* Treasurer Giannoulias held a press conference yesterday to do what he should’ve done when the Tribune called the other day: answer questions about the Bright Start fund…

Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias on Monday defended using proceeds from the state’s troubled college savings program to purchase a hybrid SUV, saying it was a cost-saving move that allows staffers to more effectively promote the Bright Start program.

While Giannoulias said the vehicle is primarily used to promote the savings plan, he could not give details on how and when the vehicle was used. He said his office would begin to keep a vehicle log, saying it was “probably an oversight” not to do so from the beginning.

The problem isn’t so much the SUV, but combine that with one of the investment funds in the Bright Start program losing big bucks and creeping journalistic shorthand and the thing is quite toxic…

The college savings plan is supposed to allow parents to put away money and earn interest for their children’s education, but the fund lost more than $85 million last year.

Again, just one of the investment funds in the program lost $85 million, so the Tribune and others are making things look worse than they actually are. However, Crain’s points out that two other funds lost money as well, although less than the $85 mil.

* Meanwhile, Dick Durbin doesn’t so too encouraging in this sound bite…

The state’s senior U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, who traveled overseas with Giannoulias earlier this year, has not decided whom he will support to become his colleague from Illinois. Durbin said in the meantime the treasurer would have to diffuse his own controversies.

“He is going to have to show in this early stage he can answer questions directly and satisfy any concerns people might have. He will come to learn that standing in front of these microphones is part of this business,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, (D) Illinois.

Translation: Sink or swim, kid.

* Giannoulias held the presser to unveil a populist program…

Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is threatening banks that fail to invest in their communities. He says financial institutions will have to sign a pledge before they can receive state deposits. Giannoulias says banks must promise to make small business loans, and work to prevent home foreclosures.

GIANNOULIAS: I do think there’s a lot of potential for future legislation to put even more stringent requirements. But this is, what we think is a reasonable first step. We don’t want banks to lose even more money we just want them to pay attention to their communities

That will make a nice TV ad. Money overcomes plenty of negatives, and he has tons of dough. But that’s no excuse for Giannoulias not having a full handle on his office.

* Speaking of statewide contenders, here’s more on GOP Sen. Matt Murphy’s possible gubernatorial bid…

State Sen. Matt Murphy of Palatine is the latest Republican to publicly consider throwing his hat into the 2010 Illinois governor’s race.

Murphy said Monday it’s a “definitive maybe” as to whether he’ll enter the GOP primary. “I’ve got to see what the interest level is and if I can rally enough support to make the run,” Murphy said. He expects to make a decision by the end of May.

His idea to cut school funding by $1.4 billion is gonna look horrible in a general election. And Murphy’s plan to use managed care to slash Medicaid costs by billions of dollars was hotly and flatly disputed by the Illinois Hospital Association…

One of the report’s key recommendations for a Medicaid global waiver is a block grant approach that would lock in the State at its currently poorly funded level while shifting ALL of the risk to the State – without the State having total control of the Medicaid program.

In other words, if Medicaid costs skyrocketed, the state would be left with the bill.

Much of the work and resulting conclusions from the consultant (the Lucas Group) underlying the report’s recommendations appear to be substandard and outdated, and in many cases, based on flawed assumptions.

* Gov. Quinn is ever so slowly clearing the deck…

Steven Guerra, a holdover from the Blagojevich administration as the governor’s deputy chief of staff for social services, was fired Friday. […]

He made news in late 2008 when the Chicago Sun-Times reported that he had served 23 months in prison after being convicted of contempt of court in New York in 1983. He had refused to testify in connection with investigations of a Puerto Rican separatist group that claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings in the U.S. that killed six and injured dozens from 1974 to 1983.

* And a local reporter didn’t read the fine print of that Jan Schakowky vs. Mark Kirk poll…

Schakowsky’s strong numbers carry through to the general election, according to Lake Research findings. In a poll of 600 likely Senate race voters last month, respondents who were asked to choose between Schakowsky and Kirk in a general election chose Schakowsky by a six-point margin of 36 to 30 percent.

As I already told you, that poll was taken in December and the 36-30 number included a surprisingly large number of leaners. The base numbers were 23-20.

* This e-mail just arrived…

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, will host the Ultimate Women’s Power Lunch with special guests Valerie Jarrett and Tina Tchen on May 11, 2009.

* Related…

* Paul Vallas: I Never Heard of Toni Preckwinkle