In John Kelly’s hometown, disappointment from one veterans’ group
The force behind one veterans group in White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s hometown is done with the retired general.
Count Rick Holahan, who runs Allston Brighton Veterans, among those who are disappointed in Kelly in the wake of the scandal involving White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who resigned after his two ex-wives accused him of physical abuse.
Kelly, a Brighton native, knew of the abuse allegations months before they were made public, and initially defended Porter, who grew up in Belmont, when the allegations surfaced earlier this week.
Kelly’s handling of that situation put very early talks of honoring him in Brighton on ice, Holohan said.
“I’m kind of tapped out after what happened this week,’’ Holahan, 37, who is in the Army Reserves, said on the phone Friday. “I’m not going to be carrying water or applying for grants or doing anything like that. Someone else can do it if they want, but it’s not going to be me.’’
Holahan’s group was born out of the Boston Veterans Advisory Council, which was appointed by Mayor Martin J. Walsh, but was dissolved in 2015. The group, made up of a small collection of veterans, spearheaded the effort to erect a statue of Medal of Honor recipient Ernest Prussman, a World War II soldier.
Prussman was a Brighton native who fought and died in France during that war, and was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his gallantry. The statue, which will stand in a park located at the intersection of Sparhawk, Cambridge and Murdock streets, is scheduled to be unveiled Memorial Day. Allston Brighton Veterans, partnering with Brighton Marine Health Center, had received $90,000 in grant money from Boston College for the memorial.
The group had been in very preliminary talks about doing something to commemorate Kelly’s service, said Holahan, given the Prussman statue and the city’s decision to name the ampitheater at Smith Field in Allston for General George Casey Sr., an Allston native who died while serving in Vietnam.
Holahan, a Boston College graduate who lives in Brighton, said the question recently arose: If Casey is getting an amphitheater, what should Kelly, a retired four-star general and former homeland security secretary, get?
“We were thinking, while Kelly was alive, let’s do this, let’s not wait to do it in 40 years,’’ he said. “We were still in the spitballing phase.’’
But after the Porter allegations came to light this week, Holahan was strident in his criticism of Kelly on social media.
Tweeting from the Allston Brighton Veterans account earlier this week, Holahan noted Kelly’s local connection before stating, “Kelly knew a staffer was a repeated spouse abuser and did nothing . . . This concludes our support of Kelly.’’ He also attached a photo of Porter’s ex-wife Colbie Holderness with a black eye she says Porter gave her.
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In a Facebook post, Holahan had similar comments.
“Don’t look to me for a commemoration or grant application for a monument to honor that Kelly is from Allston Brighton,’’ he said in the post.
Messages left with the White House seeking comment were not immediately returned Friday night.
