Bipartisan help for Kirk is welcome news
As doctors upgraded Sen. Mark Kirk’s condition to good on Monday, we were struck by the front-page story detailing how Kirk’s agenda is getting pushed in Congress by Republicans and Democrats alike.
Can bipartisanship really work in Washington, D. C.? In Springfield?
If federal and state politicians follow the lead of those closest to Kirk, that quaint notion just might still be alive in these most partisan of times.
Kirk, Illinois’ Republican junior senator from Highland Park, is recovering in Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago following a serious stroke last month. The 52-year-old’s doctors said Monday he was making good progress and should be able to begin rehabilitation soon.
That’s just the kind of positive news that Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois, was sure would occur when he met with Kirk’s staffers after learning of Kirk’s stroke.
“This is serious,” Durbin said he told them, as recounted to reporter Kerry Lester, “but lucky for us, he’s young and healthy, and if you’re a betting man you’d say Mark Kirk is going to make a full recovery.”
Durbin, in the last month, has followed up on that compassion for Kirk and those closest to him, with action. Last week he chaired a hearing on judicial nominees, introducing a Kirk judicial nominee for Illinois’ Northern District. And as they have since Kirk was elected in November 2010 over Durbin’s guy, Alexi Giannoulias, Durbin is pushing through some legislation that they both agree is good for Illinois.
Lester also told of other members of Congress moving Kirk’s bills through, again on both sides of the aisle. Senate Democrats Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Joe Manchin of West Virginia both have been busy on Kirk’s behalf.
It’s a testament to Kirk, who has worked on building up bipartisan ties in the Senate (he has a weekly lunch with Manchin) and previously as a member of the House, and to those doing his work while he is unable to do so.
Durbin rightfully says these are “small things” that are “largely symbolic” as the politicians work to buoy their colleague’s spirits back in Chicago.
But it’s notable that Durbin and Kirk, when he was healthy, have acted from the get-go to build a strong working relationship based on getting things done for Illinois. We wondered last year, after meeting with both of them, if this was just political grandstanding — yes, we get along great — or whether it was rooted in respect for each other and their constituents.
We see now it was the latter. So we hope those small things can reap benefits later when more controversial topics are being discussed in Congress. That’s the promise of bipartisanship and in this election year, any sign that Democrats and Republicans can actually work together for the greater good is welcome news indeed.