Rep. Mark Kirk (R) Elected 2000, 2d term
Born:	Sept. 15, 1959, Champaign
Home:	Kenilworth
Education:	Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 1977-78, Cornell U., B.A. 1981, London Sch. of Econ., M.Sc. 1982; Georgetown U., J.D. 1992
Religion:	Congregationalist
Marital Status:	Engaged (Kimberly Vertolli)
Military Career:	U.S. Naval Reserve, 1989-present.
Professional Career:	Parliamentary aide, British House of Commons, 1981-83; A.A., U.S. Rep. John E. Porter, 1984-89; Staffer, World Bank, 1990-91; Spec. Asst., U.S. Dept. of State, 1991-93; Practicing atty., 1993-95; Counsel, U.S. House Cmte. on Intl. Relations, 1995-2000.
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Since 1855, when the first Chicago & Northwestern opened the railroad line from downtown Chicago north along the lakeshore, the North Shore suburbs along Lake Michigan have been the favorite residence for Chicago's elite. The North Shore starts in Evanston, founded by Methodists to promote temperance (a cause that has never prospered in Chicago), and goes on to Wilmette and Winnetka and Glencoe, then crossing into the Lake County towns of Highland Park and Lake Forest--each with a slightly different personality, each long established, mightily prosperous and with a patina of age. Not far from the gritty, monosyllabic city, these are communities of pleasant, affluent, well-educated people living in an environment whose natural beauty--the long water vista and blue light off the lake, the gentle hills and fine trees--is kept carefully disciplined.

The 10th Congressional District is the North Shore district, starting on the Wilmette lakefront, just north of Evanston, to the city of Waukegan (once famous as the home of comedian Jack Benny) and almost to the Wisconsin border beyond. The district also goes inland to what for many years was just cornfields to Northbrook and Deerfield, just west of Glencoe and Highland Park. Farther inland are suburbs like Arlington Heights, developed in the 1950s and 1960s on the Northwestern railroad line, and Wheeling, developed in the 1960s and 1970s near I-294. To the north is Libertyville, near where the Adlai Stevensons, the late presidential candidate and his son the former senator, have owned what is now one of the last farms only a few miles from Lake Michigan. With the big movement toward Democrats in the Chicago suburbs in the 1990s, this historically establishment Republican district still voted narrowly for Al Gore.

The congressman from the 10th District is Mark Kirk, a Republican first elected in 2000. Kirk was born in Downstate Illinois but grew up mostly in Kenilworth, on the Lake between Wilmette and Winnetka. Kirk graduated from Cornell in 1981 and the London School of Economics in 1982, and worked as a staffer in Congressman John Porter's Washington office and became the chief of staff after just three years. Kirk left Capitol Hill in 1990 and moved on to a number of Washington jobs, first at the World Bank, then as a State Department aide working on the Central American peace process. After two years of international law practice, he served four years as counsel to the House International Relations Committee; he is also a lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserves, serving as an aviator with tours of duty in Turkey, Serbia, Bosnia. Haiti, and Panama. In flights during the Persian Gulf War, he was a frequent target of Iraqi guns; for the past nine years, he has continued to work one weekend each month at the Pentagon's "war room," monitoring intelligence reports. During one such weekend in 1994, Kirk was on hand as North Korea lobbed a missile toward the Pacific Ocean without warning. For nearly 30 minutes, no one had any idea where it would land. "It was a tough half hour," Kirk recounted to Roll Call. "Everyone was pretty much drenched in sweat."

In 1999, when Porter announced his retirement, Kirk returned home to the 10th District, where he was one of no fewer than 11 competitors in the Republican primary. This contest included six millionaires who spent nearly $4 million of their own money. Kirk did not spend nearly as much, but he had great advantages: the endorsement of the highly popular Porter, the fact that he was the only candidate with moderate views on cultural issues and his greater experience in government. His 31% in the March primary was enough to put him well ahead of the 15% for R.R. Donnelley & Sons printing company heiress Shawn Margaret Donnelley, who ran an astonishing number of radio ads, and the 14% for Northbrook Mayor Mark Damisch. The Democratic nominee was state Representative Lauren Beth Gash, who won the nomination without opposition after Chris Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy and an executive of Chicago's Merchandise Mart, decided not to run. Both Kirk and Gash campaigned as candidates in the Porter mold, promising to carry on his fiscally conservative, culturally moderate record. Gash, an attorney, tried to downplay Kirk's years in Washington, touting her own legislative experience while talking about Social Security and prescription drugs. But Kirk won a 51%-49% victory.

In the House, Kirk compiled a centrist voting record and said that he wanted to strengthen moderate Republicans with a libertarian approach. His familiarity with the workings of the House and the aid of Speaker Dennis Hastert enabled him to get seats on the Armed Services, Budget, and Transportation Committees but in January 2003 Kirk gave up his committee seats for a slot on Appropriations. His explanation for the assignment: "Three words--J. Dennis Hastert."

On Armed Services, he cited his experience in the Naval Reserve to demonstrate his familiarity with military operations. But when he raised questions about Iraq at a September 2002 hearing with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who represented the North Shore in the House from 1963 to 1969, Rumsfeld dismissed his suggestion that Saddam Hussein would grant unconditional inspections. "Come on," Rumsfeld scorned. On the Transportation Committee, he pushed for O'Hare expansion and full funding for rail service to the northern suburbs. Kirk also teamed with Democrat Adam Schiff of California to form a bipartisan coalition of freshmen to promote campaign finance reform.

Winning reelection proved relatively easy for Kirk. Democrat Hank Perritt, dean of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, earned some notice as an openly gay candidate; he also attracted national attention for a September 2002 opinion article in The Washington Post in which he criticized party colleagues for their approach to the use of force in Iraq. Democratic leaders "seem tongue-tied when it comes to matters of war and peace," he wrote. But the Human Rights Campaign backed Kirk for his support of gay rights, and the Sierra Club and Planned Parenthood also endorsed him. Kirk seems headed for a lengthy career like Porter's, though like Porter he could face a serious primary challenge from a conservative.

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DC Office
1531 LHOB 20515, 202-225-4835; Fax: 202-225-0837; Web site: www.house.gov/kirk

State Offices
Deerfield, 847-940-0202; Waukegan, 847-662-0101.

Committees

• Appropriations (35th of 36 R): Commerce, Justice, State & Judiciary; Foreign Operations & Export Financing; The Legislative Branch.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	20	47	0	38	77	100	59	95	76	83	42
2001	25	--	10	71	--	--	57	83	48	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	46%	--	54%		42%	--	57%
Social	58%	--	42%		59%	--	40%
Foreign	33%	--	60%		15%	--	78%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform Y 4. Ban ANWR Development Y 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion N  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority Y 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Mark Kirk (R)	128,611	69%	$1,436,056
	Henry Perritt (D)	58,300	31%	$473,270
2002 primary	Mark Kirk (R)	unopposed
2000 general	Mark Kirk (R)	121,582	51%	$2,015,292
	Lauren Beth Gash (D)	115,924	49%	$1,967,426

2000 presidential
	Gore (D)	134,149	51%
	Bush (R)	123,982	47%
	Other	6,097	2%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Tenth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D + 2
• District Size: 252 square miles
• Population in 2000: 653,647; 99.6% urban; 0.4% rural
• Median Household Income: $71,663; 4.8% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 14.4% blue collar; 75.9% white collar; 9.7% gray collar; 10.5% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 75.2% White, 5.3% Black, 5.9% Asian, 0.1% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.1% Two+ races, 0.2% Other, 12.3% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 14.4% German, 9.9% Irish, 7.3% Polish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.