NYT: In Illinois Race, a Teaching Career Is Questioned (Kirk, again)

[babylonsister]

Oops, again!

In Illinois Race, a Teaching Career Is Questioned
By JEFF ZELENY
Published: June 16, 2010



WASHINGTON — Representative Mark S. Kirk of Illinois, a Republican candidate for the United States Senate, has often reminisced about his time as a teacher.

On the floor of the House, in campaign commercials and during interviews, Mr. Kirk has invoked his experience in the classroom. At a speech this spring to the Illinois Education Association, Mr. Kirk declared, “as a former nursery school and middle school teacher, I know some of what it takes to bring order to class.”

A review of public comments that Mr. Kirk has made over the last decade shows that while he may refer to himself as a former teacher, he does not talk about the brevity of his experience: a year in London at a private school and part-time in a nursery school as part of a work-study program while he was a student at Cornell University.

The biographies of political candidates are receiving extra scrutiny this year, as accusations of embellishments or exaggerations have touched Democrats and Republicans. With an unusually high number of candidates on the ballot, strategists in both parties are beefing up their teams of researchers to pore over résumés line by line.

The background of Mr. Kirk, a five-term congressman who is running for the Senate seat once held by President Obama, has come under additional examination after he apologized this month for errors and discrepancies about his military record.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/us/politics/17kirk.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[Oceansaway]

1. K&R...n/t

[stray cat]

2. He did teach for a year - I don't think he made claims that contradicted it