FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2019
Contact: Megan Costello, 617 653 3781
WOMEN OF METHUEN STAND WITH JENNIFER KANNAN AND CALL ON PERRY TO RELEASE HIS PERSONNEL FILES FROM RAYTHEON
We the undersigned women of Methuen, call on Neil Perry, a candidate for mayor, to join his opponent, Methuen City Council Chair Jennifer Kannan, in pledging to become completely transparent during the final days of this election campaign.
As a group, we are shocked by statements made by some of Mr. Perry’s surrogates struggling to defend what seem to be indefensible actions by Mr. Perry regarding allegations made nearly 20 years ago by his then second wife.
As is all too common in situations similar to this, Mr. Perry’s supporters are conducting an aggressive underground smear campaign, not only against the alleged victim, his second ex-wife, but also against his mayoral opponent Jennifer Kannan, whom they are wrongly blaming for letting voters know about Mr. Perry’s background as an accused domestic abuser.
In fact, Mr. Perry, through an apparent bait and switch and classic misdirection ploy, believed that by releasing a carefully crafted minuscule portion of this story, he would be able to escape the scrutiny he deserved.
As he well knows, the horrific claims made by his ex-spouse against Mr. Perry were made under the pains and penalties of perjury.
As Mr. Perry also well knows, Jennifer heard him say on local tv that he was “embarrassed” by a restraining order against him. Hearing that, Jennifer did her due diligence, found some facts and shared them with the residents. We commend Jennifer for sharing these facts about someone who wants to be mayor of our city.
Jennifer Kannan’s life and record of public service are an open book. Not so for Neil Perry. He has been an unknown factor, with nothing in the public realm but his empty claims of community involvement and rumors. The rumors about the restraining order turned out to be true.
Even more troubling, we are now hearing additional rumors from people apparently familiar with his employment history at Raytheon concerning his attitude towards, and treatment of women.
Given this new information, we ask Neil Perry to immediately open his personnel records at Raytheon to reassure the people of Methuen. If these new rumors are unfounded and he has not been the subject of reprimands, lawsuits or other disciplinary action, he should have no problem with letting the people of Methuen know more about the real Neil Perry.
It’s important to note that the reason we are speaking out now is that we are afraid people of Methuen will go to the polls and vote without having all of the facts about one of the candidates.
Jennifer Kannan is our choice for Mayor because she has proven herself to be a public servant in the best sense of the words. She has been there for the community. She is honest and respectable in her private and public life. Her values and ethics are in line with ours and are what our city needs now. We know that in the end voters will see through the smokescreen of blame shifting and pick the right person to lead our city.
Signed by Methuen women:
Alisa Nader, Barbara Firth, Brenda Sayers, Brittney Souza, Cheryl Khoury, Cheryl Travers, Donna Quine, Ellen Curran, Evelyn Tobin, Grace Mansor, Jean Leccese, Laureen Serrano, Lisa Ferry, Lisa Lannon, Lorretta Platt (DV survivor), Marilyn Aziz, Meghan Kannan, Rosemary McCormick, Sue Infantine, Susan Mansor, Tiffany Terrero, Diane Manzi, Krystyna Callagy