Why did Kirk vote against SPR bill?

If Mark Kirk is serious about bringing down gas prices, why does he still have his head in the sand?

Kirk voted against tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ease pressure on the gas market.

It's not a radical step; all three of the most recent administrations have taken it when faced with potential energy crisis.

After the 1991 drawdown, for example, oil prices dropped 33 percent.

The SPR is currently 97 percent full, well over the necessary level, and the oil that's withdrawn would be replaced with cheaper crude oil.

It's a safe, measured response to a serious economic predicament that's dragging the whole economy down this summer.

And yet, Kirk doesn't seem to think that kind of relief is necessary.

Is it because he's working on bad information, as he was last month when he declared that China had begun drilling in the Gulf of Mexico-a completely baseless Republican rumor?

Or does it have something to do with the $45,000 in contributions he's received from Big Oil?

Poor judgment or poor integrity. Neither are qualities I want in my Congressman.

Susan Wellek

Northbrook