Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 18:14, 2 October 2012

Kerry Bentivolio (born October 6, 1951) is the Republican nominee for U.S. Representative for Michigan's 11th congressional district in the 113th United States Congress. Bentivolio faces Democratic nominee Syed Taj, a physician, in the upcoming November 6, 2012 election. The seat was vacated by former Representative Thaddeus McCotter who resigned from Congress on July 6, 2012.

Bentivolio worked as a design engineer in the automotive industry for twenty years, followed by teaching for fifteen years in schools and institutions. He an Army Veteran who served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the Iraq War. He is married to Karen Bentivolio, a registered nurse, and resides in Milford, Michigan.

Personal life

Bentivolio's wife Karen is a registered nurse. They have resided in Milford, Michigan since 1982 and live on a small farm raising live reindeer trained to pull Santa’s sleigh in various parades and special holiday events within Michigan. They also maintain a small flock of chickens, a 25-hive apiary of honeybees, and a 115-vine vineyard. Bentivolio is a sportsman and an avid bass fisherman. He is a novice golfer and enjoys shooting clay pigeons at the shooting range.

Education

He attended Oakland Community College where he earned an Associate degree in Liberal Arts. He received his bachelors of arts in Social Science from St. Mary's. He transferred to Michigan State University in East Lansing to attend further courses and met his future wife, Karen. Later, he earned a Masters degree from Marygrove College.

Military service

Bentivolio enlisted in the United States Army in November 1968 and served in Vietnam from 1970-71 as an infantry rifleman. After a break in service, he later joined the Army National Guard in Michigan as a reservist and served for more than 20 years. Bentivolio was trained as an MLRS/HIMARS crewmember. He also deployed to Kuwait with a military police unit during Operation Desert Storm and to Iraq in 2007 with an Artillery unit as a senior human resources sergeant performing combat convoy missions. He retired as a Sergeant First Class after a neck injury in 2008. Bentivolio's awards include the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

Employment

Bentivolio worked as a Design Engineer in the automotive industry for more than 20 years. He also taught for fifteen years in private schools, public schools and adult education institutions, including Fowlerville High School. Bentivolio resigned from Fowlerville in 2011 after news reported stated he had been reprimanded for threatening and intimidating students. Bentivolio maintains that the reprimand was that the allegations were false and that he resigned only to devote more time to running for public office.

Acting

Bentivolio took up acting in movies to get rid of his stage fright in front of cameras. He had uncredited "extra" parts in two films in the 1970's, The Betsy and 84 Charlie Mopic. In 2010, he acted in the low budget movie Lucy's Law in the role of a TV News reporter and won Best First Time Actor award. In 2011, he appeared in another low budget political satire, The President Goes to Heaven. Kerry won the award category Best Supporting Actor for his role in the movie at the American International Film Festival.

Political Career

2010 Michigan Senate election

In 2010, Bentivolio ran for the Michigan Senate for the 15th District but was defeated by Mike Kowall in the primary.

2012 U.S. Congressional election

In 2011, he announced his candidacy for Michigan's 11th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and was considered a long-shot to defeat incumbent Thaddeus McCotter for the Republican nomination. After allegations of electoral fraud by falsifying petition signatures to arrive on the ballot, the McCotter campaign released a statement on May 25, 2012 indicating that there were not enough valid signatures turned in with his ballot petition. On July 6, 2012, McCotter resigned from the seat. On August 7, 2012, Bentivolio won the district's Republican nomination against former state senator Nancy Cassis who was a write-in candidate

Political positions

Bentivolio describes himself as a conservative with libertarian ideals on most issues and has been endorsed by the Tea Party Express. He strongly supports the right to bear arms and favors a constitutionally limited government. He describes Freedom of Speech as "vital to our society." According to his campaign website, he opposes "any measures to regulate speech on the Internet, or to license and regulate the behavior of Internet service providers.". According to Electful.com, Bentivolio is pro-life. Electful.com has no information at this time on whether or not Bentivolio supports gay rights. He seeks to reduce regulation and bureaucracy, cut taxes, cut government spending, and discontinue government investment in some industries.

References

1. http://www.washingtontimes.com/campaign-2012/candidates/kerry-bentivolio-62359/
2. "Bentivolio wins against write-in candidate Cassis for 11th U.S. House District GOP Primary". Retrieved 2012-08-08.
3. "Bio". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
4. http://www.washingtontimes.com/campaign-2012/candidates/kerry-bentivolio-62359/
5. "Bio". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
6. ^ AP. "While a teacher, 11th Dist candidate Bentivolio's behavior was a problem, records show". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
7. "Lucy's Law (2011) 61 min - Drama". Retrieved 2012-08-10.
8. "The President Goes to Heaven (2011) 85 min - Drama". Retrieved 2012-08-10.
9. "Bentivolio for U.S. Congress". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
10. http://www.freep.com/article/20120810/NEWS15/120810028/Thaddeus-McCotter-congressional-staff
11. "U.S. Rep. McCotter Statement on Petition Signatures". May 25, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
12. "GOP shocked over congressman's petition woes". AP. May 26, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
13. "Bentivolio wins Republican nomination in 11th congressional district". Observer and Eccentric Newspapers. August 10, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-11.
14. Henderson, Stephen (August 22, 2012). "Stephen Henderson: Candidate Bentivolio can run, but can he hide?". The Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
15. http://www.freep.com/article/20120607/NEWS03/120607047/Nancy-Cassis-Thad-McCotter-Republican-seat-write-in?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE
16. "Kerry Bentivolio on Bill of Rights". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
17. "Kerry Bentivolio on Free Speech". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
18. http://kerrybentivolioforcongress.com/kerry-issues/civil-rights-civil-liberties/
19. "Kerry Bentivolio on Civil Rights". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
20. http://electful.com/candidate/kerry-bentivolio/issues
21. "Kerry Bentivolio on the Economy". Retrieved 2012-05-26.

External links

• Kerry Bentivolio for U.S. Congress 2012, official 2012 campaign website
• Kerry Bentivolio for Congress,Secondary/New Website
• Kerry Bentivolio for Michigan Senate 2010, 2010 campaign blog

Template:Persondata

• 1951 births
• Living people
• Michigan Republicans
• People from Oakland County, Michigan
• Michigan State University alumni