Stewart Ran With Candidate After Alleged Bigoted Comments

Republican Mayor Erin Stewart ran with a Republican politician in 2015 after he was widely condemned, including by her, for making bigoted comments.

In May of 2014, the Republican Party’s endorsed candidate for State Senate, Henry Zembko, III, was forced from the election for the seat for allegedly making homophobic, profanity laced comments online.

Zembko allegedly referred to another person as a, “f-ggot.”

On May 24, 2014 the New Britain Herald quoted Stewart as saying that, “I find these remarks completely repugnant.” Stewart went on to say that, “I stress that this individual does not speak on behalf of New Britain city government or the Republican Party.”

But a year after that scandal, Stewart and Zembko were running together in the 2015 New Britain city elections. Zembko ran with Stewart as a candidate for City Constable.

Zembko has also been criticized for an image in which he allegedly referred to then First Lady Michelle Obama as, “first ho.”

That image appears to be a photo of Obama encouraging people to enroll in available health coverage, doctored with the words, “Your premiums fund my vacations.” The image appears to be from April of 2014.

The image allegedly shows Zembko sharing the doctored photo of Obama on Facebook, with Zembko allegedly adding the comment, “Tru dat miss first ho !!!!”

Zembko was selected as Constable, together with Stewart’s re-election in the November 3, 2015 election.

City records also show that Stewart appointed Zembko to the powerful city Zoning Board of Appeals for a term that began on January 1, 2015. That appointment would have been less than eight months after Stewart said that Zembko, “does not speak on behalf of New Britain city government or the Republican Party.”

City records still showed Zembko on the list of Zoning Board of Appeals members, as of August of 2019, though that record also shows Zembko’s term of office as expiring on December 31, 2018.

City Records, as of January of 2019, also showed Zembko serving as a Justice of the Peace. Justices of the Peace are essentially partisan appointees of the major parties, and city records show Zembko as a Republican Party selection.

Critics of Stewart have sought to argue that Stewart and city and state Republicans apply a lower standard of conduct to Republican politicians.

Critics have recently distributed an image, allegedly of Stewart, herself, referring to a female election candidate as a, “b-tch.”

In the image, Stewart allegedly referred to, “the lady running against dad,” which appears to be about the 2011 State Senate special election between then Republican Mayor Timothy Stewart, Erin Stewart’s father, and then former Rep. Terry Gerratana. Gerratana went on to defeat Stewart to win the Senate seat. Erin Stewart, herself, was elected to the Board of Education later that year and as mayor two years later.