Congressman Deletes His Wikipedia 'Controversies'

David Rivera’s been involved in a lot of controversies—so many that when Eric Cantor visited Miami last month, he refused to meet with him—but for a few minutes at a time, he’s had a clean slate on Wikipedia. Last month, Wikipedia editor “Lmveiga”—which is to say, Rivera’s press secretary, Leslie Veiga—went in and edited her boss's page, pasting in a list of “legislative accomplishments” straight from his campaign website, and deleting the entire “controversies” section, Politico reports.

Among the allegations in that section: That Rivera was named the defendant in a 1994 domestic abuse case (something he and the victim both say isn’t true), that he got into a car crash with a truck carrying fliers about that case, and that state law enforcement agencies are investigating $500,000 that a dog track paid to Rivera's mother after he lobbied for it as a state legislator. Wikipedia quickly restored the section, which was well-sourced. Veiga deleted them again, but it was again quickly restored. The page has now been locked, with the controversy section intact—complete with a line about Veiga’s attempts to edit it. (More David Rivera stories.)