Finally Mark Kirk Quits House, Joins Senate after Democrat Leadership Stalled

It is about time that Mark Kirk was seated in the Senate late yesterday.  If he had been a Democrat Harry Reid would have seated him right away.  Kept hearing there was a problem with paperwork -- always is when a Republican takes a Democrat seat.  We learned that from Scott Brown in MA when his paperwork was also delayed.

This seat is sweet as it is the seat that Obama held and now will be held by a Republican for the next six years.  Kirk was seated early because the election was to fill out the term of Obama and also for the new term that starts on January 3, 2011!

Congratulations to Mark Kirk, our newest Republican Senator!

Kirk Quits House, Joins Senate
By Jessica Brady
Roll Call Staff
Nov. 29, 2010, 6:12 p.m.

Sen. Mark Kirk was officially sworn in Monday, handing Republicans another vote in time for the crucial days of the lame-duck session.

Kirk won the Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama in Illinois and is the third of three new Senators to join the chamber during the lame-duck session. The former House Member won both his own six-year Senate term and a special election to replace appointed Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) for the remainder of this year. He resigned his House seat Monday to move across the Capitol.

A fiscal hawk, Kirk takes his seat just as Members prepare to debate how to extend expiring tax cuts enacted President George W. Bush and a continuing resolution or omnibus spending bill to keep the government funded next year. An appropriator in the House, Kirk is an opponent of earmarks and has said he will oppose any Senate omnibus measure laced with funding for special projects. Kirk also penned an editorial Monday in the Chicago Tribune in which he called on the Senate to adopt a moratorium on earmarks. The newly minted Member will get his chance to push that cause later Monday evening when the Senate considers an amendment sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to adopt such a moratorium.

Excerpt: Read More at Roll Call

Illinois Senate Race: Mark Kirk Releases New Ad "Kidding" against Mob Banker Giannoulias

At the same time that the NRSC has their new ad on the air in Illinois highlighting Giannoulias' Support for Higher Taxes, Mark Kirk has out his new ad, Kidding, which highlights how bad Giannoulias' would be in the Senate after the way he has been handling money as the State Treasurer in the Bright Start college savings program which has lost millions under his leadership. We would be remiss if we did not mention how Giannoulias also loaned money to mobsters as a loan officer in the family owned Broadway Bank (NOTE: Broadway bank went under).

Last week, the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board slammed Giannoulias “damning non-denial about loans to criminals” following his appearance on Meet the Press. The Tribune also published a front-page feature on the collapse of Illinois’ Bright Start college savings program, which reported for the first time that Giannoulias and his staff were aware of the fund’s increasing risk but “at each turn Giannoulias stuck with the firm’s strategy, even as the housing market soured and losses accelerated.” (Kirk for Senate)

October 18th, 2010

Giannoulias Loaned Millions to Mobsters, Wiped Out College Savings in Bright Start and Now Seeks Higher Taxes and More Spending in the Senate?
You Must Be Kidding.

The Kirk for Senate campaign today unveiled a new TV ad framing the obvious question facing voters in Illinois – after loaning millions to mobsters at Broadway Bank and then losing millions more in Bright Start college savings as State Treasurer, why would anyone send Alexi Giannoulias to the U.S. Senate to raise taxes and increase spending?

Click Here for complete script and fact check.  Watch the ad below:




NRSC Launches New Ad in Illinois Highlighting Giannoulias’ Support for Higher Taxes

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 @ 10:10 AM
In Illinois, the NRSC launched a new independent expenditure TV ad entitled “Tax Hike,” highlighting failed mob banker Alexi Giannoulias’ support for higher taxes during the nation’s worst economic crisis in a generation. National Journal’s Hotline On Call reports:

The committee is airing a new ad using Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias's (D) words against him. "Alexi Giannoulias has a message for Illinois," the narrator says before a clip of Giannoulias rolls. "We need an income tax increase," Giannoulias says. The ad, obtained by Hotline On Call is significant because Giannoulias will face off with Rep. Mark Kirk (R) in their second of three debates on Tuesday:

Meanwhile, the Associated Press notes that Giannoulias is hypocritically avoiding taking any responsibility for his long, reckless record:

Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias describes himself as someone with the judgment and guts to make his own decisions, even if it means standing up to people with more experience. But when pressed Monday on decisions that turned into political liabilities, Giannoulias often passed the buck. His family bank doing business with criminals? Someone else handled that, Giannoulias explained in an interview with The Associated Press, and the loans met all the technical requirements. And the loan to shady political insider Antoin "Tony" Rezko? Giannoulias said he wasn't handling loans by that point and no one at his bank asked his opinion. What about his state treasurer's office putting money into a troubled investment fund? That's what the financial experts assured him was the best move, Giannoulias said.

