Kirk teaches critics a lesson in politics.

• Author: Speizer, Irwin
• Position: Tar Heel Tattler - Board of Education chairman Phil Kirk - Brief Article - Editorial

As chairman of the State Board of Education, Phil Kirk is no stranger to exams. But he had never encountered a test quite like the one he had to pass to keep that position and his job as president of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry.

Kirk aced it. And he managed to make his examiners -- lobbyists for some of the state's biggest companies -- look as callow as kids on a field trip to Raleigh.

It all began in January, when they called Kirk and asked for a meeting. They wanted him to resign his education post -- they feared it was corrupting him with tax-and-spend liberalism. No thanks, Kirk replied. A week later, they asked to discuss potential conflicts between his jobs. Kirk agreed. He met with representatives of Bank of America, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Progress Energy and Duke Energy, all key members of NCCBI, the state chamber of commerce.

Their beef was the $1.2-billion tax hike the legislature passed last year to plug the hole in the recession-ravaged state budget. NCCBI had endorsed it. The lobbyists wanted to know why Kirk hadn't fought it harder. Had he grown too cozy with the education lobby, which desperately wanted...