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By Emily Lazzaro
According to the World Health Organization, about 1 in 3 women have experienced physical intimate-partner violence or sexual violence from a non-intimate partner. Violence against women is a major public health concern. What I am talking about here, however, is not violence against women. I am talking about Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn hearing a rumor, siccing the cops on a constituent, and trying to have him banned from City Hall.
I am a woman elected official in Medford. During my first campaign, while hanging election-day reminders on doorknobs at night, I was told, “My roommate thinks you’re very attractive.” The comment was accompanied by a sneer, not a pleasant smile.
In 2024, at a rowdy City Council meeting, I stood up and requested a recess because an issue about which I feel very strongly was making the audience behave inappropriately. I was mocked and screamed at, and as I quickly exited the chambers to hide my tears, an audience member shouted, “If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.” They were jeering at me for speaking in favor of a clinic for medication-assisted treatment for people with opioid use disorder.
Just last week, during an executive session, a resident tried to enter the conference room where the City Council was meeting. Every member of the Council told the resident, repeatedly, to leave, but the only person the resident shouted at was me. “I hear you, lady!” was the direct quote.
I only mention the above incidents to give you context. I am familiar with what it is like to be a woman elected official in Medford. It can be frightening. Violence against women is a real thing and feeling vulnerable is not something I would treat lightly.
That being said, Milva McDonald’s piece titled “OPINION: Mayor was justified in filing police report and should not be vilified for it” and Page Buldini’s piece titled “OPINION: Women do not have to accept name-calling as the price of being heard” assume that what happened was a threat of real violence against the mayor by a constituent. What happened, instead, was that a resident spoke about negotiation tactics to encourage Mayor Lungo-Koehn to adjust her policy to the left. The mayor heard about the comments second-hand and filed a police report. The police investigated and found no wrongdoing. The mayor has continued to bring up this story and the name of the resident and to say that he threatened her life.
What is critical about this story is that the police work for the mayor. In situations of harassment and abuse, there is always a power dynamic at play. The mayor holds all the power. Ms. McDonald and Ms. Buldini seem to focus on the words of the resident and two city councilors who responded to him and not on the fact that Mayor Lungo-Koehn weaponized the police force, which she has full control over, to investigate a rumor she heard. That is why Councilor Tseng compared her actions to Soviet Russia and why President Bears suggested she has no decency.
Mayor Lungo-Koehn was a city councilor before she was mayor. She was one of the most conservative city councilors during that time. In my estimation, she doesn’t mind relying on her gender when it benefits her personally, but not necessarily for the benefit of the community. For example, there is no paid leave for City Hall employees who give birth. Changing that policy is squarely within the control of Mayor Lungo-Koehn. She could make that change today, if she wanted to. How’s that for women lifting up women?
That doesn’t matter, though. What matters is that Mayor Lungo-Koehn, a woman, did something. And in order to be good feminists, we should support her.
I firmly disagree with that assessment. We can use critical thinking and consider that the power dynamic is out of balance. Being a woman in elected office can be difficult, but that’s not what was happening here. Mayor Lungo-Koehn has all the power. She simply has to wield it wisely.
Emily Lazzaro is the vice president of the Medford City Council.
