Question of the day
Monday, Nov 22, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Daily Herald asked former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald what advice he has for his fellow Republican, Senator-elect Mark Kirk…
“My advice to Senator Kirk would be first to exercise his power wisely and judiciously,” said former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, who lived in Inverness while in office. “And second, to just do what you think is right for the state of Illinois and the nation. Do not worry about the politics of individual votes.”
Fitzgerald said he believes the structure of the Senate, with 100 members as opposed to the House’s 438, will allow Kirk to hold true to the moderate stances the congressman became known for while serving the 10th District, including supporting abortion rights, civil unions and stem cell research.
“The House speaker is extremely powerful under the rules,” Fitzgerald said. “The Senate has a much stronger tradition of independence, with much more power in the hands of individual senators.”
Fitzgerald says he doesn’t foresee Kirk and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin clashing much, either.
“Senator Durbin is a very effective spokesman for the Democratic side of the aisle,” Fitzgerald said. “But I didn’t have any trouble working for him on a day-to-day basis.”
* The Question: What advice do you have for Kirk?
And, please, let’s try not to get too snarky in comments, OK? Thanks.
- The Dark Horse - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 5:36 am:
Tell the truth.
- wordslinger - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 5:46 am:
You’re set for six years. Don’t be bullied by the Tea Partiers (they’ll be gone in six years) or far right wing (if they couldn’t beat you in a statewide primary this year, they never will).
Let’s see some of that moderation, independence and statesmanship you talked about late in the campaign.
- Doug Dobmeyer - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 6:23 am:
Be bi-partisan when waranted. Work w/Obama when waranted. Set an example for the NO Republicans. Govern, don’t campaign.
Doug Dobmeyer
- MrJM - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 7:15 am:
Govern as if you’ll face Lisa Madigan in the General Election in six years, i.e. don’t drift too far to the right.
– MrJM
- Wensicia - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 7:24 am:
Quit kissing up to the Tea Party set, as hard as they’re trying to push their nonexistent agenda, they’re already looking stupid. Act like the Moderate Congressman you were in the past and you won’t need to embellish your record come time for your next election.
- phocion - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 8:17 am:
I would add that you shouldn’t be afraid to take on the Democrats, either. You were elected, after all, as a Republican. Bipartisanship is a two way street.
It is doubtful that a single person who encourages you to reach out to the Democrats voted for you. Still, you do represent everyone, and you may even win over a few of those who weren’t willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. This state needs statesmen and moderating influences on both left and right. You are the right person for the job. Seize the opportunity and make history as our era’s Everett Dirksen.
- The Shadow Knows - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 8:35 am:
Simply be your own man and “think for yourself”. Voters (across the entire spectrum) appreciate a man who is willing to stand up for that which he believes to be right. I am a Republican but if you think GOP party leaders are wrong in what they are telling you to do, then be a man and tell them “NO”.
Peter Fitzgerald was that type of man. I didn’t always agree with him but I certainly did respect and admire him. As Russel Crowe said in Gladiator: “Honor and courage.”
- Vote Quimby! - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 8:39 am:
Don’t buy too much into any national hype about you “reclaiming” Obama’s Senate seat. Your victory, while impressive, was due in no small part to the weaknesses of your opponent.
- lake county democrat - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 8:42 am:
Form a caucus with Snowe, Collins, Nelson and Conrad — give yourselves a cute name (”the orange fish coalition”).
- Living in Oklahoma - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 8:50 am:
Switch Parties. Your values reflect the Democratic Party more than the Republican Party. Then lose re-election 6 years from now.
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 8:53 am:
Share plane and car rides with Peter Roskam. On any topic involving the spending of a single Federal dollar, do 0% of the talking and 100% of the listening.
- Judgment Day Is On The Way - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 8:57 am:
You are a policy/workhorse type, that’s your strength. Play to it. Pay real, real serious attention to how Hillary Clinton went into the Senate, and how she carved out a niche for herself as a workhorse.
Don’t become a Dick Durbin (a partisan player) type, that’s not your style. There’s plenty of those types on both sides, not enough smart policy types.
