FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 17, 2026

Press Contact:

Vincent Errichetti

(617) 922-1824

Press@johndeatonforsenate.com

Prioritizing Veterans & Firefighters: Mayor Wu’s Choices Demand Accountability

As a United States Marine Corps veteran, I am deeply troubled by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s recent budget decisions. Equally troubling, is the near silence from those elected to speak for this city’s most vulnerable.

Every Veteran, at one time, wrote a blank check to the United States. A check that included the willingness to die for their country. Thus, when veterans get shortchanged, leaders should rise in their defense. Too few have.

I commend Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy for doing exactly that. I am adding my voice to theirs.

Here are the facts: Mayor Wu has proposed cutting approximately $740,000 from Boston’s veterans’ services budget. A reduction exceeding 14 percent. This comes at a time when veterans are still fighting for housing, mental health care, and access to benefits they bled to earn. Meanwhile, the city’s overall budget continues to expand.

At the same moment these cuts were proposed, Mayor Wu accepted a $43,000 pay raise, bringing her annual salary to $250,000. Public officials deserve fair compensation, but accepting a substantial personal increase while reducing support for veterans isn’t just a budget decision; it is a statement of values. And it is the wrong one.

The pattern doesn’t stop there. City Hall has added hundreds of new positions in recent years, many filled by individuals aligned with the mayor’s political inner circle. We are growing the bureaucracy while cutting services for veterans and eyeing reductions for the men and women of the fire department who run toward danger every day to protect Boston families.

These are not abstractions. They are choices. And choices reveal character. Dishonorable character.

Good government is not complicated. It means fiscal discipline, transparency, and a clear hierarchy of obligation: protect those who served, keep the public safe, and spend taxpayer dollars as if they belong to the people who earned them. Because they do.

I call on Mayor Wu to restore full funding for veterans’ services, exercise genuine restraint on salaries and new hires, and keep Boston’s firefighters fully resourced.

Veterans didn’t negotiate their service. They gave it. The least we can do is honor what we promised them.

As a Marine and as a candidate for U.S. Senate, I will keep speaking out when those who served are treated as an afterthought. Boston and Massachusetts can do better. Our veterans have earned nothing less.

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JohnDeatonforSenate.com

References: 

• "Two Boston city councilors slam Mayor Wu for cutting $724K from veterans budget: ‘Unconscionable’" https://www.bostonherald.com/2026/05/05/two-boston-city-councilors-slam-mayor-wu-for-cutting-724k-from-veterans-budget-unconscionable/
• "Boston City Council backs measure calling for Mayor Wu to restore ‘devastating’ $724K cut to veterans budget" https://www.bostonherald.com/2026/05/06/boston-city-council-backs-measure-calling-for-mayor-wu-to-restore-devastating-724k-cut-to-veterans-budget/
• "Boston City Council budget chair pitches defunding fire department to restore mayor’s $724K veterans cut" https://www.bostonherald.com/2026/05/11/boston-city-council-budget-chair-pitches-defunding-fire-department-to-restore-mayors-724k-veterans-cut/
• "Boston Mayor Wu to receive $43K raise after reelection, will be paid $250,000 in 2026" https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/11/12/boston-mayor-wu-to-receive-43k-raise-after-reelection-will-be-paid-250000-in-2026/
• "Boston Mayor Has Created Hundreds of New Positions" (on staffing expansion) https://www.governing.com/workforce/boston-mayor-has-created-hundreds-of-new-positions

"Wu tells councillors that she added 301 full-time city jobs in her first 3 years" https://www.dotnews.com/2025/01/14/wu-tells-councillors-she-added-301full-time-city-jobs-her-first-3/