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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.

Early life, education, and career

Bentivolio served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War from 1970-71 as infantry rifleman. He continued to volunteer with the Michigan Army National Guard for more than 20 years. He served with the military police during Operation Desert Storm. At age 56, in Iraq during 2007 he was with an Artillery Unit in an administrative capacity performing combat convoy missions before a neck injury forced him into retirement from his military duty.

He attended Oakland Community College (OCC) where he earned an Associate degree in Liberal Arts. He received his BA in Social Sci from St. Mary's. He transferred to Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing where he met his future wife, Karen, without having earned a degree, and received his Masters degree from Marygrove College.

Bentivolio was a teacher for fifteen years in private schools, public schools and adult education institutions (see Controversies below). Before that, he worked as a Design Engineer in the automotive industry for more than 20 years.

Kerry Bentivolio took up acting in movies to get rid of his stage fright in front of cameras. In 2010 he acted in a low budget movie "Lucy's Law" in the role of a TV News reporter and won Best First Time Actor award.

In 2011, he acted in a low budget political satire "The President Goes to Heaven" (see Controversies below).

Kerry won Best Actor (supporting) award for his role in the movie, at American International Film Festival. Both Movies are available on DVD from www.amazon.com. Trailers for both movies are on YouTube.

Kerry Bentivolio has been an uncredited extra in two other movies. "The Betsy" with Tommy Lee Jones and Lawence Olivier and "84 Charlie Mopic" both shot in the 70's.

Controversies

Movie

In “The President Goes to Heaven”, Kerry Bentivolio plays the part of a doctor who cares for a comatose President (named Dubya Bush). Bentivolio's character sends the President secretly to China for stem cell treatment that he says would have been available in this country if the President has not vetoed stem cell research. Other characters say the President was an alcoholic, faked joining the army, and organized the 9/11 attacks "for his own petty reasons", while in Iraq, "Dick orchestrated the whole thing just to get that pipeline built".

In 2012, Nancy Cassis, his opponent in the Republican Primary, accused Bentivolio of deriding President Bush in the movie. Bentivolio says "But movie is about a fictional president who ruled the whole world with an iron fist but had trouble getting into heaven. In the Movie, I do not deride President Bush." Bentivolio characterizes his character as "Ethical" because of a refusal to euthanize the President.

School Resignation

Fowlerville high school records show that Bentivolio was reprimanded in 2011 for threatening and intimidating students according to the Free Press and Oakland Press, which reported that Bentivolio resigned shortly thereafter. In interviews and e-mails to supporters, Bentivolio maintains that the reprimand was politically motivated, that allegations were false, and that he resigned only to devote more time to running for public office.

Political career

Bentivolio was an event coordinator in 1980 for Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan.

2010 Michigan Senate election

In 2010, Bentivolio ran for the Michigan Senate for the 15th District, coming in 2nd to 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, on May 25, 2012, the McCotter campaign released a statement indicating that there were not enough valid signatures turned in with his ballot petition. As a result, Bentivolio is the only Republican on the primary ballot. Influential area Republicans have decided not to endorse Bentivolio and instead decided to endorse former state senator Nancy Cassis as a write-in candidate. On July 6, 2012, McCotter resigned from the seat. On August 7, 2012, he won the district's Republican nomination comfortably against write-in candidate Nancy Cassis.

Bentivolio describes himself as a conservative with libertarian ideals on most issues and has been endorsed by 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." He describes himself as pro-life.

He seeks to reduce regulation and bureaucracy, cut taxes, cut government spending, and discontinue government investment in some industries.

Personal life

Kerry'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.

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. http://www.washingtontimes.com/campaign-2012/candidates/kerry-bentivolio-62359/
4. "Bio". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
5. "Lucy's Law (2011) 61 min - Drama". Retrieved 2012-08-10.
6. "The President Goes to Heaven (2011) 85 min - Drama". Retrieved 2012-08-10.
7. "Amazon.com: ctom: Movies& TV". Retrieved 2012-08-10.
8. "The President Goes to Heaven Movie Trailer 1". Retrieved 2012-08-10.
9. "youtube.com: ctom: Movies& TV". Retrieved 2012-09-05.
10. http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/watercooler/index.php?blogid=5243
11. "What was Kerry Bentivolio Thinking?". Retrieved 2012-08-10.
12. AP. "While a teacher, 11th Dist candidate Bentivolio's behavior was a problem, records show". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
13. "Bentivolio for U.S. Congress". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
14. http://www.freep.com/article/20120810/NEWS15/120810028/Thaddeus-McCotter-congressional-staff
15. "U.S. Rep. McCotter Statement on Petition Signatures". May 25, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
16. "GOP shocked over congressman's petition woes". AP. May 26, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
17. http://www.freep.com/article/20120607/NEWS03/120607047/Nancy-Cassis-Thad-McCotter-Republican-seat-write-in?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE
18. "Bentivolio wins Republican nomination in 11th congressional district". Observer and Eccentric Newspapers. August 10, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-11.
19. Henderson, Stephen (August 22, 2012). "Stephen Henderson: Candidate Bentivolio can run, but can he hide?". The Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
20. "Kerry Bentivolio on Bill of Rights". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
21. "Kerry Bentivolio on Free Speech". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
22. "Kerry Bentivolio on Civil Rights". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
23. "Kerry Bentivolio on the Economy". Retrieved 2012-05-26.
24. "Bio". 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

• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from August 2012
• 1951 births
• Living people
• Michigan Republicans
• People from Oakland County, Michigan
• Michigan State University alumni