Ron Kirk
Ron Kirk | |
---|---|
16th United States Trade Representative | |
In office March 18, 2009 – March 15, 2013 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Deputy | Demetrios Marantis |
Preceded by | Susan Schwab |
Succeeded by | Michael Froman |
56th 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 | Tony Garza |
Personal details | |
Born | Ronald Kirk June 27, 1954 Austin, Texas, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Matrice Ellis |
Children | 2 daughters |
Education | Austin College (BA) University of Texas at Austin (JD) |
Ronald Kirk (born June 27, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the
Born in
Kirk was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as U.S. Trade Representative and on March 18, 2009, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 92–5 confirmation vote.[3] On January 22, 2013, Kirk announced that he would be stepping down as U.S. Trade Representative[4][5]
Early life and career
Born in
Kirk attended
Kirk is the nephew of civil rights leader William Astor Kirk.[7]
Texas political career
In 1994, Kirk worked for then-
During his tenure as mayor, Kirk earned the reputation of being a coalition-builder[
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 was a 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.[8]
In 2002, Kirk resigned as mayor of Dallas in order to
Post-mayoral career
Following his failed bid for Senate, Kirk returned to the law firm of Gardere Wynne Sewell in Dallas. He was briefly a candidate for chairman of the
During the Democratic National Convention, Kirk came out in favor of establishing the
U.S. Trade Representative
Although there was speculation that Kirk would be appointed
Nomination
As a supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), his selection drew criticism from opponents of free trade policies.[12] His nomination ran into further controversy when it was revealed that he owed $9,975 in back taxes.[13] 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.[14] Kirk should have included the $37,750 payments with his gross income and then claimed a charitable deduction for the same amount.[14] Kirk also claimed deductions for three years of season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks as qualifying entertainment expenses.[14] 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.[14] Kirk's deductions for tax and accounting fees were also too large.[14]
The
Work as U.S. Trade Representative
As the U.S. Trade Representative, Kirk received the formal title of Ambassador and was a member of the President's Cabinet.[clarification needed]
Much of his work, at least as publicly reported, focuses on issues relating to the development and enforcement of intellectual property law in the United States and abroad, especially as they relate to trade policy. This work includes the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaties.
China
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
ACTA in South Korea
Kirk has been cited as the U.S. agent who convinced South Korea to adopt and enforce an early draft of the secretly negotiated Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
Trans-Pacific Partnership
In May 2012, a group of 30 legal scholars, critical of the USTR's "biased and closed" Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaty negotiation process and proposed intellectual property-related provisions, publicly called upon Kirk to uphold democratic ideals by reversing the "dialing back" of stakeholder participation and to release negotiating texts for public scrutiny. The law professors claimed that leaked documents show that the USTR is "pushing numerous standards that [...] could require changes in current U.S. statutory law" and that the proposal is "manifestly unbalanced—it predominantly proposes increases in proprietor rights, with no effort to expand the limitations and exceptions to such rights that are needed in the U.S. and abroad to serve the public interest". The group claimed that the negotiations excluded stakeholders such as "consumers, libraries, students, health advocacy or patient groups, or others users of intellectual property" and that it only offered "minimal representation of other affected businesses, such as generic drug manufacturers or Internet service providers".[22]
Kirk initially responded that he was "strongly offended by the assertion that our process has been non-transparent and lacked public participation" and that it was actually far more transparent than the negotiations for prior
This prompted further criticism from the academic group that free-trade agreement negotiations, notorious for their secrecy, are "the wrong standard for assessing the legitimacy of the TPP intellectual property chapter negotiations. This is because the IP chapter in the TPP, like ACTA, is not a trade agreement. It does not adjust tariffs and quotas—it sets new international limits on domestic regulation, regardless of whether such regulation discriminates against, or even affects, trade".[23] The group further reiterated its claim that the secretive process is antithetical to the ideals of democracy, and is "no way to engender trust and faith in international law making with such a broad impact".[23] One critic pointed out that despite Kirk's claim of transparency in the process, public-interest stakeholders have been completely excluded.[24] Another accused Kirk of sidestepping the issue of transparency, and pointed out that transparency is less about the degree of public input, and more about "the flow of information the other way—information about the workings of government being visible to the people it is supposed to represent".[25]