Peter Fitzgerald makes great points. Put it another way: It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. And don’t be afraid to say that upon review of more facts, you are changing your mind on something. That’s not necessarily a weakness, it can be a great strength (think Gettysburg; Pickett’s Charge).
Btw, both political parties would love for you to slavishly follow their lead. Listen to (not necessarily follow) the Tea Party folks because (1) it creates uncertainty in the minds of both parties, and (2) it gives you more independence.
My .02
- wordslinger - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 9:03 am:
–Share plane and car rides with Peter Roskam. On any topic involving the spending of a single Federal dollar, do 0% of the talking and 100% of the listening. –
Roskam had about $85 million in earmark requests last year, so Kirk will be doing a lot of listening.
- "Old Timer Dem" - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 9:27 am:
Observe for a few months and do not try to do too much too soon. Stay slightly right of center your ideology.
- Responsa - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 9:42 am:
Try to use your policy wonk strengths to become known and respected as a statesman. The country needs and is crying out for statesmen right now. Do some writing. When you’re invited to appear on the Sunday shows (and you will be) explain things with good will rather than merely taking pot shots and trying to score partisan points as so many of the guests seem to do. In whatever ways you reasonably can, try to be both a cheerleader and a doer toward “changing the culture of Washington”. Be smart and don’t serve more than a couple terms. (Lawmakers who mentally move to Washington and consider themselves to have lifetime appointments are the ones who most seem to run into problems ethics-wise and arrogance-wise and become caricatures of themselves.)
Good luck. You were a good congressman. Go be a good senator.
- Raising Kane - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 9:47 am:
Keep the same talented staff that got you where you are today….and listen to them more.
- Louis G. Atsaves - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:00 am:
Be yourself.
You’ve been viciously attacked by the far left wing of the Democratic Party and the far right wing of the Republican party. Both sides have put words in your mouth that you’ve never spoken. Both sides have viciously attacked your character.
Moderates are like lightning rods in politics. They serve a purpose. They actually get things done while the extremists rant and rave. Extremists hate moderates.
Be true to yourself. Continue being a moderate voice of reason. And don’t let anyone try to push you around.
- just sayin' - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:05 am:
Stop making stuff up.
- Think Again - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:08 am:
Can someone help the Daily Herald out with the size of Congress?
- wordslinger - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:08 am:
– Be smart and don’t serve more than a couple terms. (Lawmakers who mentally move to Washington and consider themselves to have lifetime appointments are the ones who most seem to run into problems ethics-wise and arrogance-wise and become caricatures of themselves.)–
Dude, Kirk’s already been in DC for about 25 years.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:11 am:
Only take a break from Obstructionism to placate the Tea Party, Big Oil, and the Religious Right.
- Justice - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:17 am:
Listen to the Independents. And for goodness sake stop the outrageous boasting about things you never actually did and you never actually were.
Remember, you weren’t elected because you were you…you were elected because you weren’t the other guy. Keep that humble bit of information on a sign on your desk!
- colby - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:23 am:
Stay moderate on social issues, for fear of ending up like Brady in 2016. The Tea Party crowd claims not to care about that stuff anyway, and if they’re lying, well, you have six years to reshape ILGOP to short circuit any potential challenger. Looks like you’ll have a good chance to show off that side of you in a couple of weeks, too.
- Wumpus - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:32 am:
Don’t single handledly end the wars in Iraqghanistan too soon. Also, don’t round up every single AlQueda member with a pocket knife in the first week in office.
Be true to your beliefs. You will be a target by the right in a primary and by the dems in the general. Build a big war chest.
- Plutocrat03 - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:45 am:
I think all Kirk has to do is to remain an independent voice. No need to patronize the loonies on the left or right.
By ‘16 the country will have had a bellyful of the current goofy policies and have moved back to the center where Kirk has always been.
- tilly - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:45 am:
Follow Dick Durbin’s lead and you’ll do fine
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 10:54 am:
Forget all this talk about “moderation” and “Independents”.
One thing that conservatives in Illinois have proven is they will not tolerate independent-thinking in the state’s Standard-bearers.
