Mark Kirk

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Mark Kirk
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 10th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2001
Preceded by	John Porter
Born	September 15, 1959 (1959-09-15) (age 49) Champaign, Illinois
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Recently Divorced [1]
Residence	Highland Park, Illinois[2]
Alma mater	Cornell University, London School of Economics, Georgetown University
Occupation	attorney, political assistant
Religion	United Church of Christ
Military service
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1989-present
Unit	Reserves

Mark Steven Kirk (born September 15, 1959) has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2001.

[edit] Early life and education

Kirk was born in Champaign, Illinois, graduated from Joseph Sears School in Kenilworth in 1973, and New Trier East High School in 1977. He attended the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México before graduating cum laude in history from Cornell University. Kirk received a master's degree from the London School of Economics, and a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University.

Kirk was commissioned in 1989 as an intelligence officer in the Naval Reserve. He is one of only two members of Congress serving as a drilling reservist one weekend a month and two weeks a year. In the Navy, Kirk served during conflicts with Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo. He served aboard USS Normandy and USS John C Stennis. Kirk also served three tours in Panama and was an aircrewman over Iraq as part of Operation Northern Watch. He was named U.S. Navy Reserve "Intelligence Officer of the Year" in 1999 for his combat service in Kosovo.^[3]

[edit] Career prior to election to Congress

Kirk served on the staff of his predecessor, Congressman John Porter, and eventually became his chief of staff. Kirk then served in the World Bank (1990) before President George H. W. Bush named him as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.^{[citation needed]} At the State Department, Kirk worked on ending civil wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. President Bill Clinton reappointed Kirk to work in his Administration on the restoration of democracy in Haiti.^{[citation needed]}

Kirk then practiced law with Baker & McKenzie (1993–94) before being named as a Counsel to the House International Relations Committee.

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

[edit] Election and re-elections

Kirk defeated 11 candidates for Congress in the 2000 Republican primary. He then won in general elections with 51% (2000), 69% (2002), 64% (2004), 53% (2006) and 54% (2008). His opponents were Lauren Beth Gash, Hank Perrit, Lee Goodman and, most recently, Dan Seals (06 & 08).

In 2008, Kirk defeated Democratic challenger Dan Seals by a six-point margin.

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
  • Subcommittee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs

[edit] Political actions and positions

In Congress, Congressman Kirk works to advance a suburban agenda that is pro-defense, pro-personal responsibility, pro-environment, and pro-science. He wrote a number of provisions which became law, including funding for commuter rail, improving veteran's health care, ensuring military voting, and boosting aviation security.^[4]

Kirk shepherded H.R. 810, the Stem Cell bill, through the House in 2005.

Kirk is co-chair of the Moderate Republican "Tuesday Group", a coalition of 40 centrist Republican Member of Congress. ^[5] Kirk is a member of some moderate to liberal Republican groups such as the Republican Main Street Partnership, the Republican Majority for Choice, Republicans for Choice, the Republican Leadership Council, and Republicans for Environmental Protection.

On November 5, 2005, while speaking at Northwestern University, Kirk was asked how he felt about stricter visa policies applied to Arab foreign nationals seeking entry to the United States. Kirk answered: "I'm okay with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states. I'm okay with that. I think that when we look at the threat that's out there, young men between, say, the ages of 18 and 25 from a couple of countries, I believe a certain amount of intense scrutiny should be placed on them."^[6][7] He said that the statement was "politically uncomfortable", and later issued a statement to clarify his position on the issue: "We need to strengthen our visa entry process to guard against the threat, and we need intense scrutiny on applicants from terrorist producing countries," Kirk said. "Ignoring that reality would only do a disservice to our country's security."^[8]

Kirk has spoken out about protecting children on the Internet and has introduced bills to require parental permission for certain networking sites such as Second Life.^[9] In 2006, he cosponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act that would ban online poker.^[10] and H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.^[11]

Kirk has consistently supported increases in "Impact Aid" for government school districts that have children of military personnel as students. ^[12]

[edit] 2007

In March 2007, Kirk worked to strip the so called, "Del Monte Loophole" from the minimum wage bill attached to the Iraq Supplemental funding appropriations bill. The bill, authored by the Democratic majority, had exempted American Samoa from being a part of the minimum wage increase. Kirk said that he believes that the American minimum wage should apply to all Americans. ^[13]

He was also involved in proposing a bill for sanctioning Iranians in June 2007. "The Iran Sanctions Enhancement Act of 2007" targets any company or individual that provides Iran with refined petroleum products or engages in an activity that could contribute to the enhancement of Iran's ability to import refined products after December 31 2007.^[14]

Kirk voted for the stricter House immigration bill, which includes punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants and calls for a tough barrier at the United States–Mexico border.^[15].

[edit] 2008

In 2008, Kirk sponsored H.R. 1008, which condemned the persecution of Baha'is in Iran, and specifically called for the release of imprisoned Baha'is Ms. Raha Sabet, Mr. Sasan Taqva, and Ms. Haleh Roohi.^[16] The Resolution passed 408-3 in the House.

Kirk was endorsed for reelection by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times,^[17] Lake County News Sun,^[18] the Pioneer Press^[19], the Daily Herald and the Jewish Political Alliance of Illinois.

[edit] 2009

On January 6, Kirk returned to Illinois after completing a tour of duty in Kandahar, Afghanistan; a press release on his official web site touted the occasion as "the first time a U.S. Representative-reservist has deployed to an imminent danger area since World War II".^[20] Kirk appeared on the Fox News Channel for an interview upon returning to the U.S.^[21]

Kirk recently held a press conference with Congressman Peter Roskam on critical legislation they introduced to strengthen food safety laws in the wake of tainted food supplies.

Kirk is frequently cited as a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate after former Governor Rod Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris. ^[22]

On February 13 Kirk offered a resolution on the subject of the trial of the Iranian Bahá'í leadership co-sponsored by seven others in H. RES. 175 - "Condemning the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights" which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.^[23] The situation has gathered international attention including defense of Nobel Laureate attorney Shirin Ebadi in June^[24] after she received threats in April warning her against making speeches abroad, and defending Iran's minority Baha'i community^[25] - see Arrest of Bahá'í leaders.

On May 20, 2009, Kirk was one of two Republicans to vote against an amendment to the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights (the other being Mike Castle of Delaware), which allowed the people to carry guns in the National Park System and the National Wildlife Refuge System.^[26]

Kirk was one of only eight Republicans to vote for the American Clean Energy and Security Act on June 26th.

In June of 2009 Kirk introduced legislation to increase the penalties for selling kush, a high potency set of strains of marijuana.^[27] The High-Potency Marijuana Sentencing Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2848)^[28] increases the penalties for the possession with intent to distribute, manufacture, importation and exportation to maximum fines of $1 million for an individual and $5 million for a group, with a maximum sentence of 25 years from the standard sentencing for marijuana which calls for a maximum fine of $250,000 for an individual, $1 million for a group and up to five years in prison.^[29] Kirk said that as kush may sell for up to $600 (USD) per ounce these increases in penalties are justified, saying that "if you can make as much money selling pot as cocaine, you should face the same penalties."^[29]

[edit] Contributors

Congressman Kirk was among the top fundraisers in Congress during the 2008 cycle.^[30]

Over 90% of the money he raised came from individuals inside of Illinois.^[31]

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• http://www.gopchoice.org/
• http://www.republicansforchoice.com/
• http://www.repamerica.org/
• http://www.rep.org/AboutREP/HonBoard.html
• http://www.republicanmainstreet.org/

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk, House site
• Kirk for Congress, Campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
• Profile from SourceWatch Congresspedia