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Paul Grattan Kirk, Jr. (born January 18, 1938) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 2009 to 2010, having been appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of Ted Kennedy. From 1985 to 1989, he served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He has also served as the co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, the chairman of the board of directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation,[1] and a member of the board of directors of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.[2] In the private sector, he served as a lawyer and lobbyist.[3]
Kirk, one of five children, was born in Newton, Massachusetts. He is the son of Josephine Elizabeth (née O’Connell) and Judge Paul Grattan Kirk, Sr., an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.[4] His father was of Irish and English descent and his mother was of Irish ancestry.[5] He attended The Roxbury Latin School and graduated from St. Sebastian's School in 1956, Harvard College in 1960, and Harvard Law School in 1964, and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1965.[6] In 1974, he married Gail Loudermilk. The couple have no children. They reside in Marstons Mills Village, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Kirk is a great-nephew of the late Cardinal William O'Connell.[7][8]
Kirk is affiliated with the law firm Sullivan & Worcester LLP of Boston, Massachusetts, and was a partner from 1977 to 1990.[1] He is the chairman and chief executive officer of Kirk & Associates, Inc., a business advisory and consulting firm located in Boston. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., Rayonier, Incorporated, and Cedar Realty Trust, Inc. He was a board member of ITT Corporation from 1989 to 1997 and Bradley Real Estate, Inc. from 1991 to 2000.[1] Kirk is a trustee of Stonehill College. He also served as a trustee of St. Sebastian's School from 1992 to 2004 and again from 2006 to 2009. He is past chairman of the Harvard Board of Overseers Nominating Committee and is the chairman of the Harvard Overseers Committee to Visit the Department of Athletics.
From 1992 to 2001 Kirk was the chairman of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
Kirk was a special assistant to Senator Ted Kennedy from 1969 to 1977. In 1983, he became treasurer of the national Democratic Party.
In 1985 Kirk was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee despite opposition from Virginia Governor Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election. He was succeeded as DNC chairman by Ron Brown. During his time as DNC Chair, he promoted and executed a successful plan to take over the planning of presidential debates, with one goal specifically being the deliberate exclusion of third party candidates. [11]
On May 2, 2008, Paul Kirk formally pledged his superdelegate nomination vote in the summer 2008 national Democratic convention to Barack Obama.[12]
In August 2009, Senator Deval Patrick.[26][27][28] Governor Patrick announced Kirk's appointment the next day.[6][29][30] Kirk pledged he would not be a candidate in the special election, which was won by Republican Scott Brown.[31][32]
On September 24, 2009, members of the Massachusetts Republican Party filed suit seeking to block the appointment of Kirk, saying that under commonwealth law, the law giving Gov. Patrick the right to appoint Kirk should not take effect for 90 days. A hearing was scheduled for the morning of September 25 to resolve the issue.[33] A Suffolk Superior Court judge dismissed the case the same day, and Kirk took the oath of office as Senator that afternoon.[34][35]
On January 19, 2010, Scott Brown, a Republican state senator, was elected to serve the balance of Kennedy's term. Although Kirk was only appointed until his successor was elected,[36] he continued to sit, and voted on the Senate floor on January 20, 2010,[37] without any objection from Senate staff or Senate Republicans. This situation is analogous to 1993, when Kay Bailey Hutchison was elected on June 5, but Bob Krueger continued to hold the seat until she took the oath of office on June 14, but was different from when Ted Kennedy was allowed to be sworn into office the day after his special election to the Senate in 1962.[38][39] Kirk was present at his successor's swearing in ceremony on February 4, 2010.
Bill Clinton, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Al Gore, Democratic National Committee, United States Army
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Iowa, Democratic Party (United States), Bill Clinton, Democratic National Committee