Wilton candidate faces backlash for social media posts

<p>Critics blasted a Wilton school board candidate Thursday over controversial comments she posted online as far back as two years ago.</p>

News 12 Staff

Nov 2, 2017, 7:20 PM

Updated 2,366 days ago

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Critics blasted a Wilton school board candidate Thursday over controversial comments she posted online as far back as two years ago.
Andrea Preston, an outspoken conservative, posted the remarks to closed Facebook groups, but they garnered public attention Wednesday.
In one post, she accused "wacko Black Lives Matter people" of encouraging violence against police. She went on to write, "Michael Brown and others (involved in police shootings) got what was coming to them."
Michael Brown was an unarmed black man shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. A grand jury cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
Another post, in response to Wilton High School students chanting "build the wall" at a football game, she wrote that she did not find the statement offensive.
And in yet another post, she wrote, "I support the Confederate flag because it's a symbol of heritage."
Despite the posts, she defended herself in a recent one that reads, "Regardless of what anyone thinks of my political beliefs, it is misleading and wrong to suggest that a handful of social media posts are a representation of the way I conduct myself as a professional and as a volunteer in Wilton."
Preston declined to speak with News 12 directly.
Some Facebook commenters have defended her posts.


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