Alexi for Illinois Campaign: 100% of Secret cash goes to help Kirk “buy” Senate Seat

Kirk relies on out-of-state cash, politician to fund smears in final days

 

(From Alexi for Illinois campaign) 

                                     

Congressman Mark Kirk is relying on secret money raised by undisclosed corporate donors and a visit by an out-of-state politician to save his campaign, while Alexi Giannoulias rallies voters with hometown hero, U.S. President Barack Obama.

President Obama stumped with Giannoulias again on Sunday morning as both greeted voters at Valois Restaurant in Hyde Park. The President joined Giannoulias and other candidates on Saturday night for a Get-Out-The-Vote rally that was attended by 35,000 people supportive of their efforts to fix the economy, create jobs and move our country forward. The President and Giannoulias also discussed the shadowy corporate contributions raised to fund false and negative attacks against Giannoulias in the final days of the campaign.

“The President and I talked this morning about the secret, undisclosed, out-of-state money, 100 percent of which has gone to help Congressman Kirk,” Giannoulias said. “The President is here to stand with me and say that Illinois voices should decide this election, not out-of-state money. It’s not about Democrat vs. Republican, it’s about right vs. wrong.” 

As the Chicago Tribune and Bloomberg News reported this weekend, Congressman Kirk has been the sole beneficiary of the more than $6 million spent by secret, undisclosed special interests that have poured into Illinois to smear Giannoulias.

“Congressman Kirk thinks he can sit back as secret corporate donors run false and negative ads on his behalf and think that voters will suddenly begin to trust him,” said Alexi for Illinois spokesman Scott Burnham. “Unfortunately for Kirk, the people of Illinois aren’t buying it.”

This troubling trend demonstrates the influence of undisclosed corporate special interests that have been able to skirt campaign finance laws and use tainted dollars to launch false and negative attacks. Those outside groups have bankrolled these false attacks on behalf of Kirk’s campaign in an effort to protect their profits at the expense of the middle-class.

According to the articles, anonymous campaign cash from political operative Karl Rove and his Crossroads GPS organization as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have funneled in $6.2 million into the race to pollute Illinois airwaves with misleading ads.

“This tainted money trail leads right to Mark Kirk who is beholden to Karl Rove and other secret corporate donors who want to repeal President Obama’s efforts to crack down on Wall Street’s unscrupulous practices that contributed to our nation’s economic downfall and reinstate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas,” Burnham said. “We can’t them let buy this seat and take it away from the people of Illinois.”

Unlike Kirk’s anonymous corporate donors, every single contributor to Giannoulias’ campaign is disclosed to the public.

Last week, Giannoulias made a choice to run completely positive ads by his campaign for until Election Day, but Kirk refused do the same.

“Illinois voters are sick of Karl Rove and Mark Kirk politics. Both are funded with millions of corporate special interest money and both aren’t afraid to lie when it suits their political ambitions,” Burnham said. “That’s why voters don’t trust Mark Kirk.”