Groups that backed Kirk endorsing Giannoulias

CHICAGO — Several Illinois advocacy groups that backed Republican Mark Kirk in past elections endorsed his Democratic opponent Thursday in the race for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat, a move Kirk said was not surprising.

The Illinois Education Association, Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign were among the groups that have supported Kirk, a five-term congressman, several times since 2002. They now say he hasn't been consistent in his support for their issues, leading them to endorse Democrat Alexi Giannoulias.

"We didn't leave Mark Kirk, Mark Kirk left us," said Ken Swanson, president of the education association. "He turned his back on teachers and working families. We haven't changed, Mark Kirk has changed."

They cited his vote against federal education aid that would have paid for thousands of Illinois teaching jobs and his vote for abortion restrictions in the federal healthcare overhaul.

Giannoulias accused Kirk of shifting his position — or refusing to state one — on a range of social, fiscal and political issues.

"I don't think we can afford to have someone who sticks his finger in the wind ... and votes a certain way based on how the wind is blowing," Giannoulias said.

Kirk, speaking to employees at a town hall meeting at truck maker Navistar in suburban Chicago, said it's no surprise that environmental, gay and abortion-rights group would back Giannoulias in this election, although they supported him in the past.

"It's a standard thing that they may desert you in a tight election," he said. "But I remain who I am: a fiscal conservative, a social moderate, a pro-choice member of the House of Representatives and soon to be the Senate."