Ill Senate race.....

Have you guys seen this battle? It looks pretty ugly but of course it is Chicago-style Democrat politics as usual with Giannoulas, whose family-run bank made a fortune supplying millions of dollars to mob figures until the the feds shut 'em down (the bank activities have a connection to BO & his business partner Tony Rezko- imagine that, huh?). He is also being investigated by regulators for cheating on his taxes.
Charlie Rangel must be proud!

 

I doubt I will vote for the the guy but, as far as Rezko, according to Wikipedia...

Broadway Bank made these loans before Rezko was investigated, indicted, or convicted for any crimes.[47]

Giannoulias himself did not make the Rezko loans.[48]

Rezko defaulted on loans made by Broadway, and, in 2006 Broadway was the first bank to foreclose on one of Rezko’s delinquent loans, forcing him to declare bankruptcy.[49]

Broadway Bank also refused to cover nine bad checks written by Rezko for a total of $450,000 in early 2008[50]

Giannoulias never accepted campaign contributions from Rezko.[39]


As far as the tax thing...I don't really buy his story or explanation. But, it does show how badly the tax system is broken when working 500 hours at that bank (less than 13 weeks of work) could help net a rich guy $2.7 million dollars in income tax exemptions and allow him to pay nothing. That another example of why I have no sympathy for the Bush Tax Cuts expiring.

 

Well, that addresses the BO-Rezko connection & tax question but what about financing dozens of organized crime figures?

 

Speaking of drive-bys... Now the truth of the Karl Rove false ads.

Factheck.org: Drive-by Hit on Giannoulias

American Crossroads' spot attacking Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic candidate for Illlinois' open Senate seat, reprises some familiar themes: his role with the family's Broadway Bank, and his oversight of the state's college investment plan. We've written about both of these issues. This time his attackers misuse language from a newspaper article and add a misleading charge about an SUV purchase.

The ad charges that Giannoulias, who is state treasurer, "fell asleep at the wheel" while overseeing the Illinois Bright Start 529 college investment plan. On screen there's a mock highway sign with the quote "bad investment choices…leading to outsized losses" and a citation to the Chicago Sun-Times. It's a reference to losses in one of the funds the plan owns, the Oppenheimer Core Bond fund, in 2008.

The words in the ad indeed appeared in a Chicago Sun-Times story last year. But they were used in reference to the Core Bond fund's managers, not to Giannoulias. Those managers, as the Morningstar investment research firm put it, "gained exposure to the battered commercial mortgage-backed securities market through derivatives that had a leveraging effect on the fund, amplifying losses." Remember credit default swaps?

And a Giannoulias spokesman said that Illinois was the first state to notice problems with the fund and investigate. Of the approximately $150 million of investors' money that was lost in the Core fund (one of 21 funds owned by Bright Start, which is a $2 billion program), Giannoulias reached a settlement with Oppenheimer to recover $77 million.

The ad also accuses Giannoulias of using "$26,000 in Bright Start funds to buy an SUV." That's true, but misleading. Giannoulias drove the car but didn't own it - he used it as his Illinois state vehicle - and no taxpayer funds were used.

Giannoulias' office bought the new Ford Escape Hybrid in October 2007. The Chicago Tribunereported the purchase last year under the headline: "Illinois' Bright Start college fund loses $85 million, buys hybrid for treasurer." Giannoulias said the new SUV replaced a 10-year-old vehicle and was used not only by him, but also by Bright Start employees as "a more efficient, quicker, less expensive way" to sign up families for the savings plan. "What I think is important here to understand is that this is a vehicle used by Bright Start marketers to travel the state and talk about the program," he told the Tribune. Giannoulias denied ever using the vehicle for personal purposes, and no evidence has surfaced to show that he did. But his office kept no vehicle logs to document who actually used the vehicle, something Giannoulias said was "probably an oversight." His spokesman said money to buy the vehicle didn't come from taxpayers, but rather from a fee paid to the treasurer's office by the investment firm that manages Bright Start.

Did Giannoulias "help drive" his family's Broadway Bank to its demise? Broadway was seized by regulators in April. Giannoulias was a senior loan officer and a vice president at the bank from 2002 until spring 2006, according to a campaign spokesman. During that time, according to one publication's analysis of Broadway's problems, the bank made a great number of construction and development loans, tying up a far larger-than-average share of its portfolio in such loans for a bank of its size.

Giannoulias was fresh out of law school when he joined the family business, and says his role in the bank's failure was limited. Both he and the bank have said that only 9 percent of the nonperforming loans held by Broadway at the beginning of 2010 were made during his time at the bank. Furthermore, not all of those were approved by him. He has said that he takes his "share of the responsibility for mistakes that were made … in investing too heavily in commercial real estate and not diversifying into other sectors." He denied that the loans were "reckless or risky," though.

