Mark Kirk: From the People Who Know Him Best

Mark Kirk: From the People Who Know Him Best

Following Lisa Madigan's decision to seek re-election as Illinois Attorney General, the Washington Post and other news outlets are reporting that Mark Kirk will for the Senate seat currently held by Roland Burris. We, the voters of Illinois' 10th Congressional District, are responding to the many questions we have received about Kirk from other parts of the state, and we decided to send out this information.

Mark Kirk is a fascinating political study because he's manufactured a moderate image that belies his commitment to a right-wing Republican agenda and to leaders who support that agenda - an agenda sometimes at odds with positions that Kirk claims to support.

The reality of what Kirk actually does shows a very different Congressman from the independent moderate he claims to be. Consider the facts:

Kirk voted against equal pay for women. He voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Republicans voted against equal pay for women 166-3. But Democrats voted 244-5 in favor, so it passed the House, and President Obama signed it into law.

Kirk voted for federal intervention in the Terri Schiavo case. He voted for the Terri Schiavo Restoration Act, which required the federal government to forcibly insert a feeding tube into a woman who had been in a vegetative state for 15 years, against the wishes of her husband. Democrats said at the time that "Michael Schiavo is faced with a devastating decision, but having been through the proper legal process, the decision for his wife's care belongs to him and to God." But Republican leadership thought the decision belonged to the government, so Kirk jetted back to Washington to vote for federal intervention in this family decision, (Republicans voted 156-5 in favor).

Kirk voted to elect a man to Republican leadership who has accused Israel of apartheid. The week after Kirk was re-elected in 2006, he voted to elect Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) to the post of Republican Policy Committee Chairman. Issa had previously publicly accused Israel of apartheid and called for the U.N. to redraw Israel's borders. Issa lost by a 2-1 margin, because most of Kirk's Republican colleagues voted for Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI). Ironically, when Kirk did not follow the Republican majority, Kirk voted the wrong way.

Kirk20voted in favor of the federal government acquiring a 29-foot tall cross on Mt. Soledad, near San Diego, after a federal judge ruled that the cross could not stand in the municipal park because it violated a state constitutional prohibition on the governmental endorsement of any one religion.

Kirk voted in favor of a House resolution acknowledging and supporting the "role played by Christianity in the founding of the United States." As Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) said at the time, “Congress has better things to do than to infringe upon the separation of church and state."

Kirk voted against President Obama's Stimulus Plan, in the throes of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. (Republicans voted NO 177-0.)

Kirk voted for John Boehner, one of the most extreme anti-choice, anti-environment, pro-gun members of Congress, for Speaker of the House. Republicans voted for Boehner 174-0. Fortunately Boehner lost. Kirk says he supports stem cell research and says he is pro-choice, yet he supports a party and leaders whose agenda is on the wrong side of these issues.
Kirk voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act. Republicans20voted against equal pay for women 160-10. But Democrats voted 246-3 favor, so it passed the House.

Kirk voted against bringing the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (SCHIP) to the floor. Republicans voted against 175-0. Had Kirk and the Republicans prevailed, the bill would have been killed. But wait: Democrats voted 244-3 in favor of bringing it to a vote, and when it came to the floor, Kirk flip-flopped and voted in favor of the same bill he had just voted to kill. He can thus truthfully tell opponents of the program that he tried to stop it, and he can tell supporters of the program that he voted for it.

Kirk was passive when the assault weapons ban lapsed. In 2004, the assault ban weapons ban lapsed because Republican leadership would not allow an up or down vote on extending the ban. Kirk refused requests from constituents to ask then-Speaker Dennis Hastert to call the ban for a vote, claiming that “the NRA is more powerful than Al-Qaeda.”
Kirk's record on the environment is mixed. In the 2007-08 session of Congress, Kirk received a League of Conservation Voters score of 82%. But in 2005 his score was only 39%, and he's received scores in between in other years. His scores tend to improve when he senses a tough re-election campaign.

Kirk's office threatened to withhold funding from Tel Aviv University. In retaliation because a supporter of Tel Aviv University backed Kirk's opponent in 2006, a Kirk staffer paid at taxpayer expense threatened Tel Aviv University financially. Kirk took no action other than to “reprimand” the staffer.

