MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Never one to shy away from making a controversial statement, State Rep. Alvin Holmes (D-Montgomery) on Tuesday threatened to expose the extramarital affairs of a dozen of his colleagues, if Republicans continue to pursue impeachment against Governor Robert Bentley.
“I know those in here that are married that had female companions,” Holmes declared on the House floor. “I know what every person has done and what they have not done. There’s no law against having a girlfriend.”
One of Holmes’ House colleagues invoked Rule 50, which precludes lawmakers from making derogatory comments about each other in the House, but Holmes said he had not named any names — yet. And if Republicans back off their attempts to impeach the governor, he says he likely will not.
State Rep. Ed Henry (R-Hartselle), who sponsored the original articles of impeachment against Governor Bentley, tweeted that a feeling of uneasiness set in after Holmes’ threats.
Rep Alvin Holmes threatening to reveal 12 members who have had affairs if Articles of Impeachment are brought up. House is very uneasy.
— Ed Henry (@Ed_Henry_HD9) April 26, 2016
Tuesday is hardly the first time Holmes’ has made eyebrow-raising remarks.
His most famous rant against craft beer, during which he exclaimed, “What’s wrong with the beer we got?” Has received hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.
(Video above: Alvin Holmes on beer)
In 2014, he sought to clarify his position on marriage be advocating for men to be able to marry mules.
“Now, I’m for interracial marriage,” Holmes said after a long diatribe claiming most white Alabamians are not. “I’m for same-sex marriage. I’m the one that introduced the bill to have same-sex marriage. I don’t care who marry who. If a man meet a little mule and he wanna get married to the little mule, as long as he and the little mule get along all right, that’s fine with me. It doesn’t bother me any kind of way.”
(Audio below: Holmes’ marriage comments begin around the 2-minute mark)
Holmes’s marriage comments were preceded by him going to the microphone on the floor of the Alabama House to call Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an “Uncle Tom” and to criticize him for marrying a white woman.
A few days later, Sean Hannity sent David Webb, a Fox News correspondent, to Alabama to ask Rep. Holmes if he stood by his remarks.
(Video above: Rep. Holmes talks about his racist comments on HANNITY)
“Yes I do,” Holmes replied without hesitation. “I think Justice Thomas on the United States Supreme Court is an Uncle Tom. A black man allowed himself to be used to carry the message of a white man, which is against the interests of black people in America. In my opinion that’s an Uncle Tom. In my opinion, Clarence Thomas is a very prolific Uncle Tom.”
A few weeks later during a debate over a pro-life bill, Holmes went to the mic again, the time to claim that white pro-lifers in the Legislature would be in favor of aborting a child if their own daughters or granddaughters got pregnant by a black man.
“Ninety-nine percent of the all of the white people in here are going to raise their hand that they are against abortion,” Holmes said. “On the other hand, 99 percent of the whites who are sitting in here now, if their daughter got pregnant by a black man, they are going to make their daughter have an abortion.”
Audio below:
Holmes also offered $100,000 to anyone who could show him “a bunch of whites” who had adopted black babies in Alabama.
A group of families who had adopted children of a different race launched a Facebook page called “Faces of Families in Alabama” in an effort to prove Holmes wrong.
Mixed-race families from all over the state sent in pictures and over 13,000 people “liked” the page in a bout a week-and-a-half.
Multi-racial adoptive families from all across Alabama later showed up for a rally organized in response to Holmes’ comments. He did not attend.
Holmes has still not changed his position.
”The majority of the white people in the state of Alabama are against adopting black children,” he once again told a local television station.
Beverly Owings, an adoptive mom who has a 13-year-old bi-racial daughter, said Holmes “should have to put his money where his mouth is,” but added that the Faces of Families rally was “not about money, but about changing Holmes opinion. And about getting out the word about how many children are available for adoption in Alabama.”
Mrs. Owings and her husband were guests on WVAS, a local radio station, to talk about the entire sequence of events when Rep. Holmes decided to call in to the show to defend his position.
“Do you think the white people of Alabama would let me adopt a white baby?” he asked. “Do you think the white folks in Alabama, the white authorities will permit Alvin Holmes to adopt a white baby in Alabama? Now just answer that yes or no.”
Owings responded to Holmes’ question with a “yes.” Holmes broke out into laughter. “I will tell you,” Owings continued, “after what we went through in the adoption process, if I had made the negative, racist statements that you have made, then no, they would not have allowed me to adopt a bi-racial child.”
Holmes dismissed the rally organized by the inter-racial adoptive families, saying, “You can get a little handful of folks to any kind of rally … you can have a rally for Mussolini.”
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