Interim Senator Kirk Has Cloudy Lobbying Record

Accounts Vary on His Service with Lobbying Law Firm

Sep 28, 2009 Michael Carl

Senator Kirk's former law firm Sullivan and Worcester says he left them in 2000. Mr. Kirk says he left Washington in 2002, and returned to work for them the same year.

Even though Massachusetts’ newly appointed Senator has taken the oath of office, questions still remain about his former lobbying activities, and how his years as a lobbyist could impact his actions in health care reform.

He acknowledged his time as a lobbyist by telling the crowd, “When I was a much younger man (about seven years ago), I represented a couple of pharmaceutical firms.”

Records show that through Sullivan and Worcester, Mr. Kirk represented the pharmaceutical heavy-hitter Aventis in the latter part of the 1990s. Aventis is the maker of the popular allergy medication Allegra, the well-known anti-coagulant Plavix, frequently prescribed for patients with high cholesterol, and an insulin drug, Apidra.

The medications are approved for Medicare, Medicaid and will likely be on the approved list for any health care reform measure that may pass Congress.

It Won't Bother Me

Even so, Mr. Kirk denies his tenure as a lobbyist will be a problem, saying, “I left Washington, DC because I didn’t want to spend my professional career as a lobbyist.”

“There are no conflicts that I hold and the client relationship is almost 10-years-old and ceased at that time,” Mr. Kirk added.

Public Citizen Chief Spokesman Craig Holman agrees saying, “I don’t think Mr. Kirk’s time as a drug lobbyist is what we need to worry about.”

Yet there is a difference of opinion about when Mr. Kirk’s employment at Sullivan and Worcester and his lobbying activities actually ended.

A source with Sullivan and Worcester says that Mr. Kirk worked for the firm from 1977 to 1989, and again from 1990 through 2000. The emphasis is on their claim that Mr. Kirk left the firm in 2000.

However, at the news conference, Mr. Kirk’s public statement was quite different. He said he stopped his lobbyist activities in, “Perhaps 2002 or so.” He went on to say, “I came back to Massachusetts and joined Sullivan and Worcester and had a professional practice.”

Mr. Kirk clearly said he returned from Washington in about 2002, and went to work for Sullivan and Worcester after returning from Washington.

There's More

However, Craig Holman of the citizen’s advocacy group Public Citizen says the issue for concern shouldn’t be the conflicting accounts of when Mr. Kirk lobbied for the pharmaceutical industry with Sullivan and Worcester.

There’s another issue that’s more important, “What is of concern is Kirk’s current duties as director on the board of Hartford financial services.”

“That is a clear and present conflict of interest,” Mr. Holman said. “He was pulling in a salary of a quarter of a million dollars a year.” Mr. Holman adds that Hartford spends over one million dollars a day to influence Congress on health care policy.

Mr. Kirk has begun the process of resigning his board positions, including the post on the Board of Directors of the multi-billion dollar a year Hartford Financial Services. Federal law requires registered lobbyists not to serve in that capacity until two years after leaving federal office.

However, Mr. Holman believes that requirement won’t weigh heavily on Mr. Kirk’s future plans, “He will serve his two or three months in the Senate and probably go right back on the board of the Hartford.”

Mr. Kirk’s connections to the health care industry point to the likely reason he was appointed. Massachusetts Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei, “I think it’s entirely because of the health care debate. The White House has been making calls to the Statehouse to pressure the legislature to make the change.”

“They want those 60 votes to guarantee the President’s health care package will pass,” Mr. Tisei said.

With Mr. Kirk taking the oath of office, the Democrats again have the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority in the U. S. Senate.

The copyright of the article Interim Senator Kirk Has Cloudy Lobbying Record in American Affairs is owned by Michael Carl. Permission to republish Interim Senator Kirk Has Cloudy Lobbying Record in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Mr. Kirk listens as governor makes appointment., Photo by Michael Carl Mr. Kirk listens as governor makes appointment.
   
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