GOP county executive candidate has ‘some regrets’ over social media posts about conspiracy theories

Chrissy Casilio’s posts included comments and replies to other Twitter users about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, whether the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” and a debunked conspiracy theory alleging the online furniture store Wayfair was involved in sex trafficking.

“As a private citizen, I’m going to take accountability for the things that I have posted on social media in the past,” Casilio said in an interview with The Buffalo News. “I have some regrets. I have no problem taking accountability.”

In her first public comments on the matter, Casilio also defended some of the remarks and said her Democratic political opponents are “cherry-picking these things and taking them out of context.”

“My view of social media, especially on Twitter, was to kind of provoke conversation and influence the algorithm,” Casilio said. “As a marketing PR person, I know how that algorithm works on Twitter. Whether I believe in a topic or not, I try to comment about it to get reaction, get likes, get comments.”

Casilio’s Twitter account, which she has since deactivated, has provoked controversy since Feb. 27, when the Erie County Republican Committee announced its endorsement of Casilio to challenge incumbent County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. 

That same day, the website wnymedia.net posted screenshots of a Twitter exchange Casilio had with WKBW-TV anchor Jeff Russo in which Russo pushed back against false claims made by Twitter users alleging that Hamlin was dead.

The News also obtained a screenshot of since-deleted tweets referencing the injured Bills safety, including one that stated, “Did the @BuffaloBills bomb their game because they were distracted/mad about the potential fake @Hamlinisland PR stunt taking things too far? #DamarHamlin”

Casilio told The News that she “never” doubted that Hamlin was alive. She said she felt Bills fans were disappointed in not seeing more pictures or videos of Hamlin in the days following his injury. 

“I just thought how it was handled was interesting, to say the least,” Casilio said. 

Investigative Post, a nonprofit investigative reporting website, published additional tweets written by Casilio, including one that appeared to question whether there was a connection between Hamlin’s injury and recent strokes suffered by team owner Kim Pegula and Bills announcer John Murphy.

Casilio tweeted: “Kim Pegula – Stroke…Damar – heart attack…John Murphy stroke…but don’t question anything! All normal!”

“There were people questioning what was going on,” Casilio told The News when asked about the tweet. “I obviously said things that I regret. I wasn’t implying anything.”

The WNYmedia.net article also referenced a debunked conspiracy theory about the online furniture company Wayfair allegedly being involved in child sex trafficking.

The conspiracy theory, which police said was false, alleged that the company was involved in sex trafficking in part because the names of some of its products matched the names of missing children.

“If there is no truth…why did they pull the items down?” Casilio tweeted in 2020.

Casilio also wrote the “100 percent” emoji symbol – which signifies agreement – below a tweet by another Twitter user that stated, “There are not 2 parties. There is ONE Globalist Party with a few honorable Americans on the fringe.” The tweet stated that the country’s politicians “destroyed Trump for exposing the swamp, and created a pandemic and rigged an election to do it,” according to the Investigative Post article.

Casilio told The News she did not share those beliefs. She said she was “not going to let Mark Poloncarz and his cronies try to diminish me to these tweets, because it’s a distraction from the disaster that they’ve created.”

“I honestly couldn’t explain to you what a globalist party even is,” Casilio said. “Everyone has things they probably have regretted on social media, especially if they have never been a candidate. That’s just the world we live in for 2023.”

Other tweets referenced the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. In a reply to former Democratic county executive candidate Nate McMurray, who has since dropped out of the race, Casilio suggested Trump supporters who were attacking a police officer that day were not actually supporters of the former president.

Casilio tweeted, “Again – you think these were Trumpers – who drive around with back the blue flags? No way these people were anyone else? A wolf in sheep’s clothing?”

“Some of that actually did turn out to be accurate, but that’s besides the point,” Casilio said when asked about the tweet. “I have tweeted and said things to provoke, to get reaction, to grow the algorithm. I would poke because that’s what you do.”

The fact-checking organization PolitiFact has said there is “no evidence” that members of the left-wing group Antifa disguised themselves as Trump supporters and stormed the Capitol. Video and photographs from the scene show people wearing and waving Trump-branded paraphernalia and flags, and reporters covering the events have described the crowd as Trump supporters. 

Casilio said she views the WNYmedia Network article as an attack by the Poloncarz campaign because campaign finance reports show the three-term county executive has paid the organization in the past. 

She said Democrats are pointing to her tweets so that Poloncarz’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was criticized by some business owners, does not become a larger issue.

“It’s unfortunate for them, because this is the best they’ve got against me,” Casilio said. “They can’t talk about, they can’t support their issues. They can’t support their failed policies.”

Marc J. Odien, publisher of WNYmedia Network, said in a statement that Casilio was “attacking the messenger.”

“My only paid work for the Friends of Mark Poloncarz (campaign) is webmaster support,” Odien said in a written statement. “I’ve never hidden my support for the county executive.”

Peter Anderson, Poloncarz’s campaign spokesperson, said Casilio’s tweets were “very concerning” and questioned why she deleted the tweets. 

“Any time a candidate is running for public office, and especially for the highest elected office in Erie County, the public has a right to know what the candidate believes in and stands for,” Anderson said in a written statement. “When you delete your social media account, as Ms. Casilio-Bluhm did, it’s obvious that you don’t want people seeing or knowing about what you’ve said in the past. Why would that be?”

Casilio said she deleted the tweets because she “didn’t want it to be a distraction from the topics at hand.”

“Is this really what the voters care about?” Casilio asked. “I doubt that, and that’s why I plan on focusing on the issues at hand and why I want to address these tweets and just move on and focus on what is best for Erie County and what Erie County residents actually care about.”