Quincy News: Felix G. Arroyo out: senior Mayor Walsh official canned amid sex harassment investigation

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Say what!?!?!
Image via Boston Globe
– News from elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.

Felix G. Arroyo out: a top City of Boston official has been canned amid a sex harassment investigation.

Scuttlebutt about alleged misconduct by now former City of Boston Chief of Health and Human Services Felix G. Arroyo has dogged Boston Mayor Marty Walsh since Arroyo was placed on paid leave late last month, but no reason was then noted.

Co-defendants during friendlier times.
A Jeremiah Robinson/City of Boston photo
This week, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination confirmed that Arroyo and Walsh were named in a complaint filed by a health and human services employee and Walsh fired Arroyo yesterday.

Walsh spokeswoman Laura Oggeri said in a statement. “The city will immediately begin to search for candidates to fill the Chief of Health and Human Services position and we hope to announce an appointment soon.”

But Arroyo has strongly denied the allegations and will fight back, a spokeswoman said.

I said banking, not spanking …
A Berke Breathed image
City officials said that the complainant was the only person lodging harassment complaints against Arroyo.

Longtime City Hall watchdog Joe Slavet said the Arroyo firing shows the mayor is keeping an eye on his standing in the polls as his battle with City Councilor Tito Jackson heats up next month.

“When these kinds of things happen during an election … he’s not going to take any chances,” Slavet said. “Walsh is playing it very, very carefully and anything that ends up in the newspaper that’s going to question people in his administration … he’s going to show that he’s tough.”

But Erin O’Brien, a University of Massachusetts Boston political science professor, said if the allegations against Arroyo are not upheld, Walsh’s decision to fire a high-ranking Latino cabinet member may not sit well with the minority voters Arroyo courted for Walsh in 2013.