Republican Sen. Mark Steven Kirk questions challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth’s family heritage in Illinois debate

Republican Sen. Mark Steven Kirk, who is facing a tough race to retain his Illinois seat against Democratic challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth, aggressively went after her during a Thursday night debate, accusing her of lying and even questioning her family’s ancestry and military service.

Duckworth countered Kirk’s periodic interruptions by suggesting that his series of controversial statements about President Obama and the nation were “not at all the hallmarks of a senator who is looking out for the people of Illinois.”

The exchanges came during a 90-minute broadcast forum at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The Senate seat, previously held by Obama, is crucial to Republican hopes of holding the chamber and Democratic attempts to reclaim a majority.

During the first joint appearance on Oct. 3 before the Chicago Tribune editorial board, Kirk gave short answers and did not engage with his opponent. On Thursday night, the Republican went after Duckworth on a variety of issues including homeland security, military policy and college affordability — though sometimes he struggled to get his words out.

At one point, Duckworth talked about her family’s long history of involvement in the U.S. military, describing herself as a “daughter of the revolution.” Kirk interjected: “I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.”

The comment left some in the audience with a look of puzzlement.

Duckworth, who was born in Bangkok to a mother of Chinese heritage and a father of British descent, replied: “There’s been members of my family serving on my father’s side since the American Revolution.” She said she was “proud of both my father’s side and my mother’s side as an immigrant.”

Duckworth served in the Iraq war and lost her legs after the helicopter she co-piloted was felled by a rocket-propelled grenade. Kirk served as an intelligence officer in the Naval Reserve.

Kirk, who apologized for embellishing his military record during his successful run for the Senate in 2010, said his “past misstatements of my record have been small and selfish,” but paled in comparison to Duckworth’s record serving as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs and as an assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs prior to her election to Congress four years ago.

“I would say the record of my opponent in serving veterans is very questionable,” said Kirk, who invited people who he called “whistle-blowers” at state and federal facilities to attend the debate.

“These whistle-blowers should be commended and applauded and not crushed,” said Kirk, who at times haltingly recounted issues surrounding a workplace discrimination lawsuit filed by two women at the Anna Veterans Home against Duckworth.

The Illinois attorney general’s office, representing Duckworth, has said a settlement of the case has been reached though it is still before a judge and not yet completed.

As Duckworth sought to point out that elements of the lawsuit had previously been rejected by the courts, Kirk interjected, “It’s important that Tammy not lie to the people of Illinois.” When Duckworth asked for time to respond to Kirk’s allegations, the Republican said, “Sorry, when you’re lying, you don’t get any time.”

Duckworth dismissed Kirk’s accusations as “stunts” and said she was “proud of my record” in working for veterans.

At one point, Kirk fielded a question about Congress’ low approval ratings, and he started out by repeating a well-worn analogy about the Senate being a corral full of 50 wagons and he and Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin pulling together as the state’s two horses.

“I will say, one of the things my opponent has talked about, I lost my train of thought there,” Kirk said.

Kirk later revisited the topic, saying he wanted to “pick up on that one train of thought that I just lost there.” He contended Illinois lost jobs “because we had a criminal like Rod Blagojevich, who my opponent served, as governor.” The imprisoned Blagojevich appointed Duckworth the state’s VA director in late 2006. Kirk’s comment drew cheers.

Kirk, who has faced questions about his ability to perform his Senate duties after his near yearlong recovery from a massive stroke in 2012, said “the stroke has made me much stronger as a senator” and “when you conquer something like a stroke” it made him “fight, fight, fight for Illinois.”

Kirk, who frequently uses a wheelchair, as does Duckworth, noted, “I think we both agree the next senator from Illinois should use a wheelchair.”

That proved one of the more light comments of the evening.

Duckworth said she believed Kirk was “perfectly capable of doing his job. The fact is he is not doing his job.” She then reeled off some of Kirk’s more controversial comments, such as likening Obama to a “drug dealer in chief” over a $400-million payment made to the Iran government as part of the U.S.-led multinational deal aimed at reducing the Middle Eastern country’s ability to develop nuclear weapons.

Though he made the comment about Obama, Kirk responded that “those drug dealer words are not mine.” Instead, Kirk noted the $400-million payment was made in a denomination of Euro notes that he said the European Union no longer prints because they were used to facilitate drug dealing and terrorism.

On immigration, both spoke of their support for a comprehensive plan that would lead to citizenship in contrast to proposals offered by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. But Kirk, who reminded voters he had un-endorsed Trump, said Duckworth wanted to bring more refugees from war-torn Syria into the United States than can properly be vetted.

“Congresswoman Duckworth is going to tell you some blabber about how the administration is on top of those guys,” said Kirk, who added federal officials have “no database to check against the Syrian refugees.”

But Duckworth said Kirk was misleading in referring to comments by FBI Director James B. Comey and maintained the director “says we can fully vet the refugees.”

She advocated more money for checking the background of refugees and warned that with the Islamic State promoting hatred of America, “we simply cannot feed into that by turning our backs.”

“I’m not going to leave people to grow up in refugee camps who grow up to be the next generation of insurgents,” she said.

Closer to home, Kirk lashed out at Duckworth’s support for an eventual plan for free college tuition. “My opponent, her primary spending plan is to offer free stuff like free college,” said Kirk, who added it would cost $60 billion to implement when it “only cost $25 billion to get to the moon.”

But Duckworth said college education was important to the nation’s future competitiveness and noted Kirk voted against a plan to allow students to refinance their student loan debt.

“That’s just a giveaway to the big banks,” said Duckworth, who added that by closing tax loopholes on the wealthy and corporations, free college tuition could be achieved. “I don’t think it’s a giveaway. I don’t think it’s a handout. I don’t think it’s an entitlement.”

Kirk responded, “She wants to spend more and tax more and borrow more and push us even further in the red.” Duckworth, he said, was “a symbol of everything that’s wrong with Washington.”

Asked about ways to improve police and community relations, Duckworth spoke of the need for a multifaceted response that included criminal justice reform and “economic justice” in poorer communities. She noted Kirk, at a previous campaign event, had questioned the ability of a senator to have any influence on police and community relations.

Kirk gave a short answer referring only to the response of the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department to riots that broke out over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an African American teen, by white police Officer Darren Wilson in 2014.

“I would say that I have been quite critical of the Ferguson Police Department. They were too militarized,” Kirk said. He called their actions an “inappropriate civil-military relationship” and said law enforcement should be reminded “the people on the other side of the street are voters and taxpayers and not the enemy.”

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mcgarcia@chicagotribune.com