Groan: Cap-and-tax 8′er Mark Kirk will run for Senate
Photoshop credit: Leo Alberti
Last week, I noted that Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk’s vote for cap-and-tax was a factor in the state GOP delegation refusing to endorse him for a Senate run.
Guess he’s not getting the message: After much waffling, he has decided to launch his candidacy on July 20:
***Media Advisory***
Kirk to Announce Statewide Candidacy
Who: Congressman Mark Kirk
When: Monday, July 20
Time: 10:30 am
Where: To Be Announced (Northern Suburbs of Chicago)
What: Congressman Mark Kirk will announce his candidacy for statewide office at a press conference in the 10th Congressional District on Monday, July 20. Details, including location and time, will be announced later in the week.
More bad news for fiscal conservatives who reject the globwal warming cult of Al Gore: Illinois GOP chairman Andy McKenna has stepped aside for Kirk. Via the Chicago Tribune:
State Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna said Monday he’ll bow out if U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of the North Shore makes a bid for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate next year.
…Kirk and McKenna met with Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation to make a pitch for the GOP Senate nomination, and at one point McKenna appeared to be ready to run regardless of Kirk’s decision. But that changed during discussions over the weekend.
Wonder what changed McKenna’s mind. To be blunt: This sucks. The GOP needs candidates who oppose job-killing and eco-hysteria, not accomodationists who will sell out their constituents for green special interests.
Take a look at this report from Champion News on a top Kirk donor’s vested interest in cap-and-tax:
One of the largest campaign contributors to U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk would reap huge financial benefits after passage of the Waxman-Markey climate control legislation (”cap & trade”).
Kirk was one of only eight Republican House Members who voted for cap & trade, and he was the only Republican from Illinois to do so.
Chicago-based energy giant Exelon Corporation has contributed a total of $94,873 to Kirk since his first winning race for Congress in 2000. That’s according to the respected online resource OpenSecrets.org. That same independent organization reports that Exelon has been Kirk’s second largest contributor over the Congressman’s entire career.
According to OpenSecrets.org, Kirk received $34,100 from Exelon for the 2008 election cycle alone. Exelon also ranked as Kirk’s second largest contributor for that one cycle.
Note that federal law bars corporations from contributing to candidates for federal office. Therefore, the contributions discussed here came from the corporation’s PAC, its employees and officers, and those individuals’ immediate families. Totals include contributions attributable to subsidiaries and affiliates.
Champion News independently analyzed Kirk’s campaign disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission and we found combined Exelon contributions of $93,950 – representing an immaterial difference from the combined total reported by OpenSecrets.org.
Our analysis covered the period from the year 2000 through March 31, 2009 – the most recent period for which reports are available.
Very few politicians have received more in contributions from Exelon over the years than Mark Kirk. But one who has is also a huge supporter of cap & trade. According to The New York Times, since 2003, executives and employees of Exelon have contributed at least $227,000 to Barack Obama’s campaigns for U.S. Senate and for President.
Back in February of last year, The New York Times also detailed how Obama helped Exelon as a U.S. Senator. The same story also noted that Obama’s chief political strategist David Axelrod had worked as a consultant to Exelon…Exelon has been a leading supporter of cap & trade.
Mark Kirk. Barack Obama. Cap-and-tax peas in a pod.
Note well: If you contribute to the NRSC, you will be helping elect Mark Kirk to the Senate.
Let the GOP donor beware.
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- Crap and Taxer Mark Kirk WILL run for Illinois senate | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
- COACHEP » Blog Archive » Posts about Stop Cap and Trade as of July 15, 2009
- Thursday, July 16, 2009: Daily Handpicked Headlines :: Daily Uprising
- Sarah Palin Makes Bombing Run on Cap and Trade; GOP and Socialist Pundits run for cover « VotingFemale Speaks!
- Michelle Malkin » A slobbering love affair: Orrin Hatch and Chris Dodd
- Tax the air I breathe, why don’t cha? « Danielle Capritto
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Categories: cap and trade
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Roger that.
