Made announcement last week in letter to editor
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
In an apparent break with tradition in Lawrence, the township’s mayor has made a presidential primary endorsement.
Last week, Mayor Mark Holmes, who was selected for the ceremonial one-year position on Jan. 1, endorsed Barack Obama, the Illinois senator, for president in the Feb. 5 Democratic Party primary.
”It was a personal decision,” said the mayor, also a Democrat. “This endorsement was not done in a vacuum. I was approached by the Obama people, and I liked what they were saying. They talked about what Obama was doing. I already liked him from before.”
”From the standpoint of an elected official, sometimes people like to know where you stand. It’s helpful to some people,” Mayor Holmes said, adding that he is Lawrence’s first black mayor. He served his first term as mayor in 2004.
Councilman Rick Miller, who has been involved in local politics since the 1980s, has served on Township Council since 1993. The senior Republican member on council and former Republican Party chairman said he could not recall any other elected official in Lawrence endorsing a presidential candidate.
”It doesn’t mean they couldn’t (make an endorsement),” Mr. Miller said. “Mark is making the endorsement himself, not on behalf of Township Council. He has a right to his opinion.”
Mayor Holmes, who has been involved in housing issues — he is the former executive director of the East Orange Housing Authority and the former director of community development and planning for Irvington Township — said he believes Sen. Obama is the candidate who is best suited to deal with housing concerns and the housing crisis in the United States.
Sen. Obama, on his Web site, vowed to crack down on the subprime mortgage industry. He wants to fight mortgage fraud and protect consumers from abusive lending practices.
The Illinois senator also wants to create a fund to help people refinance their mortgages. The fund would be partially funded by the imposition of increased penalties on lenders who act irresponsibly and commit fraud, as indicated on the Web site.
And Sen. Obama has proposed creating an Affordable Housing Trust Fund to develop affordable housing in mixed-income neighborhoods, according to his Web site.
Mayor Holmes, who is the second vice chairman of the state’s Council on Affordable Housing, said he hopes his endorsement of Sen. Obama “gets across the issue I am very passionate about, and that has to do with housing.”
”This is a significant presidential election at a time when the current president and administration are not serving the people in this country,” Mayor Holmes said. “We need someone who will serve all of the people and be for all of the people. I think that man is Barack Obama.”
The fact that New Jersey’s presidential political primary has been moved from June to February may account for the candidates’ request for endorsements, the councilman said.
Mr. Miller said he, too has been approached by representatives of several Republican Party presidential candidates, including Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson, who dropped out of the race earlier this week. However, Mr. Miller has not yet decided whom he would support for the nomination.
”We all get approached,” Mr. Miller said. “If you get a phone call, you have been ‘approached.’ You get approached in-person by local people who are heading the campaign statewide or for central New Jersey.”