contends that is unconstitutional.
Mayor Wu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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