In his bid for reelection, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra sent out a series of fundraising emails that inflated his own record while spreading false information about one of his opponents, Luke Bronin.
"I think that there was a source that was used... for his voter records. When the campaign looked into it, it was not the best source, or a source that was not correct in terms of the information that it gave out," Segarra said during an interview Thursday.
In fundraising emails, Segarra’s campaign claimed that high school graduation rates in Hartford had "more than doubled" while he served as mayor. According to Hartford Public Schools however, from 2010 to 2013, rates increased from 57 percent to 71 percent.
Segarra amended his email, saying that his record is still a good one on education, even if the increase isn’t as high as his campaign initially said.
"Since I've been involved in city politics, most especially as mayor, there have been substantial increases in graduation rates," he said.
In other emails, Segarra accused Bronin of being absent from his polling place while Bronin was registered to vote in Hartford. According to the Connecticut Secretary of State, Bronin was a registered voter in Hartford from 2006 to 2009, and again starting in 2013.
"I was surprised that they were going negative, especially at this point in the campaign," Bronin said. "You would think that if they were going to go negative that they would at least use accurate information."
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Segarra said he wants to showcase his time in Hartford, and wouldn’t comment on that particular allegation against Bronin.
"The bottom of the line is, I have been in this city for four decades so I think that wraps it up," Segarra said.
Bronin worked for the Obama administration and served in Afghanistan as an intelligence officer from 2009 to 2013. He subsequently served as Gov. Dannel Malloy's top legal adviser.
Bronin said he’s not going to speculate on the motivation behind the false attacks, but did say he thinks such emails are a reflection on what a second Segarra term may look like.
"I'll tell you what kind of a mayor I will be which is a hands on manager who takes responsibility as going to be held accountable."
Segarra said the information came from a campaign staffer who claimed to have obtained the information from the Connecticut Democratic Party.
A spokesman for the party said the information from the Secretary of the State is the accurate information.
Bronin and Segarra will square off in the Democratic primary which is in September.
