A Massachusetts homeowners’ trade association is engaged in a legal battle with the city of Boston over public records. She claims the city refused to release them to hide illegal lobbying by housing advocates that influenced the mayor’s blocked rent control plan.

Douglas Quattrochi, executive director of MassLandlords, Inc., which filed a lawsuit against the city of Boston in Suffolk Superior Court last year, alleges in an Aug. 7 affidavit that the city failed to file 10 documents he says exist surrounding the formation of the city’s Rent Stabilization Advisory Committee.

“I found the combined response to be mostly off-topic, missing documents that I believe exist, missing another document that I know exists, designed in bad faith to hide illegal lobbying activities, developer interests and donor influence,” Quattrochi, whose organization opposes rent control, wrote in the affidavit.

“I believe that Boston’s late and incomplete responses are consistent with a desire to protect from scrutiny certain public officials, the mayor in particular, and unregistered lobbyists who illegally pursue their private interests at the expense of the state,” he said. he added.

An initial hearing in the case regarding MassLandlords’ motion asking the court to inspect the City of Boston’s email systems for the file Quattrochi said he knew existed, regarding an email on the rent control he sent to Mayor Michelle Wu, is scheduled for next Friday in Suffolk Superior Court.

If this document appears, MassLandlords’ motion requests further action by the city to facilitate the trade group’s supervised access to inspect the city’s information systems for other documents related to the records request.

The mayor’s office on Friday deferred comment on the latest filing in city court on Oct. 4, “particularly when it is stated in the first paragraph that the city has produced all relevant records and that the case is irrelevant.”

The Advisory Committee’s proposal on rent stabilization “formed the basis of a proposed social autonomy bill that would implement some form of rent control in Boston,” which the Mayor submitted on February 13, 2023, to the City Council for filing with the Legislature, Quattrochi wrote.

The committee includes representatives appointed by the mayor from tenant advocacy groups focused on rent relief and eviction protections, politically connected developers, as well as unions and individuals without “obviously relevant expertise.” his affidavit states.

“The policy put forward by the RSAC was developed without input from property owners’ organizations,” Quattrochi wrote. “This strongly reflects the interests of developers. It favors well-connected people over well-informed people. This favors donors over non-donors. It rewards those who have carried out lobbying activities even when those activities have not been legally reported.

“The mayor benefited politically from this corruption. The City’s response supports the Mayor’s corrupt goals,” his court filing states.

Quattrochi’s affidavit cites documents from the National Campaign and Political Finance Office that “suggest the reason for the appointment is undue influence.” Seventeen of the committee appointees were previously personal donors in Boston political races, with an average donation of $10,462 per appointee before Feb. 17, 2023, he wrote.

“In my professional opinion and personal experience in Massachusetts, this is not representative of the average person affected by or involved in the housing crisis, who gives little or nothing,” Quattrochi wrote.

His affidavit also addresses “illegal” lobbying that he says was carried out by three housing groups represented on the committee, City Life Vida Urbana, the Hyams Foundation and the Boston Tenants Coalition – which Quattrochi says should have been revealed by the scope. of his records request, leading him to believe the city’s incomplete response was “designed to hide illegal activity.”

Under state law, appointees to the Rent Stabilization Advisory Committee would be “legislative or executive agents if, in the course of their normal activities as a paid employee or contractor for an organization, they had contacted the city about rent control, which requires state authorization.” enabling act,” he wrote.

Quattrochi’s filing cites the failure of organizations and their individual committee representatives to register as lobbyists with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, with attachments showing his empty search requests on the state’s website.