Another Mark Kirk 'exaggeration'?

Another Mark Kirk 'exaggeration'?
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter apallasch@suntimes.com
Copyright by the Chicago Sun-Times
October 18, 2010
http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/2811118,CST-NWS-kirk18.article


Did he do it again?

Rep. Mark Kirk claims credit for being a driving force behind a bill signed into law this year that requires the president to crack down on companies doing business with Iran.

But the bill's sponsor, Rep. Howard Berman, says Kirk is guilty of "exaggeration" when he says the "Kirk bill" became the "Berman bill" so it could pass the Democratic Congress.

"We didn't even look at his legislation at the time," Berman said. "Our bill did so much more and went so far beyond his bill, I would have to put it in the context of an exaggeration."

Kirk told the Sun-Times editorial board last month, "The Iran Sanctions Bill, it was originally Kirk-Andrews, but if you were going to move it, that means you need to adjust to the power of the House. This legislation eventually became Howard Berman's legislation, who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He had my full approval in moving that forward under his badge."

For years, Kirk has been an apostle of trying to hold Iran's feet to the fire by choking off its supply of gasoline. He passed a resolution this year to do that -- H.R. 3081. (His staff had inadvertently listed the resolution as 3801 -- a bill dealing with mortgages -- on his campaign website but corrected it Monday morning after a Sun-Times story was published.) Kirk is listed as a co-sponsor of Berman's bill.

"There is no doubt that Mark was a committed person on this idea, which wasn't his idea, it was out there in the press," Berman said. "He introduced legislation in the previous Congress on refined petroleum products. He did chair a group I occasionally went to, the Iran Working Group.

"The bill that I was involved with, we didn't even look at his legislation at the time. It was a much broader bill than his bill and, in fact, we were persuaded that while the refined petroleum sanctions were valuable and useful, Iran has a way of reducing its reliance on imported petroleum."

Congress passed a bill in 1996 allowing the president to impose sanctions on companies that help Iran, but no president had ever used it.

"The key part of our bill was to take that authority the president had been given and make it mandatory instead of discretionary," Berman said.

Did Kirk ask Berman to use his bill as a template?

"He never talked to me about taking his bill and doing anything with it," Berman said.

When Berman's bill passed, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee praised Berman, several other congressmen, and Kirk, for their work on the issue.

The Congressional Record shows Berman rose on the floor and praised Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) for his work on the issue, not mentioning Kirk, who was the lead in the Kirk-Andrews bill.

Berman is a California Democrat who supports Kirk's Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, in the Illinois' Senate race.

Berman said Kirk accurately described his role in helping get Israel into America's satellite program.

"Kirk also pushed to get Israel integrated into the U.S. radar and satellite grid -- that's true. Mark played a big role in that," Berman said.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on Berman's committee, issued a statement Sunday saying Kirk deserved credit for his work on the sanctions issue: "Mark Kirk has been a leader in the bipartisan effort to impose sanctions against the Iranian regime for years. Mark introduced legislation in 2007 and 2009 to place targeted sanctions against entities helping to develop Iran's petroleum resources.

"Those bills provided some of the early impetus for targeted gasoline sanctions against Iran, which are a central component of the Iran sanctions bill which Congress passed this summer with strong support from Mark, who was an original co-sponsor of the legislation.Any allegation that Mark hasn't played a key role in the implementation of gasoline sanctions against the Iranian regime is inaccurate and misrepresents the reality of Mark's work."

Kirk spokesman Richard Goldberg said, "Congressman Berman apparently wants to disavow his own statements crediting the Kirk-Andrews gasoline sanctions bill as the predecessor to the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act in order to score cheap political points two weeks before an election.

"Chairman Berman's new assertions are contradicted by his previous words and the documented record, which clearly show Congressmen Kirk and Andrews introduced the first gasoline sanctions legislation in 2007. It is now clear that Alexi Giannoulias and his surrogates are so desperate they will say and do anything to get elected."