Israel Matzav

A Kirk endorsement

I've urged those of you who live and vote in Illinois to vote for Mark Kirk for the US Senate. Here's an editorial from the Lake County News, which endorses Kirk, and talks about a lot more than his record on Israel.

We first endorsed Mark Kirk when he ran for Congress in 2000. We have done so every two years hence as he has sought re-election in the 10th Congressional District. He earned those endorsements, and he has earned this endorsement. Especially against an opponent of the caliber of Democratic state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias of Chicago.

If Kirk, who has served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Bosnia as a member of the Naval Reserves, has padded his military resume, Giannoulias can’t seem to keep his stories straight on when and how he worked at his family’s failed Chicago bank, and if or when he gave loans to shady Chicago characters. His four-year record as state treasurer has been dismal. Under his stewardship, losses in a mutual fund that was part of the Illinois Bright Start college savings plan totaled about $150 million in 2008, meaning many Illinois families who were saving for their children’s education are out of luck.

In comparison, Kirk has a solid 10-year record in Congress, working on behalf of his constituents, whether it be saving the North Chicago Veterans Affairs Medical Center and turning it into the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Center; working to double-track the Metra North Central Line from Antioch south to Chicago; stopping the use of double-decker trailers to haul horses; warning about Iran’s danger to us and Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East; leading the fight to stop BP from dumping waste into Lake Michigan long before the firm dumped oil into the Gulf of Mexico. His decade-long record has been one of service to the district and state, of a social moderate and fiscal conservative; of a Republican not in lock-step with party leaders.

Mark Kirk has spent 10 years preparing for the Senate. At this dangerous economic and security juncture, Illinois doesn’t need a senator who will require on-the-job training. Kirk is more than ready to move to the next level. Illinois voters should make sure that happens Nov. 2.

Read the whole thing. And go out and vote for Mark Kirk for US Senate from Illinois.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:51 AM