When A Pay Day Matters – Pereira Sparked Dennis Bradley’s Election Fraud Conviction, Now Harvesting Absentee Ballots For His Brother Accused Of Election Fraud

In the peculiar world of Bridgeport politics, this one certainly applies.

In 2018 City Councilwoman Maria Pereira filed a complaint with the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) charging Dennis Bradley with, among other things, leveraging his law firm and personal resources during an announcement for state senate while a candidate seeking a grant under the state’s Citizens Election Program of publicly funded races.

Bradley’s political aspirations violated rules of the program. It became a toothache for Bradley that led to an extraction, a federal indictment and subsequent conviction in March on six counts of election fraud including falsifying donation cards to win a nearly $100,000 state grant. Pereira’s complaint was even noted in the government’s indictment of Bradley.

Last week a state judge suspended Bradley’s law license effective July 17 at a request filed by Connecticut’s Office Of Chief Disciplinary Council that monitors the conduct of lawyers.

 

Dennis Bradley faces additional sanctions – sentencing for his federal conviction and long-term derailment of his law license.

While Dennis Bradley was fighting for his liberty in a New Haven courtroom, his brother Mark, trying to fill the void of his brother losing his seat in 2022, opined an announcement for judge of probate, a citywide elected position in Bridgeport. The brothers are both partners in the Bridgeport-based Bradley Law Group.

It soon became apparent, shortly after Mark Bradley’s announcement to challenge incumbent Paul Ganim in an August 11 Democratic primary, that he had looming election law issues of his own including voting dually in Massachusetts as a Republican and Democrat in Bridgeport against the respective laws of both states.

On Wednesday, following an investigation, SEEC made a referral to the Office of Connecticut’s Chief States Attorney that a criminal probe be launched against Mark Bradley.

Meanwhile, Pereira had cut a deal with Mark Bradley to helm his campaign’s absentee ballot operation, something that got herself in trouble with state authorities that charged her with multiple counts of election fraud about 18 months ago from her own election in 2023 during her support of John Gomes for mayor.

Pereira has gummed up the court timeline, firing multiple public defenders, to tire the memories, and perhaps expiration, of witnesses.

Multiple political sources say Pereira’s absentee ballot harvest is a paid campaign gig, in the $10K range, to resolve a court-initiated eviction for nonpayment from her Upper East Side apartment.

Pereira’s new-found alliance also marries politically her ex-enemy Dennis Bradley who financed, according to Pereira Facebook posts, the $8,000 cost to deposit dumpsters at the Success Village housing co-op for a spring cleanup organized by Pereira last month and where Mark Bradley happily campaigned and sought signatures to qualify for a primary.

That effort became a sticky situation for Pereira, as well as the Bradley brothers because they attempted to keep in power the former leader of the Success board Ty Bird whose home was recently raided by the FBI following disclosure of millions of dollars of co-op money unaccounted for. Roughly 2,000 residents were also without heat and hot water in addition to wondering where all their common charges disappeared…taxes and utilities unpaid by Bird.

The Bradley Law Group received tens of thousands of dollars representing Ty Bird who was jettisoned by Superior Court Judge Dale Radcliffe about two years ago, at the request of Bridgeport and Stratford officials, replaced by new management.

Pereira has been singing the praises of Dennis Bradley on social media when she many times in the past sounded prehistoric noises at him. She had called him corrupt, narcissistic, an empty suit, a shiny new luxury car with no engine.

A pay day can change that.

Then she wrote nice words about him financing the dumpsters when really it was a vote-buying scam to aid his brother’s run for public office. Yes, let’s plant the dumpsters so my brother in full campaign regalia can curry favor with voters.

The effort fell flat with many Success Village residents posting on social media who know full well the Bradley brothers were hired guns to protect Ty Bird at their expense, their city council representative now cozying up for a pay day to avoid eviction.

What does this all mean?

Investigators: local, state and federal are all watching.