New York City Council member and speaker hopeful Melissa Mark-Viverito is facing a $1 million claim that she tried to put a voodoo curse on her former rival in the primary elections.
The Democrat is accused of having a mural of a decapitated chicken painted on the building where the opponent, Gwen Goodwin, lives, the New York Daily News reported.
“In the Caribbean culture, this constituted a curse and a death threat,” Miss Goodwin claimed in court papers. “As a swastika or a noose would symbolize typically to many Jews or African-Americans, respectively.”
Miss Mark-Viverito took to Twitter on Saturday to laugh off the accusations.
“Darn! My little secret revealed! … #cantmakethisup,” she responded to someone who asked if she’s a “voodoo temptress.”
The lawsuit claims that Miss Mark-Viverito had the mural painted with the “intentional purpose” of inflicting emotional distress on her opponent.
Miss Goodwin told the Daily News her rival funneled campaign funds to the El Museo del Barrio, which in turn paid for the mural.
“Somebody who acts like this doesn’t seem fitting to be City Council speaker, the second most important position in the city,” she said. “She is not the progressive that everyone thinks she is. She’s part of the 1 percent.”
Eric Koch, spokesman for Miss Mark-Viverito, dismissed the lawsuit as “false, absurd and a waste of the court’s precious time.”
“It’s sad but expected that Melissa’s opponents are resorting to these kinds of tactics,” he told the Daily News.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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