Senate candidate goes silent on Navy record - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Senate candidate goes silent on Navy record

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk’s military record was once such a political asset that he’d mention it at every turn, referring to himself in news releases and his campaign literature as “congressman and Navy veteran Mark Kirk.” Now, he’ll hardly talk about it all.

Stung by recent revelations that he exaggerated claims about his military service, Kirk is refusing to discuss it and instead refers inquiring reporters to his official fitness reports. The reports offer glowing evaluations from the Navy Reserve commander and intelligence analyst’s superiors, but say little about specific incidents.

“I’m going to stand on my official officer fitness reports,” Kirk said repeatedly during a news conference Friday. “Going forward, you can look at 21 years of service in the United States Navy through the voice of my commanding officers.”

Kirk seems to have calculated that anything he’d now say about his service would bring unwanted attention to the exaggerations and misstatements that have damaged his campaign. His comments undoubtedly would be closely compared to past statements, and any hint of discrepancies would lead to a new round of unflattering news coverage.

Kirk’s claim — made many times over the years — that he had been named the Navy’s intelligence officer of the year was debunked. Instead, his unit had won an award as the top intelligence unit.

And Kirk or his office made other incorrect references to his military service: that he served in the first Gulf War or the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which he didn’t, and that he ran the Pentagon war room, which was an exaggeration of his role. Kirk had also said he served in combat and that he came under fire while flying over Kosovo and Iraq, but he later backtracked and said he couldn’t be sure his specific plane was targeted on those flights.

The inconsistencies have hurt the five-term congressman’s campaign, as he hopes to beat out Democrat Alexi Giannoulias for the Senate seat once held by President Obama.

Last week, Kirk said he had been “careless” about describing his record and apologized.

“I think the scrutiny is absolutely appropriate,” he said then. “If there are any other errors, we will correct them moving forward,” he said.

Kirk said during Friday’s news conference that he had fully addressed questions about his record during his apology last week and by releasing his fitness reports, and that he’s now concentrating on talking to voters about the economy.

But questions about his record remain.

When asked by reporters several times this week to elaborate on a statement he made this year about being shot at during his last visit to Afghanistan, Kirk refused to discuss the incident or confirm whether he actually came under fire. His fitness reports don’t mention any such incident, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

And on Friday, he insisted his campaign wasn’t lying last month when it called a report that the Pentagon had scolded him for improperly mixing political activity with his military work “off the mark” and “a baseless political ploy.” Kirk later admitted the Pentagon twice spoke to him about the issue, but on Friday he couldn’t explain his campaign’s initial response.

“I’m responsible for everything in my campaign,” he told reporters.