KINSTON: Former New Bern police chief seeks House seat

Republican Frank Palombo looks to unseat long-serving U.S. Rep. Walter Jones


Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., has been in office since 1994, and has withstood a host of challengers seeking to unseat him in the ensuing 18 years.

This year, fellow Republican Frank Palombo is taking his shot at the seat.

“There’s a lot of work that has to be done, and the idea of having career politicians trying to work on these problems doesn’t make sense to me,” Palombo told The Free Press in an interview Monday. “We need leadership; we don’t need career politicians.”

Palombo retired last June after 14 years as New Bern’s police chief and traveled to Kinston on Monday to speak at an Eastern North Carolina Tea Party held at Fairfield Recreation Center that evening.

He is running against Jones for the Republican nomination to represent House District 3 in Washington, D.C. The district covers a 20-county region of Eastern North Carolina, including the northeastern section of Lenoir County, eastern Greene County and all of Jones County. It stretches from Currituck County down the coast to Wilmington, and extends well inland.

The candidate filing period begins in early February, but Palombo is one of at least three Republican challengers who have declared their intent to run for the House this month — Ilario Pantano and David Rouzer recently stated their intent to run for the District 7 seat.

CONTINUED:http://www.kinston.com/articles/seat-79327-chief-seeks.html