Who's partisan in the 10th District?

Dan Seals and his supporters love to accuse Mark Kirk of being a down-the-line Republican Party loyalist.

Nothing could be further from the truth and it's especially ironic when Seals himself never deviates so much as an inch from Democratic dogma.

On his Web site, Seals doggedly insists that "the surge is not working" when even Barack Obama has bowed to the reality that it is.

He opposes offshore oil exploration even as gas prices creep toward $4.50 a gallon.

And he favors drastically raising the capital gains tax despite studies that show that it would destroy investment and actually reduce tax revenues.

By contrast, Kirk breaks from his party on a number of issues.

He reintroduced the assault weapons ban, is a staunch environmentalist and consistently defends public education.

None of these are safe positions for a Republican but Kirk sticks to them regardless because they are what he believes and what his district wants.

So who is the independent and who is the hidebound partisan loyalist here?

Seals can make all the claims he wants; that is part of politics.

But didn't his mother ever tell him that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?

Jason Holman

Arlington Heights