Then-U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk
co-sponsored a commemorative coin bill to help build a disabled
veterans’ memorial.
(Brendan Hoffman, Chicago Tribune / May 28, 2012)
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Kirk supported bills directing the Treasury Department to mint and sell collectible coins, with a surcharge for three nonprofit groups — all of which had hired Arcadian Partners, a public relations firm led by Dodie McCracken, Kirk's ex-girlfriend and former congressional staffer.
When he was in the House, Kirk backed commemorative coin bills that yielded $2.81 million for the Disabled Veterans' LIFE Memorial Foundation and almost $2.5 million for the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. In the Senate, Kirk in December co-sponsored a coin bill that, if passed, could send up to $5 million to another McCracken client, the March of Dimes.
At least two of the three bills were introduced after Kirk and McCracken became romantically involved, including the March of Dimes bill, which he co-sponsored while the two were living together.
The gold and silver commemorative coins honor significant people, groups and events in U.S. history. They are sold with a surcharge and can mean millions for groups benefiting from the legislation. Congress is allowed to pass only two commemorative coin bills a year, creating fierce competition among organizations, with some hiring lobbyists and public relations professionals to influence lawmakers.
Kirk was an original co-sponsor on all three coin bills involving McCracken's clients, meaning he supported the measures the day the legislation was introduced. In each case, the number of original co-sponsors was small.
How much money McCracken's firm made for its work on the legislation could not be determined, though disclosure reports in the Senate show that the March of Dimes paid Arcadian Partners $54,000 in lobbying fees. The two other nonprofits would not say how much they paid McCracken's firm.
Kirk, 52, who suffered a stroke Jan. 21, declined to be interviewed about the coin legislation. Instead, his staff asked for written questions and answered them in writing. McCracken, 54, did not respond to messages for comment.
Eric Elk, Kirk's chief of staff, told the Tribune that any suggestion Kirk was trying to help his onetime girlfriend was "a baseless and unfounded allegation." He downplayed Kirk's role in backing the coin legislation, noting that the disabled veterans bill passed the House 416-0 and the Medal of Honor bill passed on a voice vote.
Kirk had characterized himself as a key player when he spoke on the House floor before votes on the two bills. He called the disabled veterans' bill the "Moore-Kirk bill," a reference to himself and then-Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., and said the two of them "worked many weeks" to find more than 290 co-sponsors.
Kirk, a commander in the Navy Reserve, said he and then-Rep. Chris Carney, D-Pa., put forward the Medal of Honor bill because they had forged a bond through Navy service. Kirk predicted in his floor speech that the bill would raise more than $5 million for the Medal of Honor foundation, though it raised about half that.
Kirk, in his final speech on the House floor in November 2010 before entering the Senate, cited the disabled veterans coin act as one of his achievements.
The March of Dimes bill has 34 co-sponsors in the Senate. Kirk was among the five original co-sponsors.
The Tribune reported this week that McCracken received more than $143,000 in consulting fees and expenses for working on Kirk's 2010 Senate campaign, but that she was not listed as a recipient in federal disclosure reports because she was a subcontractor to a firm the campaign hired for advertising. The Federal Election Commission is reviewing the payments after Kirk's ex-wife, Kimberly Vertolli, complained that Kirk may have purposely hidden the payments to McCracken — an allegation he disputes.
Kirk and McCracken have known each other for years. She was a top staffer for him for two years after he entered the House in 2001 and has supported his political campaigns as a volunteer and as a paid worker.
Kirk's office told the Tribune that McCracken was Kirk's girlfriend in 2008 when he was separated from his wife, whom he divorced in 2009. Kirk and McCracken lived together in Illinois and Washington from about June 2011 until January, a Kirk aide said. The two are no longer romantically involved but remain friends, the aide said.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, urged the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Kirk's role in the coin legislation.
"If he's using his position to benefit clients of his girlfriend, I would say that's an ethics violation," she said. Finish reading @Chicago Tribune
