BOSTON HERALD: Call for answers on Huffington Post piece

A national conservative group wants to see any communications between City Hall and the authors of a Huffington Post piece blasting U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, saying that if Mayor Martin J. Walsh or his staff engaged in a political hit job, they should be “held up to public scrutiny.”

A Herald front-page story yesterday quoted Walsh saying he and his aides had no involvement in the article, titled “This Federal Prosecutor Is Building A Career Indicting The Good Guys.” But the mayor admitted that he and his chief of staff, Daniel A. Koh — who used to work at The Huffington Post — knew the piece was in the works.

“Both the timeline and the mayor’s answer raised red flags for us,” said Amelia Chasse, a spokeswoman for America Rising PAC, which filed a public records request with the city for any emails and texts between the Walsh administration and The Huffington Post.

“If Mayor Walsh had more knowledge of the story and its genesis than he disclosed, that would be a serious problem and he’d have to explain that to voters,” Chasse told the Herald.

Chasse said the timing of the article — coming a week after Ortiz’s office indicted a second Walsh adviser on extortion charges — smacks of a coordinated retaliation.

“If the mayor and the administration are engaging in political hit stories, they should be held up to public scrutiny,” Chasse said.

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