09/18/02  Belo finally has to do some "negative" reporting on Con Jerk, sort of.  Pretty lame effort, but check out:

Kirk says he regrets words on Iraq, race Cornyn sought apology for 'divisive comments' about his motivations  09/18/2002 By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News Democratic Senate candidate Ron Kirk, dogged by criticism that he insulted military personnel, said Tuesday that he regretted saying last week that GOP rival John Cornyn's position on a possible war with Iraq was motivated by race and class.

Kirk doesn't deny vacationing at the home of a White Billionare.  This is a story that Belo never allowed to be reported to Dallas citizens and taxpayers.

	Running Against History in Texas Democrat Kirk Faces More Than a GOP Foe in Fight for Senate Seat By Lee Hockstader, Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, September 16, 2002; Page A01	DALLASARENA.COM  READER COMMENTS Jesse Diaz: Letter to Editor of  Washington Post     Since Ron Kirk is willing steer questioners toward his record in Dallas, I offer the following:     Ron Kirk had an opportunity to lead the way toward establishing a strong ethics code that would require detail disclosure of corporate contributions to one's own personal finances.  Due to his interference and obstruction, the City of Dallas adopted a new WEAK code of ethics.  So weak, Ron Kirk was able to keep his $200,000+ annual compensation from his law firm under the radar beam.     Equally, Ron Kirk was able to avoid disclosure of stock option remuneration that may have brought nearly $1 million to the Kirk family income.      To date, Ron Kirk has failed to fully disclose his income tax returns allowing only selected reporters to view, not release, one year of income tax returns. His opponent, Texas Atty. Gen. John Cornyn, has released for public disclosure his income tax returns for the past 8 years.      Ron Kirk has stated his most creative idea in his campaign would be to force the federal government to live within its means. Yet, in less than one year since Ron Kirk resigned as mayor, Dallas citizens are now saddled with an enormous budget shortfall of almost $100 million and an approaching tax increase.       I've already said Texans can't afford to have Ron Kirk as our Senator, but I truly believe our country can ill afford him as well. Jesse Diaz Dallas, Texas 75217
DALLAS -- It's lunchtime at the Capital Grille, watering hole of Dallas's downtown fraternity of rich and powerful insiders.  .  .  .   The crowd is white, wealthy and largely Republican. It's also Kirk's crowd, and he needs it. His popularity and fundraising prowess in Dallas, where he resigned as a moderate, aggressively pro-business mayor last year to run for the Senate, is one reason Kirk has a shot to win back a seat whose last Democratic occupant was Lyndon B. Johnson.  .  .  .      However, Kirk deflects questions about reparations for the descendants of slaves and other issues that might typecast him as even remotely threatening to white voters.  .  .  .      The magic formula for Kirk, say his advisers, is to collect at least 85 percent of the black vote, 65 percent of the Hispanic vote and -- most critically -- 35 percent of the white Anglo vote.  .  .  .      Cornyn, .  .  .  has also hammered away at Kirk's reluctance to fully disclose his income tax returns. That critique, along with suggestions that Kirk was guilty of ethical lapses as mayor of Dallas, echoes a familiar refrain from Kirk's six years as mayor -- what critics describe as his too-cozy ties to the city's business bigwigs.      Kirk regularly supported tax breaks for some of the city's most influential businesses, a position he defended in the name of job creation. But to his critics, the mayor's votes in favor of tax breaks were too often thank-you gestures in return for corporate favors.      In one such instance, Kirk backed a large tax break in 2000 for Allegiance Telecom, whose leading investor is Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. Kirk said he never met Allen, but he acknowledged that he and his wife, Matrice Ellis-Kirk, had once been guests at Allen's chateau in southern France and on Allen's yacht in the Mediterranean.      Two Dallas City Council members, including the woman who succeeded Kirk as mayor, Laura Miller, told Kirk he should not vote on the tax break. But Kirk dismissed their suggestions that he had a conflict of interest.      "He just looked at us incredulously and said, 'Well, that's how business is done,' " said Donna Blumer, who recently left the council after eight years. "He had no scruples, in my opinion. He played up at every opportunity to the people who put him in office. He was totally bought and sold by the business community that wanted to take advantage of the tax breaks they could receive from the city of Dallas."  .  .  .     ? 2002 The Washington Post Company.