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Saturday, Jan. 02, 2010

Former Monticello mayor wants to fill lawmaker’s shoes

Former Monticello Mayor Susan Dykes Holmes hopes to replace state Rep. Jim Cole in the Georgia House of Representatives after he moves on to be secretary of state, she said Friday.

Holmes, Monticello’s mayor from 1996 to 2008 and a former state executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will seek Cole’s District 125 seat in a special election.

An election date has not been announced, but will be firmed up in the coming days after Gov. Sonny Perdue makes Cole’s secretary of state appointment formal on Monday. The governor is tapping Cole, his floor leader in the House, to replace Secretary of State Karen Handel, who is leaving office to focus on her gubernatorial run.

Cole also will seek a full four-year term in the office in an election later this year.

Holmes, 67, said in a news release e-mailed to The Telegraph that “good jobs and economic development for the mid-state are my priorities.”

“We want our children to be able to find opportunities here in our own communities,” said Holmes, a Republican. “Good jobs strengthen families and good jobs make good citizens. I concentrated on this during the revitalization of downtown Monticello and my work at USDA.”

Holmes is a University of Georgia graduate, a former teacher, a past president of the Georgia Municipal Association, Georgia Academy of Economic Development and Georgia Rural Council, according to her release.

Georgia Trend has named her one of the 100 most influential Georgians, and the Girl Scouts of America named her one of the first five outstanding women of Middle Georgia, according to the release.

She is married to Paul Holmes and has three children and eight grandchildren.