And make no mistake, deviate from their ideology and they will campaign mercilessly against you in the Primary. And they control primaries.
So whether its reproductive rights or gay rights, global warming or eliminating the Dept. of Education, stick with the ones that brought you to the dance if you want to keep your job.
- wordslinger - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 11:05 am:
–And make no mistake, deviate from their ideology and they will campaign mercilessly against you in the Primary. And they control primaries.–
I guess that explains why Percy, Thompson, Edgar, Lynn Martin, George Ryan, JBT, and Kirk never got out of the GOP primaries for the big statewide offices. It also explains Brady’s landslide victory in the GOP primary for governor.
- D.P. Gumby - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 11:14 am:
Ignore Fox (propaganda)News.
- Downstate - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 11:19 am:
Don’t forget constituent service. Good service pays off when the going gets tough.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 11:50 am:
wordslinger:
No moderate has won the governor’s mansion or U.S. Senate in Illinois for over a decade.
Yes, Topinka won the GOP nomination in 2006. Conservatives abandoned her.
Kirk won only after taking a hard right turn: limiting abortion rights, abandoning global warming, embracing Sarah Palin, wilting on Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell.
If he hadn’t taken the hard-right turn, he would have lost to Alexi.
Conservatives in Illinois would rather skip a race and elect a Democrat to the U.S. Senate than hold their nose and vote for a RINO. Look what they did to Al Salvi, after he flip-flopped on gun control.
Sure, social conservatives are a fringe in Illinois. But Alan Keyes STILL got 27% of the vote in Illinois.
Republicans win U.S. Senate seats in Illinois by sounding like a moderate while taking a conservative stand on Litmus Test issues. That’s the recipe that got Kirk elected, and he should stick with it if he wants to get re-elected.
- Red Ranger - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 12:03 pm:
1. Be seen in IL (all parts of IL) a lot. Dont forget who sent you to the Senate. I think a current candidate for Chicago Mayor may be of some guidance on this topic.
2. Outstanding constituent service. This will help make up for the few eventual tough votes you will have to take. Voters will over-look a few bad votes if you are taking care of their requests back home.
3. Meaningless Sunday Afternoon Press Events. It may be a little low-rent for readers of this blog, and we may see through it, but Quinn and Durbin show that you can get on Chicago TV a lot if you invite cameras to join you on Sunday around 3 PM. Getting re-elected is still the name of the game, and this stuff works.
- wordslinger - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 12:18 pm:
YDD, you’re mixing up primary and general elections now. Your original point was that “conservatives control” GOP primaries.
The far right-wing gets an occasional win in statewide GOP primaries, but they lose much more often to more moderate candidates. Brady won with 20% of the vote as the clear right-wing choice.
The right wing would like many to think that they own the GOP primaries, but it’s just not true. Edgar didn’t trim his sails for Baer or Roeser, and neither did JBT for Oberweis and Bill Brady. There are other examples.
- Angry Chicagoan - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 12:35 pm:
Lose the manic neoconservative Middle East policy unless you want the Iranian situation to blow up; tell me whether your actual beliefs are your party-line votes on legislation that’s important to GOP leaders or your “moderate” votes on symbolic legislation; take votes that actually enhance this country’s national security and fiscal solvency.
- Living in Oklahoma - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 1:29 pm:
the idiot Bill Kelly is on Fox news with his “lawsuit” over the Rahm Emmanuel questions episode.
- shore - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 1:30 pm:
As a long time cheerleader of senator elect kirk, my biggest advice to him would be to paraphrase former viking head coach denny green-who we thought you were. When the congressman was elected he was who we thought he would be-a sharp moderate, innovative leader. Over the last several years he’s twirled himself into a pretzel and become almost unrecognizable to those of us who knew him when his yard signs were baby blue and white.
with the state stuck with hacks in springfield and cook county and durbin diminished in dc after a reid benched him for schumer
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/us/politics/21memo.html?scp=1&sq=schumer,%20durbin%20reid%20tense&st=cse
we really dont have any new or quality leaders (your nyc photo shoots don’t make you a leader schock), and the senator has to become that. He needs to be proud of who he is, tell the truth, lay out an agenda, be a force and not get caught in the middle of the broadsides between the right and left. My great fear is that he’ll continue to be the guy we’ve seen of late who isn’t truthful, changes his positions, sells out to dc and is just another dc hack like durbin who wants to be in power for the sake of having power.
