Political ad falsely claims Bridgeport City Council member has criminal record
BRIDGEPORT — An online political advertisement launched Sunday targeting City Councilwoman Maria Pereira confused her with another Maria Pereira who has a criminal record.
The inaccurate advertisement, paid for by Bridgeport
Generation Now Votes, a spin-off of the Generation Now civic group, claimed Pereira, who is competing Tuesday in a primary for her 138th District seat, was found “guilty of threatening in the second degree and disorderly conduct.”
On Monday, the group admitted the ad was inaccurate.
Generation Now Votes cited online Connecticut Judicial Branch records for a “Maria H. Pereira” of Bridgeport who has the same middle initial and same birth month and year — June, 1967 — as Councilwoman Pereira.
Gemeem Davis, who is involved with the Generation Now organizations, acknowledged Monday that Generation Now Votes “believed” it was the same Pereira and got its facts wrong.
“When we were aware that it was not her, we immediately pulled the ad and took that out,” Davis said, estimating the advertisement ran Sunday morning into early Sunday afternoon. “So we corrected that error.”
Pereira on Monday said she will file a defamation lawsuit over the identity mix-up.
“I have already texted Gemeem Davis that I will be pursuing litigation against BPT Gen Now Votes after the primary,” Pereira wrote in an email to Hearst Connecticut Media,
adding: “This is the organization that is going to ‘save Bridgeport from corruption and unethical behavior’? P-L-E-A-S-E!”
She also questioned Davis’s statement that the ad was taken down Sunday afternoon.
“It came through my Facebook feed this morning at 8 a.m.,” she said.
Davis reiterated the ad had been taken down at 2:40 p.m. Sunday.
Both Generation Now groups present themselves as good government entities trying to change the status quo of the city’s Democratdominated “machine” politics by pursuing reforms and getting more people involved.
And while Pereira during her two years on the council and her previous tenure on the school board has garnered a similar anti-establishment reputation, she and Generation Now are not allies. Pereira on Monday criticized the organization for being “condescending” and acting like “our saviors.”
Davis said Pereira is “not good for Bridgeport.”
Davis cited the other criticisms from the digital advertisement: That for a few months last year Pereira was stripped of her council committee assignments for “chaotic and disruptive” behavior; how last summer she criticized a Black Board of Education member of “ghetto”like behavior; and that Pereira received a campaign contribution from Juda Epstein, an attorney whose success helping the city collect overdue sewer system fees was criticized a few years ago as too aggressive by other council members seeking to reform that system.
Although Generation Now Votes paid for the advertisement against Pereira, the organization has not endorsed her and her running-mate’s two primary opponents in the 138th District, who are backed by the Democratic Town Committee. Each of Bridgeport’s 20 council districts has two members.
Meanwhile Pereira has taken credit for ensuring Council President Aidee Nieves, who has the support of Generation Now Votes, lost the town committee’s endorsement at the party’s late July convention. Nieves, like Pereira, gathered enough petition signatures to force a primary in her 137th District.