Target donations to CONSERVATIVES.
Otherwise, you’re funding the Political Class.
Donating to the nrsc is as bad as joining aarp. I won’t give to either one. I give to people that think like I do to get elected.
L
I’ve e-mailed John Cornyn several times concerning my disgust with him and the way he endorses RINO’s. But he just ignores me.
So far as I know, the Illinois GOP has not hinted at any candidates for the senate seat. Kirk is the first Republican to announce.
As much as I fervently disagree with Kirk’s stance on Cap and Trade, I also consider that this state is currently represented by the likes of Durbin and Burris.
We need to see a conservative from the Illinois GOP stand up, especially considering that this was Pres. Obama’s prior office. So far, none seem forthcoming.
I have been against sitting on one’s hands and not voting in the past but if this is the best the Republicans can do then I can see no other way of getting their attention other than to do just that.
I’m not donating one red dime to the NRSC. I’m not going to standby and watch my money frittered away like in November, and skewing party nominations that I don’t agree with.
tre #3
I’m so disgusted with Cornyn I could throw up. He and Kay Bailey are worthless in the trenches.
I hate everyone.
does anyone think a real conservative could be elected in the land of the chicago outfit??
Francis? Is that you?
The Entrenched Criminal Class of Corrupt Weasels. Looks like Kirk, unsatisfied with being a low-level assistant Democrat, wants to join the country club. Our entire government is now a gated community… like the Versailles palace.
Poor Abe Lincoln.
I keep getting solicitations from the GOP. I need to change my registration to independent, or libertarian. Anyway, I just toss them all in the garbage. I will support individuals I like. After all, I only have so much money to go around and I want to use it wisely!
Speaking as an (embarrassed by Kirk’s Cap and Trade vote) conservative voter in the Illinois 10th district, the answer is no.
You have to go back to 1984 (elected in ‘67) for the last Republican senator from Illinois and Charles Percy was considered to be a liberal, Rockefeller Republican and not a conservative.
its one of the few states without any concealed carry at all..chicago (daley) and his ‘outfit’ run the state
Durkin smacks Kirk over cap and trade vote
Republican state Rep. Jim Durkin, who unsuccessfully challenged Democrat U.S. Senator Dick Durbin back in ‘02, is debating whether he’ll make another Senate bid – challenging Mark Kirk and others in the 2010 GOP Primary next February.
Durkin believes fellow Republican Kirk is weak due to his cap and trade/tax vote. “I think he is going to regret that vote,” Durkin said. With decisiveness, Durkin told the DailyHerald.com that he is “not interested nor disinterested” in a run, but adds “If I decided I wanted to run for statewide office I feel comfortable I could put together a team.”
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2009/07/durkin-smacks-kirk-over-cap-and-trade-vote.html
Yep.
As others have said, I disregard solicitations from the NRC, and simply s-can them.
Kirk was bought and paid for. What an unethical loser.
I’ve been registered independent for years and still receive crap from the GOP…I keep telling them I’m independent and won’t donate a dime until they move to the center and get back to their conservative roots and quit spending money we don’t have!! They don’t seem to get the message…
Michelle,
For several years I lived in Rep. Kirk’s district.
Here, from his Wikipedia page;
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]
I too strongly disagree with Cap and Trade, and I have not yet heard why Rep. Kirk voted for it.
There are no doubt many reasons he did so, and in Illinois, where there has been little chance of a Republican Senator (since the unsealing of divorce records) Mark Kirk is likely the only or one of the only in the GOP to have a chance to win in the Senate.
Voting for Cap and Trade (tax) was a mistake. But he is a fine congressman, Naval officer, and would make a very fine US Senator.
I don’t. I write in my sentiments and send them back to Cornyn(they’re postage paid), making very clear that I will not contribute to any but conservative individuals. I do the same thing when the ACLU sends fundraising letters, except I cut off my name and address so they can’t take me off of their mailing list.