- shore - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 1:33 pm:
Also to conservatives, you want to start your 6 year pinata bashing of kirk now fine. But the senators who have eaten the most pork in the us senate are arch conservative pro-life, pro-nra, anti-enviornment hacks from the south. Shelby and cochran in particular refused to vote to support the earmark ban.
- ourMagician - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 2:16 pm:
Be a leader, be true to yourself and tell the truth. If it’s a hard vote, just be able to defend your stance in the reasonable rational manner you can do.
- Anonymous - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 2:19 pm:
Your unique accomplishment speaks louder than words…you beat the President’s policies money and prestige and most important you beat his personal friend. That’s says alot in Illinois. Remember, you will still be Senator as Obama exits, if he wins a second term.So, my advise is to vote your conscience and and do listen to the voters of Illinois; they have been ignored for the last couple of years…across the country!
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 2:55 pm:
Throw your television away.
- wordslinger - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 3:14 pm:
Cincy, do you think Kirk should still shut up and listen to Roskam whenever he talks about federal spending, given his request last year for $85 million in earmarks?
Given your world view, I’m sure you think The Republic will crash if the poor folks in the DuPage County Administration Building don’t get $250 grand from the national government for a solar roof, as the Congressman requested.
And knowing your support for subsidized mass transit, I’m sure you’re on board for the $40 million Rep. Roskam requested from the national government for Metra to keep his constituents rolling in comfort back and forth from that nasty den of iniquity, Chicago. (You can drink booze in comfy seats on Metra, as opposed to CTA and Pace, where you would be arrested. They even have conductors who dress like they’re from “Thomas the Tank Engine.”)
Heck, if I hit the Lotto, I might throw in the $250,000 grand myself to “provide aesthetic enhancements and redevelopment opportunities” for the South Villa Corridor in Villa Park. Otherwise, the terrorists win.
There are so many more nationally vital programs that Rep. Roskam supports. Senator-elect Kirk could learn a lot, I’m sure, from such a fiscal conservative in go-it-alone DuPage.
http://roskam.house.gov/ConstituentServices/earmarkrequests.htm
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 3:35 pm:
Has Peter supported the earmark ban, wordslinger? Has Durbin? Has Bobby Rush? How about JCubed?
- Obamarama - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 3:46 pm:
Cincy, I hope you are a Roskam relative or something. You might be the first person I have ever heard praise Roskam for… anything.
I don’t know what the community of Glendale Heights would have done without “Providing Positive Choices for Youth Program in Glendale Heights, IL: $175,000.” Sheesh, thank God! With the runaway crime rate in Glendale Heights, who knows what would have happened if Roskam didn’t step in and provide some federal funding to this highly at-risk area! No bailouts or nanny state! Nobama! Roskam for President in 2012!
- Rich Miller - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 3:57 pm:
===You might be the first person I have ever heard praise Roskam for… anything.===
Obamarama, as your screen name implies, your social circle probably doesn’t include a whole lot of Republicans who’ve voted for Roskam over the years.
- Obamarama - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 4:03 pm:
Stole the screen name from you during 08 cycle. And being a DuPager, the majority of the people in my social (outside of work) circle are Roskam/Biggert folk, for better or for worse.
My point was that I just found it odd that out of all the Republicans in the world, Roskam was singled out for being a budget hawk.
- wordslinger - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 4:56 pm:
==Share plane and car rides with Peter Roskam. On any topic involving the spending of a single Federal dollar, do 0% of the talking and 100% of the listening. –
Cincy, when you wrote that, I assumed it meant something. Forgive me.
- shore - Monday, Nov 22, 10 @ 5:22 pm:
Senators don’t have to fly home every weekend and my guess is that if a democrat foia’d kirk’s schedule 2 years from now you’d probably see the most international travel of any senator.
It’s unclear to me what roskam has achieved thus far in congress.