GOP Candidate Daryl Kipnis Calls On Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman To Renounce Tie To Convicted Ex-Mayor Of Lawrence

Coleman Donated $500 To Campaign And Swore Mark Holmes Into Office

SOMERSET, NJ – Republican 12th Congressional District Candidate Daryl Kipnis is calling on
Democratic U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman to publicly renounce former Lawrence Township
Mayor and Asbury Park Housing Authority Executive Director Mark Holmes after he was sentenced to prison for five years for stealing more than $90,000 in public funds, using some of it on spas, limousines, and gentlemen’s clubs.

“My opponent should immediately renounce Mark Holmes and demand a refund of her $500
campaign contribution to him,” Kipnis, a Somerset attorney said. “Holmes broke the sacred trust of public service in the most egregious way and took much needed resources for his own comfort and entertainment.”

Holmes was sentenced April 20 to five years in prison for stealing more than $90,000 while acting as the Executive Director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority between 2008-11, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Holmes, 56, of Lawrenceville, pleaded guilty to the charge of theft by unlawful taking on Jan. 9.
Kipnis commended the efforts of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office in fighting government corruption, which he intends to combat in all its forms as a member of congress.

The former Township Councilman and Mayor of Lawrence in Mercer County, and was sworn into office by then Assemblywoman Watson Coleman in 2005.

According to campaign finance records, Coleman also contributed $500 to his campaign from her assembly election fund on Oct. 6, 2005.

According to officials, instead of using state grant funds for computer and other training for low
income Housing Authority residents to give them marketable skills, Holmes diverted the funds,
intended to assist the poorest and most vulnerable residents of Asbury Park, to give himself a
$50,000 raise without getting approval of the board and used other grant money and duplicated “per diem” payments for personal expenditures like in-room hotel movies, spa, and strip club visits.

“Rep. Watson Coleman is known for her venomous rhetoric regarding anything and everything
about Republicans and President Donald Trump, yet her corrupt Democratic friends in Mercer County always seem to be beyond her scrutiny,” Kipnis said. “Even more troubling is the fact that Mr. Holmes, who is married, used the stolen funds, in part, to patronize establishments that glorify misogyny, and promote the objectification of women. Watson Coleman’s silence in this case speaks for itself, demonstrating her double standards when it comes to what she demands from others, and what her cronies are allowed to do. She should demand the immediate refund of her contribution and publicly condemn this theft of taxpayers’ money. Her failure to do so constitutes a willful violation of the solemn Oath of Office, both as administered and undertaken by her, to the people she was elected to represent.”

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If you would like more information about this topic, please call Charles W. Kim at (732) 666-2059, or email kipnisforcongress@gmail.com.