It's also true, as Giannoulias points out on his website, that more than 200 community banks have failed since the beginning of 2009, and the shutterings continue, because of the economy's downturn and particularly the collapse of the real estate market. Unfortunately, Broadway has lots of company.

 

Okay, that's a whole other problem he has but it really doesn't address his & his bank's propensity for loaning millions of dollars to convicted & suspected mob figures. Nice try to misdirect, though.

 

He is on pretty shaky ground with the mob loans, really. It was an issue back in 2006 too. Isn't much he can really say about it. He was a rich millionaire banker dude and that is what rich, millionaire banker dudes do to make money. Same thing with the $2.7 million dollar tax deduction he took. What is he supposed to say? That is what millionaire dudes do.

 

Insert "crooked" in front of "rich millionaire banker dude" and you'll be correct, not every banker would be willing to take on that risk. Speaking as someone who spent 20 years in the banking business, the bankers who will do that sort of thing are sought out by that element just as doctors who will write scripts for the addicts are sought out. Even though banking is a huge business it is still a fairly small community when it gets to the upper tiers of mgmt. I'm sure once Giannoulas got "in" with those people there was no getting out.

 

Define 'in' with them. How was he involved with the loans? Sounds like you know more about what he did than I do. I'd love to hear the details you have.

 

Another thing I would like to know, since you were in the banking business, is what you can tell me about 'mobsters' having bank accounts or credit cards. Do they get mortgages? Car loans? Do they have to go to a crooked bank for them? Heck, what about just convicted felons? Are they only welcomed at crooked banks too?

 

Karl Rove??? Didn't he go to jail? Oh...that's right...republicans don't go to jail..they just spread other peoples cash around to fellow criminals.

 

I'm sure, with people like Giannoulas out there, there are plenty of mobsters with credit cards, mortgages, etc but from what I've heard about the mob it seems to be a "cash only" business.
The #1 rule a banker follows is not to put your bank at risk with the decisions you make..loaning to criminals creates both moral & ethical issues. What does a mobster list on his application as far as employment? Does the information they provide during the approval process represent the facts? How do they verify their income? Another issue to be considered is what the benefit is to Giannoulas as compared to the risk involved? On the surface, Giannoulas and the "family business" appears to be a front for mob activity. For the recoed, I don't see an instance where he has denied his involvement.

 

....and liberals keep getting elected....

 

So, Dr Moen, where on you on Giannoulas' mob connection?

 

These guys are debating on C-Span right now.

 

Yeah, I see the commercial of Gianulius overlaid over Chicago buildings saying "Illinois needs a tax increase", every night. Then it says, "this coming from a guy who paid no taxes last year."

There's been some pretty bad attack adds, staring Alexi. We'll never know what all he was involved with in Chicago, or how close he was to Rezko. In one debate, he basically admitted to knowing the criminal backgrounds of the people he was dealing with (millions loaned to felons) but he "did not know to what extent" their criminal involvement was. lol

My other question is, did the people investing in Bright Start realize that some of the money needed to go to funding a vehicle for him to travel around in? Wouldn't that be the state's responsibility to supply the State Treasurer with a vehicle!?! I mean, wtf!? They have a large fleet. State vehicles are everywhere. The state treasurer couldn't pick one out?

Frankly, I'm ready for anybody who is not from Chicago, and not previously involved with Blago and Rezko, to be elected to any position in this state. If only for the fact we need a clean slate. That era desperately needs to come to an end.

Edit: Here you go:


So moen, if he loses, will you send your donation that would have been your tax increase anyway?

 

The only dumb people in the State of Illinois are those that believe Republicans are better than Democrats and vise versa. Where is our last Democratic governor? Going to trial for corruption. Where is our last Republican governor? Sitting in a Wisconsin prison for corruption. Is your memory so short that you can only remember the last criminal elected?

 

What difference does that make? The past is in the rearview. I don't want anybody from Chicago in Springfield. Besides, Quinn wants to raise taxes and he is anti-gun. Brady won't raise taxes and is willing to sign concealed carry into law. I would like the opportunity to exercise that right (like 48 other states) and actually feel safe in public. That's enough for me.
To his credit, Quinn hasn't been all that bad. Although despite him and Blago not getting along, he did still support that criminal for years and was willing to be on his side. The like-ability factor takes a serious hit over that. And who knows what four more years of absolute power would lead to.

 

Not to brag too much, but I will anyway. A fraternity brother of mine just got elected to the US senate and he could not have won a more appropriate seat. He is the new senator from Illinois - Mark Kirk. Sorry, Moen, but now you have to deal with two of us. Hopefully, he won't let me down.

 

He won't let you down. The new right wing majority in the house will alleviate everything with tax breaks a plenty for the wealthiest of America. Then they'll just quit spending. Problems solved. Happy days!! Jobs and good times ahead!!

 

Congrats to Mark Kirk, rlm... He's going to make a good Senator!