Holmes owes an explanation

Published 10:19 pm Thursday, October 30, 2014

To the editor:

While I agree with Kerry Holmes on some issues, I cannot bring myself to vote for him on Nov. 4 for the Suffolk Borough seat on City Council.

He is an opportunist and a quitter, completely lacking integrity or leadership. Specifically, he offered himself as the Democratic candidate for the 14th Senate District and ran against John Cosgrove. With only a few weeks to go before Election Day, he quit the race. He let down those people who had worked hard to support him.

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Is he going to quit before Election Day? If he finds it too difficult being on City Council, will he quit? I can’t support someone who has a proven record of quitting when things are difficult or not going his way.

More concerning than his lack of commitment is his lack of integrity. While running as a Democrat for Senate, he failed to mention that he is a “Tea Party” member. I pulled his voting record for presidential primaries, and it shows him voting Republican in 2008 and 2012.

Frankly, I was surprised by his 2008 vote, because Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were in a heated primary battle for the Democratic nomination for president. Rather than vote for the first viable woman candidate or the first viable African-American candidate, Holmes chose to vote for one of the six Republicans seeking the nomination.

Surprisingly, Kerry Holmes is not alone. According to their voting records, Leroy Bennett and Clinton Jenkins did the same in 2008. I don’t understand why the three of them didn’t support Barack Obama in his historic and ultimately successful quest to become president in 2008.

Maybe someone should ask them to explain.

Arthur C. Bredemeyer

Suffolk