Daley, Gov. Ryan, Gov. Blago, Hastert, Kirk, Durbin, Burris, Obama, …
Is there something in the water there?
LSD?
Mark Kirk is why the Illinois Republican Party will not get a single dollar from me. If I wanted to vote for a Liberal, I would vote Democrat. Illinois Republicans are addicted to the graft, just like the Dems are.
Forget concealed carry, the Illinois laws on outright ownership of a firearm vary wildly from area to area. You can get dizzy trying to figure it all out.
Chicago has a ban on handguns. Guess which city saw a remarkable increase in gun violence and gang activity following that ban (including slain police officers)?
…but I’m getting off topic.
Durkin and Durbin… That could make things nice and confusing.
I’m tired of the “party” deciding who gets to be a candidate. This is why we keep getting the same old garbage running for office. By running for the senate, this clown won’t be running for his house seat. Hopefully he will lose and there will be reasonable people elected for both seats.
In theory, that’s why there are primaries, but I hear ya.
This is a situation that is perfect for Sarah Palin’s new initiative to help conservative candidates. I cab guarantee you this seat is in play.
If a conservative will step forward Palin will come and support them. Watch Kirk squirm then.
I changed my registration to independent almost 3 years ago and still get RNC “surveys”. You shouldn’t throw them away. Send them back.
I make them as heavy as I can with things like “McCain pesos”, include a note like “You must have me confused for a Republican, I’m a conservative, you guys are at war with us remember?” Then mail it back since the envelope is prepaid. Not only are they not getting my money, it is costing them for my reply.
Ok, I don’t live in Obamaland, but if the GOP endorses this cretin (no offense to real cretins) I wouldn’t blame any GOP donor for sitting on his money.
In other words, Cap’n Tax Kirk has decided to boldly go where many waffling fools have gone before…
I worked for the Al Salvi(remember him) campaign back in 1996.
I’m an election judge so I won’t change my party affliation-but if Kirk is the nominee I WILL skip over that race.
Hey Mr. Steele, where are you on this issue?
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sounds of crickets
don’t you know its RACIST to question comrade Steele☭ ??
Go ahead. Turn the Limbaugh attack dogs on a successful member of the Republican party. Destroy his political career. Make sure a Democrat gets elected to represent his district. It turns out global warming denial is good for something after all.
There are other people running for the Senate seat. With all due respect, at least mentioning their names could help.
Moaning about Kirk only gives him name recognition.
The last Republican senator from IL was PETER (not Patrick) Fitzgerald, who was driven from the IL GOP, as he wouldn’t “play ball” with the money guys (Fitzgerald has his own and did not need theirs)
As a former Illinoian, I really disagree with Kirk over “Cap and Tax”, but he would a great improvement over almost any (except for Paul Vallas) Dem who would replace Burriss. 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing.
bribing 535 lawyer/politicians is way easier and cheaper than getting john q public to eat an excrement sandwich and pay for it too.
Whoops. Quite right about Fitzgerald. Odd that I completely forgot about him.
https://act.credoaction.com/survey/climate_senate/index.html?r=4263
#746039 MeTooThen
Kirk is an unelectable liberal clown, who cannot win because he’ll get 0 support from conservatives.
He has a 55% ACU lifetime rating — i.e., he votes with the GOP only 55% of the time — and his ratings the past two years have been 48 and 40. He’s a liberal; there is not anything even remotely conservative about this fairy.
He has actually voted:
- Against the Iraq War “surge”,
- Against the partial birth abortion ban (yes, really),
- For Crap and Tax,
- For all manner of gun and ammunition bans, even sponsoring the assault weapons joke/ban,
- For illegal alien amnesty.
He has a 100% rating from the teachers unions.
You are obviously a partisan Republican who doesn’t care about policy. I’m not. I’m a conservative, and Kirk will never get my vote.