Today I'll be high-lighting Mark Kirk's monied relations with PAC's, Lobbyist's and Special Interest groups. Nothing like the smell of cold hard cash right Mark?
Not only is Mark Kirk one of the most egregious open pockets for all lobbyist, PAC and special interest monies in CONgress, he happens to be one of the biggest hypocrites about it. An interesting little factoid about Mark is that he Least often votes with Rep. Ronald Paul, the model politician in CONgress most likely not to accept Lobby, PAC or special interest money.
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) is living up to his reputation as a fantastic fundraiser (read that as lobbyist ass kisser), bringing in $1.86 million in the last three months of 2009. According to his campaign, Kirk has almost $3.2 million in the bank heading into the Feb. 2 primary.
"Mark Kirk has taken over 3.5 million dollars from PACs in his career and they own him,"; "Anything else his campaign says is simply not true. Rather than making false accusations, he should immediately release the amount of money he raised this quarter (4th Qtr, 2009) from federal lobbyists and corporate PACs."

CORPORATE ILLINOIS LOBBIES THE US CONGRESS
Ever wonder how much money is being spent by companies and groups from Illinois to lobby the federal government? Would you believe from 1998-2004: $581,400,206
A half a Trillion dollars! From just Illinois! Do you think Mark Kirk gets any of that? You betcha!
SEIU UNION DONATION FIASCO
We all know how in 2009 Kirk did the ole' flip-flop (another one) with SEIU donations, first he wanted them, then he gave em back and paid some penance monies to his favorite charity to make everything all better. That was nice of you Mark, perhaps next time you should use those intelligence gathering skills to vet your donors better.
MILITARY CONTRACTOR DONATIONS FOR YES DEFENSE BILL VOTE
Also in 2009 we find out the Kirk took $10,000 dollar donations from large military contractors to the government so he would vote for YES on the $636 Billion dollar defense bill. I do believe this is the military-industrial(-congressional) complex we were warned about by Eisenhower. Who would have thought Kirk, a military/CIA asset, would be the master of the military contractor shakedown in CONgress.
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Last campaign cycle, Mark Kirk ranked in the top ten (out of 435 members of the House and 100 members of the Senate) among all members of Congress in amount of campaign money received from the health insurance lobby.
Kirk Has Taken over $1.2 Million from the Health Industry. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Kirk has accepted $1,239,076 in campaign contributions from the health industry over the course of his career, including $666,504 from health industry PACs. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 11/6/09]
Guess you don't have to worry about your health right Mark?
POSITION ON SHIPPING OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY JOBS OFF-SHORE
I'm throwing this little tidbit in just to drive home to the sheeple the kind of wolf Kirk really is. While this fat cat is rolling in special interest money he endorses American companies shipping much needed tech jobs overseas. Thanks for the job Mark!
THE CHINA LOBBY
Two groups on the Hill formed to monitor China-related issues have popped up in recent months: the Congressional China Caucus, led by Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-Va., and the U.S.-China Working Group, launched by Larsen and Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill..
The difference in the groups' stances seems to reflect a deep division in attitudes toward the Asian nation: some look at China and see a threat to the United States, but others see a potential partner.
While the Congressional China Caucus says it will "investigate China's global reach and the consequences of its growing international, economic, and political influence on U.S. interests," the U.S.-China Working Group says it will focus on finding "new opportunities for a successful and strategic relationship."
Of course the Marxist in China want to influence our CONgress critters, what better than to use Kirk the Kommie as the Progressive conduit.
THE LAW FIRM LOBBY
If your read my "Day 14 - Campaign Finance" article you will remember that one of Mark Kirk's largest donors is Kirkland & Ellis, one of Enron's law firms. K&E has never been charged with contributing to Enron's collapse, and was dropped as a defendant from one of the class action lawsuits filed against Enron and other "aiders and abettors."
But the lawyers at K&E did nothing to prevent the crimes at Enron that led to its collapse, either. (E.g., the Powers Report to Enron's board noted that K&E was the attorney for LJM1, one of the "special purpose entities" set up by Andrew Fastow to hide Enron's debt. K&E attorneys did not consult with Enron's counsel to determine if it was a "related-party transaction." Also see Ellen Pollack, "Lawyers for Enron Faulted its Deals, Didn’t Force Issue," in The Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2002)
According to Roll Call, Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) had to cancel a planned New York fundraiser in November 2005, after the official invitation explicitly linked the event to legislation attacking Sarbanes-Oxley. "Feeney has worked in recent months to make himself known as a Congressional point man on reforming the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accountability measure, meeting with industry groups and planning a “listening tour” with Reps. Mark Kirk ( R-Ill. ) and Gregory Meeks ( D-N.Y. ) on ways to make the bill’s regulations more business-friendly."
On July 23, 2004 the Washington Post reported that corporate "lobbyists already are laying the groundwork" for a 2005 Sarbanes-Oxley "technical corrections" bill.
Sarbanes-Oxley was enacted as a reaction to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including those affecting Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and WorldCom. These scandals, which cost investors billions of dollars when the share prices of affected companies collapsed, shook public confidence in the nation's securities markets.
Nice job Mark, you made companies less accountable with citizen's money thanks to all that money from your law firm buddies.
Update: Kirkland and Ellis, Kirk's largest campaign contributor in 2010 Senate election
CORPORATE CRIME AND ABUSE BECAUSE OF SPECIAL INTEREST MONEY
In 2005 Mark Kirk voted to allow companies that are tax cheats to get contracts with the Dept. of Homeland Security. The bill was also known as the Accenture vote after one of the companies it would stop from getting contracts. Interestingly enough Kirk has been a regular money drop from one of Accenture's Partners, Scott Brady.
Thanks for keeping America safe Mark! Even if it is with a Corporate Tax Traitor.
AGGREGATE LISTS OF LOBBYIST's, PAC's and SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS THAT HAVE DONATED TO KIRK
CHECK OUT LOBBYWATCH
LOBBYWATCH is a tool at the Center for Public Integrity which you can use to research Lobby firms, companies and special interest groups and their monetary influence on elected members of CONgress.
COMMENTARY ON KIRK'S LOBBYIST's, PAC's and SPECIAL INTEREST MONIES
Although this article and the facts I've laid out herein are not exhaustive, I think it gives you a good look at the kind of person Mark Kirk. Greed, Avarice, Sell-out are some of the words that come to mind. Is this the kind of person we want to serve in CONgress let alone as a US Senator? I say, 'Hell No!'
Catch all 15 articles in the Un-elect Mark Kirk Series at Mark Kirk - Count Down to Un-election - Day 15
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