G.O.P. Senate Candidate from Illinois Acknowledges Incorrect Reference to Award

G.O.P. Senate Candidate from Illinois Acknowledges Incorrect Reference to Award
By MONICA DAVEY
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: May 29, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/politics/30kirk.html?hpw


CHICAGO — Mark S. Kirk, the Republican candidate seeking the United States Senate seat once held by President Obama, has acknowledged that his official biography incorrectly listed a prestigious military award that he never received.

Mr. Kirk, a five-term congressman from the northern suburbs of this city who is also an intelligence officer in the Naval Reserve, conceded the discrepancy on his campaign blog.

The circumstances were first described Saturday on the Web site of The Washington Post, which had been making inquiries into Mr. Kirk’s portrayal of his military honors last week. The Post reported that its questions were prompted by “complaints from a representative of” Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic nominee, who is thought to be in a competitive race with Mr. Kirk for the Senate seat here.

In a posting dated Thursday on Mr. Kirk’s campaign blog, Mr. Kirk, who holds the military rank of commander, seemed to portray the error as a mix-up over awards for the work he did during NATO’s conflict with Serbia just over a decade ago.

“Upon a recent review of my records, I found that an award listed in my official biography was misidentified as ‘Intelligence Officer of the Year,’ ” Mr. Kirk wrote. “In fact, as noted in my fitness report, I was the ‘recipient of the Rufus Taylor Intelligence Unit of the Year award for outstanding support provided during Operation Allied Force.’ ”

His blog posting continued: “It was one of the honors of my life to lead the Intelligence Division Electronic Attack Wing Aviano, Italy — and I am very proud of this award. My official biography will reflect this updated information.”

But Mr. Kirk himself described winning the other award during a Congressional budget hearing on March 13, 2002. “I was the Navy’s intelligence officer of the year in 1998,” Mr. Kirk said, according to a recording made that day by C-Span.

Eric Elk, a spokesman for Mr. Kirk, said he had yet to watch the recording and could not comment on it. A statement, issued late Saturday by the campaign, offered high praise for Mr. Kirk from one of his former commanding officers.

“Mark was the best intelligence officer I ever worked with,” Clay Fearnow, the retired officer, was quoted as saying.

Kathleen Strand, a spokeswoman for Mr. Giannoulias’s campaign, seemed dismissive of Mr. Kirk’s explanation.

“The story speaks for itself and is part of a troubling pattern,” she said. Mr. Giannoulias, the state treasurer, who has not served in the military, and Mr. Kirk, whose campaign has stressed his service during conflicts that include Afghanistan, Iraq and Haiti, are already engaged in a bitter campaign.

Though Republicans currently hold no statewide offices in Illinois, Democrats have been viewed as vulnerable after corruption charges against Rod R. Blagojevich, a Democrat and the former governor. Though Mr. Giannoulias is an old friend of President Obama, some in the White House had urged another Democrat — the state’s attorney general — to run for the seat, which carries special symbolism.