Ron Kirk

Ron Kirk
16th United States Trade Representative
Incumbent
Assumed office March 18, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Peter Allgeier
Preceded by	Susan Schwab
57th Mayor of Dallas
In office June 5, 1995 – February 20, 2002
Preceded by	Steve Bartlett
Succeeded by	Laura Miller
97th Secretary of State of Texas
In office April 4, 1994 – January 17, 1995
Governor	Ann Richards
Preceded by	John Hannah
Succeeded by	Antonio Garza
Personal details
Born	June 27, 1954 (1954-06-27) Austin, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Matrice Ellis
Children	2 daughters
Alma mater	Austin College University of Texas, Austin

Ronald "Ron" Kirk (born June 27, 1954) is the 16th United States Trade Representative, serving in the Obama administration. He served as mayor of Dallas, Texas from 1995 to 2002; he also ran for the United States Senate in 2002.

Early life and career

Born in Austin, Texas, Kirk is the youngest of four children; his father was a U.S. postal worker and the family was politically active. He grew up in a predominantly black community, and attended Austin's public schools. He was a leader in high school, and was elected student council president in his senior year at John H. Reagan High School (Austin, Texas).

Kirk attended Austin College, graduating with a degree in both political science and sociology in 1976. He then went to the University of Texas School of Law. Upon receiving his Juris Doctor in 1979, he practiced law until 1981 when he left to work in the office of then-Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen. In 1983, Kirk returned to Texas to lobby the state legislature in Austin, first as an attorney with the city of Dallas, and later with a law firm.

Texas political career

In 1994, Kirk worked for then-Texas Governor Ann Richards as Secretary of State of Texas. The following year, Kirk ran for mayor of Dallas. With support of Dallas' business community and influential members of the city's African American community, Kirk was successful in his bid and became the first African American mayor of Dallas, Texas while winning 62 percent of the total vote.

During his tenure as mayor, Kirk earned the reputation of being a coalition-builder, managing to keep the always-tumultuous Dallas City Council and Dallas School Board together. Under his leadership, he proposed the "Dallas Plan," a vision for the next 25 years, which included the controversial Trinity River Project, a $246 million plan that called for constructing a network of parks and highways in the flood plain of the Trinity River. He also pushed the construction of the American Airlines Center, whose opening he oversaw in 2002.

In 1999, Kirk was re-elected as mayor of Dallas in a landslide with 74 percent of the vote. The only incident in the campaign consisted in one radio campaign ad that used music from Star Trek and described Kirk as the "captain of the Dallas Enterprise," citing the city's bond program, the new sports arena and new roads. The ad was pulled after Paramount's lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter.

In 2001, Kirk resigned as mayor of Dallas in order to run for the Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Phil Gramm. Facing then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn; Kirk lost with 43 percent of the vote to Cornyn's 55 percent.

Post-mayoral career

Following his failed bid for Senate, Kirk returned to the law firm of Gardere Wynne Sewell in Dallas, and was briefly a candidate for chairman of the Democratic National Committee after the 2004 election, and was a partner with the Houston-based law firm Vinson and Elkins, where, according to Texans for Public Justice, he was, as of March 2007, one of the four highest paid lobbyists for Energy Future Holdings Corporation, the group created by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs to acquire TXU.

During the Democratic National Convention, Kirk came out in favor of establishing the U.S. Public Service Academy as a civilian counterpart to the military service academies.

US Trade Representative

Although there was speculation that Kirk would be appointed Secretary of Transportation by President Barack Obama, he was given the position of Trade Representative.

Nomination

As a supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), his selection has drawn criticism from advocates of protectionist trade policies. His nomination ran into further controversy when it was revealed that he owed $9,975 in back taxes. As compensation for speeches he gave from 2004 to the present, he had $37,750 of payments made directly to a scholarship fund at Austin College. Kirk should have included the $37,750 payments with his gross income and then claimed a charitable deduction for the same amount. Kirk also claimed deductions for three years of season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks as qualifying entertainment expenses. In order to claim a qualifying entertainment expense, the Internal Revenue Service requires written documentation of the time, place, business purpose, name, and business relationship of the person being entertained, records that Kirk did not keep for almost half of the basketball games. Kirk's deductions for tax and accounting fees were also too large.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Kirk as United States Trade Representative on March 18, 2009 with a vote of 92 in favor and five opposed and he was sworn in the same day. Kirk was formally sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden on March 20, 2009. Kirk is the first person of African American descent to hold the position of United States Trade Representative.

Work as US Trade Ambassador

Kirk speaking at a press conference at the end of the 7th WTO Ministerial Conference

As the US Trade Representative, Kirk receives the formal title of Ambassador and is a member of the President's Cabinet. Kirk has repeatedly raised concerns of American businesses that China is not properly enforcing intellectual property rights of American companies doing business there. It has been alleged that the Chinese government takes IT secrets of international companies operating there and passes them on to local companies to boost their competitiveness Kirk has also been critical of China's internet censorship policies, and he is reported to be considering whether to challenge such censorship regulations in the WTO as an unfair barrier to trade; it would be the first case of its kind.

In August 2010, Kirk welcomed the decision from the WTO ruling against the European Union's subsidies for Airbus. Kirk stated, "These subsidies have greatly harmed the United States, including causing Boeing to lose sales and market share. Today’s ruling helps level the competitive playing field with Airbus."

Kirk meeting with President Obama before bilateral meetings in South Korea.

Kirk has been cited as the US agent who convinced South Korea to adopt and enforce an early draft of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The impacts in South Korea have been dramatic; tens of thousands of citizens have had their websites taken off of the Internet because of copyright infringement. In contrast, a revised draft of the ACTA proposal, expected to be enacted in the United States, is expected to drop the requirement for Internet Service Providers to discontinue access to those accused of copyright violations, and instead refer to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for enforcement of electronic copyright infringement allegations.

External links

• Profile at the Office of the United States Trade Representative
• Ron Kirk at WhoRunsGov at The Washington Post
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Ron Kirk collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Ron Kirk in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• The Dynamic U.S. Trade Relationship with Asia, Presentation by USTR Ron Kirk at Engaging Asia 2011 (March 30, 2011)

Political offices
Preceded by John Hannah	Secretary of State of Texas 1994–1995	Succeeded by Antonio Garza
Preceded by Steve Bartlett	Mayor of Dallas 1995–2002	Succeeded by Laura Miller
Preceded by Susan Schwab	United States Trade Representative Served under: Barack Obama 2009–present	Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Gil Kerlikowske as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy	Order of Precedence of the United States as Trade Representative	Succeeded by James Clapper as Director of National Intelligence