In a subsequent interview with Reuters, Kirk defended the secrecy, saying he believes the USTR has conducted "the most engaged and transparent process as we possibly could", but that "some measure of discretion and confidentiality" are needed "to preserve negotiating strength and to encourage our partners to be willing to put issues on the table they may not otherwise".[26] He dismissed the "tension" as natural and noted that when the Free Trade Area of the Americas drafts were released, negotiators were subsequently unable to reach a final agreement.[26]
On January 22, 2013, Kirk announced that he would be stepping down as the U.S. Trade Representative.[27]
See also
- History of African Americans in Dallas-Fort Worth
References
- ^ "President's Nominee for Trade Rep, a Lobbyist in 2008, to Take Advantage of Loophole in Anti-Lobbyist Regs". abcnews.com. 21 February 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ "Kirk cutting close on lobbying". politico.com. 28 January 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- Wall Street Journal. 18 March 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ Jackson, David (22 January 2013). "U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to leave post". usatoday.com. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ Kamen, Al (22 January 2013). "U.S. Trade Rep Ron Kirk is leaving administration". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ PBS. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
- ^ Barnes, Michael (11 January 2019). "Lauding Austin civil rights leader William Astor Kirk". Austin American-Statesman.
- ISBN 978-0-8147-8807-3. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
- ^ "Ex-Dallas mayor and Cabinet hopeful Ron Kirk faces hurdles as former lobbyist". WFAA.com. WFAA-TV, Inc. 12 December 2008. Archived from the original on 14 December 2008. Retrieved 18 December 2008.
- ^ "Endorsements". Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ Recio, Maria (12 December 2008). "Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk a finalist to be transportation secretary". McClatchy Company. Retrieved 2 January 2009. [dead link]
- ^ Wu, Brandon (19 December 2008). "Ron Kirk tapped as next USTR". Retrieved 20 January 2009.
- ^ Shear, Michael D. (2 March 2009). "Tax Problems Surface for Trade Rep. Nominee Kirk". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 March 2009.
- ^ a b c d e Gillman, Todd J. (3 March 2009). "Cabinet-pick Kirk owes $10,000 in back taxes". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
- ^ a b Gillman, Todd J. (21 March 2009). "Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk sworn in as trade ambassador". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
- ^ Tate, Deborah (18 March 2009). "US Senate Confirms Trade Representative". Voice of America News. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
- ^ Drajem, Mark (25 May 2010). "Kirk Says U.S. Businesses 'Plead' for China to Protect Patents". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010.
- ^ "US to pressure China on market access". China Economic Review. 29 July 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "U.S. weighing China Internet censorship case". Reuters. 10 March 2010.
- ^ Drajem, Mark (2 March 2010). "Google Wants U.S. to Weigh WTO Challenge to China Censorship". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010.
- ^ "Secretary Gary Locke and USTR Ron Kirk Call on China To Revoke Mandatory Internet Filtering Software" (Press release). Office of the United States Trade Representative. 24 June 2009. Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
- ^ Flynn, Sean (9 May 2012). "Law Professors Call for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Transparency". infojustice.org, a project of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at American University Washington College of Law.
- ^ a b c Flynn, Sean (10 May 2012). "Kirk Responds to TPP Transparency Demands". infojustice.org.
- ^ Masnick, Mike (9 May 2012). "USTR Insults The Intelligence Of Legal Scholars After They Challenge Him On Lack Of TPP Transparency". TechDirt.
- ^ Siy, Sherwin (14 May 2012). "TPP and a Very Basic Point About Transparency". Public Knowledge.
- ^ a b Palmer, Doug (13 May 2012). "Some secrecy needed in trade talks: Ron Kirk". Reuters.
- ^ "U.S. Trade Chief Kirk to Quit Obama Administration". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
External links
- Profile at the Office of the United States Trade Representative
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Ron Kirk collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- The Dynamic U.S. Trade Relationship with Asia, Presentation by USTR Ron Kirk at Engaging Asia 2011 (March 30, 2011)