There is a new candidate for city council in Kinston.
Lennie Peterson filed on Friday, becoming the second person to run for Kinston City Council. Robbie Swinson filed his paperwork on Wednesday in hopes to be elected for a third term.
Peterson, 50, is a 1983 graduate of Kinston High School. He was a school bus driver from 1981-84 and 1987-1998 and spent 21 years in the military from 1984 to 2005, with 18 years spent in the Army Reserves. He now works at NAPA Auto Parts in Wilson.
Peterson believes his willingness to work and blue collar attitude can be beneficial to the residents of Kinston and the city council.
“I’m a person who’s worked all my life,” Peterson said. “I’ve been working since I was 14 or 15 years old. I’m not one to owe any political favors to anybody and I want what’s best in Kinston as a whole. Everyone has a right to equal representation, whether they’re rich, poor, black, white, whatever.”
Peterson first tried his hand in the local government in 2011, running for Kinston City Council. He decided to try again, believing he can make a change.
“I thought we were kind of headed in the wrong direction and I felt we could do better,” Peterson said. “We need to try harder to bring new jobs into Kinston. The poverty rate here is unacceptable and we need to do better than what we’ve been doing. There is a 38 percent poverty rate here, including 44 percent in the black community.”
Peterson doesn’t have political experience, but believes his ability to relate to most residents of Kinston makes him a worthy candidate to be elected.
“I don’t have political connections,” Peterson said. “I feel like some people aren’t put on equal footing and get over (special treatment) because of economic status. I’m just a regular, working-class person.”
Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.