Alvin Holmes on sorry commissioners, barbed wire enemas, Klansmen and low IQs

State Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, introduced a resolution on Thursday that would remove the name of former Gov. Bibb Graves from a building at Alabama State University.
Holmes said Graves was a leader in the Ku Klux Klan.
If Republicans do not want the name of Joe Reed, who he said is a civil rights leader, on a building then the name of a Klansman should not be on a building at the historically black university.
Holmes also said he would not answer questions from people with an IQ below 63.
Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, was the sponsor of the bill before the Legislature when Holmes was talking.
"Mr. Holmes, are you trying to preclude me from asking you a question," Black joked.
Black’s bill would deregulate phone service in the state, which Holmes and other opponents have said would lead to rate increases. The Legislature passed the bill.
Proponents have said the bill would allow AT&T to be more competitive with other companies and mediums, such as wireless and Voice over Internet Protocol, that are not regulated.
Currently, the Public Service Commission regulates AT&T.
Holmes railed on the PSC for allowing a rate increase for Alabama Power.
"These are some of the most sorriest members of the public service commission," he said of the three Democrats on the panel.
"… Like Gov. Wallace said, some of them over there need to be given a barbed wire enema."
Holmes said he would not help to elect black lawmakers who voted for the deregulation.
"The members of the Legislature need a hole in their head if they pass this," he said.
He later added, when talking about Democrats who support the deregulation bill, "you’re not doing nothing but letting the Republicans trick you."
Holmes said some of the Republicans in the House were nice guys, but they did not have a high IQ.
"What does IQ mean," Rep. Barry Mask, R-Wetumpka, said from the back. "How do you spell IQ?"
Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, told Holmes that the rules did not allow House members to attack the character of other members.
Holmes asked those people he offended to raise their hands. Mask, Rep. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, and some others raised their hands.
Holmes apologized to them.
Holmes asked if corporate officials flew into Montgomery on a private jet for the vote on the deregulation bill. Black said he had not heard from them if they were in Montgomery and he believes they would have talked to him if they were.
"Oh, you that big?" Holmes asked.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen