Lake Affected

(Or my wife, the Beltway insider): The scene: Friday night, Northbrook Court. After a quick dinner and some Christmas shopping, Joanna and I stopped in the Cingular Wireless store so Joanna could extend her contract and get a new phone. As the salesman was showing her phone at the counter (I stood next to her), a couple entered the store.

My eyes darted over there and immediately the man looked familiar. Very familiar. So familiar and recognizable, I looked him over again and again to decide if it really was who I thought it was, so I could point him out to my wife. I looked once more and as his eyes glanced up, I decided that there was no way it could be him. Instead, Joanna and I walked over to the opposite end of the store to look at some Blackberry-type phone. After a few seconds, we had all the fun you could have with a display device, and headed to the exit.

That's when the man in question stopped us. "Joanna?" he said.

By golly, it was him: U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), our Congressman. Joanna had covered Kirk's office during her time at Pioneer Press, and developed a good rapport with his office. She even had an opportunity to canoe down the Des Plaines River with Kirk and a few people from the Sierra Club.

I had never met Congressman Kirk until Friday. I always half-jokingly told Joanna to grill him on various issues since I never found him conservative enough. And it's true: I wish Kirk would see things my way on gun rights, abortion, and some environmental issues.  So I had a private audience with him. What questions did I have for my Congressman?

Sadly, I had none. Rep. Kirk was headed to Iraq over the weekend, and Joanna mentioned that, so I offered my best wishes. Other than that, I was too starstruck by the sight of my Congressman, standing in a cell-phone store with his wife, 2 feet in front of me. I was hardly able to answer his question of where I worked. I had a "Fast Times in Ridgemont High" moment where the high school's star fullback appeared at the mall, and a bunch of friends gathered around. A younger kid saw it and remarked: "He lives here? I only thought they flew him in for games."

As for Kirk not being conservative enough for my tastes, I do want to add one thing. He's hardly a RINO (Republican In Name Only). He votes with the party about 70 percent of the time, which is strong enough for me. He's stood for strong defense, lower taxes, and he's been loyal to the Republicans both nationally (where that loyalty is deserved) and locally (where he risked a lot to support people like Phil Crane and others).

He's a hell of a nice guy, although that's hardly a requirement to be in Congress.