Kirk favors repeal of the estate tax. As Al Gore points out in his book The Assault on Reason, under the Republican agenda, “the need to eliminate inheritance taxes on the wealthiest 1/100 of 1 percent of families in America (the only taxpayers who are still subject to it) has been treated as a much more important priority than the need to provide at least minimal access to health care for tens of millions of families who currently have no access to health care coverage at all.” (Emphasis in the original.)

Kirk voted with the Republican party on more than 8 out of every 10 votes in Congress. In prior sessions of Congress, he voted with the Republicans more than 9 out of every 10 votes. On the 25 closest votes (decided by seven votes or less) in the most recent session of Congress, when his vote really mattered, he voted with the Republicans 24 out of 25 times. Party labels matter. Party affiliation is an excellent predictor of how a member will vote on any given issue, and parties set the legislative agenda.

This is not a “moderate” voting record, at least not when it comes to the key votes - it's mostly a right-wing Republican voting record that contrasts with Kirk's mostly moderate rhetoric.

As Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz pointed out last year, "Mark Kirk is the classic example of a Congressman who strikes a moderate tone in his district, but votes with the Republican leadership 87% of the time.” If20you consider this a good voting record, you're not alone - George W. Bush probably would agree with you, and many Republican members of Congress would too.

If you are nostalgic for Bush and Cheney, then Kirk is your candidate.

P.S. For those of you who like to check facts and read further...

Roll Call on Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll009.xml

Roll Call on the Terri Schiavo Restoration Act

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll090.xml

Darrell Issa:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/15/AR2006081501015_pf.html

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20061120-9999-1m20letter.html

Roll Call on Mt. Soledad Cross:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2006-386

Roll Call on House Resolution on role of Christianity:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2007-1143

The strength of pro-Israel support in Congress and myth of Kirk's indispensability:

http://njdc.typepad.com/njdcs_blog/2008/05/guest-commentar.html

First Roll Call on the stimulus package:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll046.xml

Second Roll Call on the stimulus package (Feb. 13):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090129/ap_on_go_co/house_rollcall_economy_1

Roll Call on Speaker of the House vote:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll002.xml

John Boehner has received zero ratings from NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the League of Conservation Voters. The National Education Association gave Boehner an "F." The National Right to Life Committee gave Boehner a rating of 100, the Gun Owners of America gave Boehner a rating of 100, and the National Rifle Association gave Boehner a rating of "A." That's the man who sets the Republican agenda and who Mark Kirk would have running the House of Representatives.

http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=27015

Roll Call on Paycheck Fairness Act

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll008.xml

Roll Call on whether to consider SCHIP

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll014.xml

Roll Call on SCHIP

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll016.xml

Assault Weapons Ban

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-09-12-weapons-ban_x.htm

http://allnurses.com/world-news-current/congress-wont-vote-78382.html

 In 2004, Kirk refused to act to retain the federal assault weapons ban which had effectively lowered assault weapons deaths nationwide by 60% over the previous ten years, including the 20% of all law enforcement deaths caused by assault firepower. At his office in Deerfield that summer, Kirk defiantly told family members of victims who had been murdered by guns--including Tenth District residents Bill and Jennifer Jenkins--that he would not act to renew the ban on military weapons freely being available to the public, including AK-47's and Uzis. He told them he would not act on the ban because "the NRA is more powerful than Al-Qaeda.” Unlike Republican Reps. Chris Shays and Michael Castle (see USA Today link above), Kirk refused to speak out against Republican leadership.

Kirk's environmental record:

http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=33502&type=category&category=30&go.x=13&go.y=1

Kirk Tel Aviv University Scandal:

http://www.forward.com/articles/7418/

http://njdc.typepad.com/njdcs_blog/2006/10/mark_kirk_voted.html

Kirk favors repeal of the estate tax (this is the most recent example; in previous terms he's also favored repeal of the estate tax):

http://progressillinois.com/2009/3/30/kirk-reaches-estate-tax

Why repealing the estate tax is bad public policy

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/opinion/02thu1.html?ref=opinion

Kirk votes Republican 8 of 10 times in 110th Congress:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/house/party-voters/

Kirk votes Republican 9 of 10 times in previous Congress:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/108/house/party-voters/

 Kirk votes Republican 24 of 25 closest votes:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/house/narrow-margins/

Email Marketing by
Tenth Congressional District Democrats | P.O. Box 523 | Deerfield | IL | 60015