HARTFORD — Former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez is expected to throw his hat in the ring and run for his old office this fall according to sources.
Perez was mayor from 2001 to 2010, when he was convicted of accepting a contractor’s bribe of home improvements and trying to extort $100,000 from a developer. He was sentenced to three years in prison, but has remained free on bail while he appealed his conviction.
In July 2016, the state’s highest court upheld a lower court ruling that state prosecutors improperly combined two cases against Perez into a single trial.
In August 2017 Perez pleaded guilty to bribery and extortion charges as part of a plea deal. Perez was sentenced to eight years suspended and a three year conditional discharge avoiding jail time.
Earlier this year, Perez dropped a lawsuit that sought to have the city pay more than $1 million in legal fees he racked up defending himself against corruption charges and a lawsuit by the state that seeks to revoke his pension. The judge’s opinion in that case is still pending.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who was elected to his first term in 2015, announced in January that he was running for re-election. State Rep. Brandon McGee has also announced his candidacy for the office.
