Self-described Giuliano "District 1 Captain" Makes Facebook Post Falsely Accusing Florsheim Treasurer for the Second Time

(click to enlarge) .                    

Bill Perkins, who has claimed on Facebook that he is "officially the district 1 captain for Seb Giuliano for Mayor campaign" today posted twice on a Facebook website: "Ben's campaign treasurer is a meanace (sic) and a criminal."

Diana Martinez is Ben Florsheim's campaign treasurer. She has no criminal record.

The owner of the Facebook page where Perkins posted the meme immediately deleted the first post, only to have Perkins post it again, and have it deleted once more by the page owner.

Perkins has been posting dozens of negative, derogatory memes about the Florsheim campaign on Facebook for weeks.

Perkins claims he is a Giuliano
District Captain on Facebook.
(click to enlarge)

This false accusation follows an incident on October 12, when Joe D'Ambrose, Creative Director of Palm Tree Branding and Web Design posted a similar false accusation on a Middletown Eye Facebook post. 

D'Ambrose posed a rhetorical question in the Facebook post suggesting Martinez had been arrested for Criminal Mischief and included a docket number for the arrest and case.

Original D'Ambrose
post. (click to enlarge)

Martinez challenged the post, noting that D'Ambrose had confused her with another Diana Martinez, of similar age, from another Connecticut city.  D'Ambrose deleted the post after being challenged, but only after it had been widely seen and distributed.

D'Ambrose's company has been paid more than $11,000 for work done on behalf of the the Republican candidate Guiliano's campaign for mayor, and for the Republican slate's campaign.

D'Ambrose has claimed that he is a volunteer and has not been paid for work done on behalf of the campaign.

Following the original post, Ben Florsheim's campaign demanded an apology from D'Ambrose and Giuliano.

In a Middletown Press article, D'Ambrose dismissed charges that he had defamed Martinez.

'“I commented as a private citizen. That’s obvious. It’s a nonissue. As a voting citizen of Middletown, I asked a question about Diana. She’s in a public position. There were no accusations made,” he said.'

Unlike candidates themselves and elected officials, campaign treasurers are not typically considered "public figures" and have more legal protection against libel.

According to the Middletown Press, Giuliano dismissed the original post saying that D'Ambrose posted as an individual and that, though he was hired by the Giuliano campaign, he had not surrendered his individual free speech rights.

Neither D'Ambrose, nor Giuliano have apologized to Martinez or to the Florsheim campaign.