Kirk has integrity; Alexi not so much

Nov. 2's pivotal election allows Illinois voters the opportunity to inject balance and elect a well-qualified candidate to the U.S. Senate. Significantly, the chosen senator will immediately complete the term appointed by Gov. Blagojevich. The opportunity to add a 42nd Republican, with the ability to stop the rampant and misguided spending in its tracks, cannot be overstated.

Mark Kirk is a moderate Republican with a distinguished and ongoing military career including serving in Afghanistan, and great depth in foreign affairs. Kirk, a commander in the Naval Reserve, actually has flown in hostile environments in Iraq during prewar no-fly-zone operations and Kosovo and has devoted time during Congressional recesses to serve twice in Afghanistan and often in the Pentagon.

He has bucked his party and demonstrated repeatedly that he is his own man supporting embryonic stem cell research and expanded children's health care.

Some share a concern that Kirk distorted his military achievements an issue that he forthrightly and promptly corrected. Giannoulias couldn't distort his military record, because he never served. Contrast that to President Obama's basketball buddy Giannoulias' claim regarding employment at Broadway Bank having ended before the loans to Tony Rezko, among others, and his contradictory statements to the IRS.

We need an alternative to the rubber stamp that the triumvirate of Obama, Pelosi and Reid desire and would get with Giannoulias. Frequently, we voters are left with a choice of the lesser of two evils. Fortunately, this time, the choice couldn't be clearer. I will vote for Mark Kirk with no sour taste haunting me.

Glen Stewart

Huntley