We cannot fathom Giannoulias in the Senate.  We would bet that he would be another short term Senator due to ethics problems.  Illionois has had enough of that with the Governor and Senate seats so now is the the time to send Mark Kirk to the Senate and Giannoulias to the Unemployment Line.  Maybe some of Giannoulias mob friends can help him out with a new job that would better suit him.  Handling the people's money is not something he should be doing.

More Dirty Tricks from Democrat Leaders in MA Senate Race -- Fix is In

We are not shocked at this revelation but that doesn't mean we are not appalled at the dirty tricks being played to pass Obamacare against the will of the people! Ten days for military ballots which states don't routinely count, but MA Elections Officials are going to take at least 20 days? They changed the law to get Kirk in office to start with and now this.

Are there any honest Democrats left or are they are For Sale now? Democrats seem to think winning by fraud is okay as witnessed in past election cycles. Are the Democrats going to stoop to a new low if the GOP candidate wins by stalling the swearing in ceremony because Reid would lose his 60 vote majority? The Democrats already stole the Minnesota election with Franken. What do they have planned for Massachusetts?

American elections thanks to Democrats are turning into a 3rd World Election. Maybe former President Jimmy Carter who loves to oversee foreign elections in 3rd World Counties should be thinking over overseeing elections here in the US which have more fraud then some overseas elections.

When are the American people going to stand up and tell the Democrats that they want no more fraud in elections? Remember seeing Democrats interviewed this summer after the ACORN story broke and they were upset they used phoney names but it was okay to commit fraud if they only used dead people. What kind of thinking is that?

Some Members serving now in Congress are there because of voter fraud of ACORN and others. How many we are not sure but Franken is one!

Scott Brown swearing-in would be stalled to pass health-care reformBy Frank Quaratiello
Saturday, January 9, 2010 - Updated 3h ago

It looks like the fix is in on national health-care reform - and it all may unfold on Beacon Hill.

At a business forum in Boston Friday, interim Sen. Paul Kirk predicted that Congress would pass a health-care reform bill this month.

“We want to get this resolved before President Obama’s State of the Union address in early to mid-February,” Kirk told reporters at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

The longtime aide and confidant of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who was handpicked by Gov. Deval Patrick after a controversial legal change to hold Kennedy’s seat, vowed to vote for the bill even if Republican state Sen. Scott Brown, who opposes the health-care reform legislation, prevails in a Jan. 19 special election.

“Absolutely,” Kirk said, when asked if he’d vote for the bill, even if Brown captures the seat. “It would be my responsibility as United States senator, representing the people and understanding Senator Kennedy’s agenda. . . . I think you’re asking me a hypothetical question but I’d be pleased to vote for the bill.”

Few have considered the Jan. 19 election as key to the fate of national health-care reform because both Kirk and front-runner state Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democratic nominee, have vowed to uphold Kennedy’s legacy and support health-care reform.

But if Brown wins, the entire national health-care reform debate may hinge on when he takes over as senator. Brown has vowed to be the crucial 41st vote in the Senate that would block the bill.

The U.S. Senate ultimately will schedule the swearing-in of Kirk’s successor, but not until the state certifies the election.

Friday, a spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, who is overseeing the election but did not respond to a call seeking comment, said certification of the Jan. 19 election by the Governor’s Council would take a while.

“Because it’s a federal election,” spokesman Brian McNiff said. “We’d have to wait 10 days for absentee and military ballots to come in.”

Another source told the Herald that Galvin’s office has said the election won’t be certified until Feb. 20 - well after the president’s address.

Since the U.S. Senate doesn’t meet again in formal session until Jan. 20, Bay State voters will have made their decision before a vote on health-care reform could be held. But Kirk and Galvin’s office said Friday a victorious Brown would be left in limbo.

In contrast, Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) was sworn in at the U.S. House of Representatives on Oct. 18, 2007, just two days after winning a special election to replace Martin Meehan. In that case, Tsongas made it to Capitol Hill in time to override a presidential veto of the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Friday, Brown, who has been closing the gap with Coakley in polls and fund raising, blasted the political double standard.

“This is a stunning admission by Paul Kirk and the Beacon Hill political machine,” said Brown in a statement. “Paul Kirk appears to be suggesting that he, Deval Patrick, and (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid intend to stall the election certification until the health care bill is rammed through Congress, even if that means defying the will of the people of Massachusetts. As we’ve already seen from the backroom deals and kickbacks cut by the Democrats in Washington, they intend to do anything and everything to pass their controversial health care plan. But threatening to ignore the results of a free election and steal this Senate vote from the people of Massachusetts takes their schemes to a whole new level. Martha Coakley should immediately disavow this threat from one of her campaign’s leading supporters.”

A spokeswoman for Coakley’s campaign declined to comment Friday.

Excerpt: Read More at Boston Herald