below, memo and release from Giannolias campaign.....

MEMORANDUM

From: Michael Rendina, Alexi for Illinois
To: Interested Parties
Date: October 11, 2010
Re: State of the Race

Yesterday, during Meet the Press, host David Gregory pushed Congressman Mark Kirk to answer whether or not he was shot at while serving abroad. It was a direct yes or no question and once again Congressman Kirk gave no answer. Releasing his fitness reports is nothing more than a dodge, and they include no confirmation that Congressman Kirk was ever shot at. He may have lost track of all of the lies he has been telling, but if he can't answer a question honestly, he is not fit to serve.

Indeed, this is a significant development that could become a deathblow to Congressman Kirk's campaign. He has now admitted to more than a dozen lies about military and teaching record, and continues to refuse to answer basic questions about whether he was shot at, where he served, whether he commanded the Pentagon war room, and why he felt the need to lie about receiving a military award that doesn't exist.

Just as he has lied about his own military and fiscal record, Congressman Kirk used his appearance on Meet the Press to lie about Alexi's role in his father's community bank. His implication that Alexi was involved in loans to "mob figures" has been knocked down by independent fact check organizations. As Alexi has said repeatedly, had he been managing those loans and had he known then what he knows now, he would have urged that the loans not be made. With no fiscal platform to run on, Congressman Kirk has desperately decided to cherry pick two or three customers from a community bank that helped thousands of people buy their first home, open their first business, hire additional workers, and realize the American dream.
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CONGRESSMAN KIRK - WILL YOU STOP LYING ABOUT YOUR MILITARY RECORD?
Kirk dodges answering whether he was shot at during Meet the Press debate
The answer is yes or no - stop hiding behind your immaterial fitness reports

Chicago - Alexi for Illinois Campaign Manager Mike Rendina issued the following challenge to Congressman Mark Kirk today on the heels of the Meet the Press debate where Kirk again refused to answer questions about his military lies and whether or not he was shot at during his service overseas.

"After 20 years in Washington DC, Congressman Kirk just can't break a bad habit -- his appearance on Meet the Press yesterday allowed him the chance to finally explain his lies about being shot at in two different circumstances, but he couldn't come clean. There is not one shred of evidence in Congressman Kirk's military records that confirm that he was shot at in a plane over Iraq, nor that he was he shot at with Dutch forces in Kandahar. Congressman Kirk ducked David Gregory's question on being shot at yesterday on Meet the Press, just as he has ducked answering questions on the phony Dutch peacekeeper episode. Once and for all Congressman, answer this question: were you shot at or not? Your military records show you never were."

MR. GREGORY: But bottom line, Congressman, did you say that you were once shot at when in fact you were not?

REP. KIRK: Well, for example, when you're flying over Iraq as a big NATO strike package...

MR. GREGORY: Yeah.

REP. KIRK: ...usually the Iraqis opened up on us. But whether the squadron came under fire or not, it's a very confusing...

Alexi Giannoulias for U.S. Senate