39 Comments - Pat Collins - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 10:17 am: hmm. Brightstar losses when you were in charge. When you were running the bank you were responsible for 10% of the bad loans being granted at a bank that might go under. And you deserve MORE responsibility? How many strikes do you get? This isn’t baseball! - Will County Woman - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 10:24 am: With all due respect I think people are missing a key point about those of us democrats, myself a moderate, who have made it clear that we aren’t voting for Alexi G. I don’t propose to speak for everyone else, but it’s a matter of principle as to why I cannot vote for Alexi G. anymore than I can vote for Pat Quinn. With respect to Quinn, I’m not going to vote for someone who has proven to be incompetent and greatly lacking in leadership abilities. You get what you vote for, right? I’m not saying that I’m automatically voting for Brady right now. I am willing to hear Brady out, though. It saddens me that many of the democratic commenters on the blog apparently have no principles and just blindly vote along party lines. (that’s what got Blago re-elected despite il democrat pol claims that they knew he was bad from day one) Alexi G. has done nothing to merit a promotion to the U.S., in my view, with the short time that he has been the state treasurer. In addition to that the fact that his “friends” in the White House were cold on his running for the senate suggests that there is/are huge problems with Alexi G. that they know, but we don’t (yet) know. For me the news about the family bank doesn’t do much for me because I made my mind up a long time ago not to vote for Alexi G. but, I would imagine for the undecided types the news isn’t good for Alexi. - bored now - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 10:28 am: wow. alexi is much more open to questioning than kirk. downstate relatives (downstate meaning mt. vernon, taylorville, etc) were critical about the “protective” staff that kirk had around him when they saw him. one of the reasons alexi did so well downstate was that he’s a good campaigner, listens to people and really engages them in what *they* want to talk about. hard to see how kirk thought alexi was an easier opponent than lisa… - VanillaMan - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 10:33 am: If Jason Plummer were elected Treasurer four years ago, would you think he would be ready to be a US Senator now? Me neither. I have no interest in promoting Alexi Giannoulais to Washington. I didn’t vote for him in the primary, and have no intention of voting for him in the General. Enough with the lightweight glamour boys. - wordslinger - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 10:45 am: Kirk is leading a charmed life. He navigated the rocky shoals of the tea-partiers and the GOP Roesers, and now Alexi is likely to be the Illinois poster child of the Bad Banker. The bank’s loan portfolio is 96% commercial real estate. That’s just foolish and greedy. If Alexi had something to fall back on, he might be able to ride it out. But his banking experiences were his bona fides. - Carl Nyberg - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 10:54 am: Is Alexi better off having the bank go under? What’s wrong with saying something along the lines of…? “My family owned a bank. When the economy was going well, the bank did well because it was managed well. When the economy slowed and the real estate market collapse, the bank was overly invested in commercial real estate. “Both from a political and financial point of view, I’d be in better shape if the economy, especially the real estate market, performed better. “While I don’t want to say I’m facing the same hardships as unemployed people who formerly worked in real estate or the trades, I do understand how larger economic forces can take what looked secure and strip it away from you. “The problem that drove the near financial collapse were irresponsible practices by the big banks putting fraudulent loans into the system and using their political muscle to keep regulators from doing their jobs. “The choice facing the people of Illinois is whether they want to send someone to the U.S. Senate who will champion the ideology to keep the federal government from regulating banks effectively. And Mark Kirk will align himself with the fat cats and the Republicans on financial sector issues. “Or do the people want to send me and my experience to the Senate? Broadway Bank was a small bank. But I have learned how the big players use their muscle and abuse their political influence to create a system that puts the rest of us at risk.” - bored now - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 10:57 am: wordslinger: alexi has more than enough to “fall back on.” he’s been elected statewide before (and been on the statewide ballot previously) and he’s got the advantage in that it’s difficult to see illinois sending someone to the senate who will be voting day after day to filibuster obama’s agenda. this race is all about the president: will illinois send someone to washington to support the president or someone who will try to tear the president down? and you seem to have missed that at friday’s tea party meeting in new lenox, mark kirk was ne’er mentioned. they don’t want anything to do with him… - E Pluribus - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:01 am: Alexi’s only claim to legitimacy has been his experience as a banker. As we see, he and his family were wildly irresponsible, trying to make quick gains at the expense of the bank’s long-term stability. He will continue to rail against the fat-cats and insiders and claim he is a man of the people, but it is a bald-faced lie. Alexi is the personification of the greed that led to the financial meltdown. He can pose for holy pictures with laid off workers, but his business practices are exactly the kind that caused the problem. He didn’t deserve to win the Treasurer’s job, but he should be roundly rejected in the Senate race. If Kirk doesn’t implode (even Blago won when the Topinka campaign couldn’t do anything right), there is no way Alexi wins. - Responsa - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:01 am: I have a question. If the bank is shut down by the Feds sometime between now and April, will there be extreme pressure put on Alexi by state and national Dems to withdraw from the race so another candidate like Hoffman might have a better shot at retaining the Obama senate seat? Or do you think it’s Alexi on the ballot come hell or high water? - Brennan - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:07 am: =his business practices are exactly the kind that caused the problem.= Are they? Broadway was just trailing the path blazed by residential mortgage backed securities. Once they turned south there really wasn’t anything the commercial mortgage backed securities could do. Alexi can run against the Community Reinvestment Act if he so chooses. - Carl Nyberg - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:11 am: For all these people attacking Alexi on being too inexperienced…. What has Mark Kirk accomplished in Congress? What are his big accomplishments in life? - wordslinger - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:17 am: Bored Now, the Tea Partiers might not want anything to do with Kirk, but they didn’t cause too much trouble for him in the primary, either. Take a look at Texas — they’ve got a real live one down there. There’s a possibility that either the right wing senator or the very right wing governor will be taken down by a tea partier in the gubernatorial primary. - Rich Miller - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:20 am: ===He didn’t deserve to win the Treasurer’s job=== Democracy is not a meritocracy. - hrm... - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:39 am: “For all these people attacking Alexi on being too inexperienced…. What has Mark Kirk accomplished in Congress? What are his big accomplishments in life? ” Oh I don’t know… 20-year veteran of the Naval Reserve, served in Haiti, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. First sitting Congressman to deploy to Afghanistan or any conflict zone since 1942. Saved the North Chicago VA Hospital. Recognized expert on foreign policy and one of Israel’s most effective champions in Congress. As a moderate Republican, I was especially heartened to see him lead the charge to pass funding for Stem Cell research, and then stand up to President Bush and try to override the veto. Experience ain’t a winning issue for the Alexi camp. Just sayin. - 10th Indy - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:39 am: If the bank fails, Alexi can explain as much as he wants, but the story becomes very simple: Alexi owned and ran a bank. The bank and Alexi made a lot of money on risky real estate investments. The bank failed and the FDIC had to step in and clean up the mess. Alexi Giannoulias - Illinois can’t afford the Risk. - A.B, - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:40 am: What has Kirk done? Off the cuff - Saved the VA hospital in his district from being shut down. Stopped companies that were polluting in the Great Lakes. The first sophomore member of Congress to become an appropriator in over 40 years. Before running in 2000, he was the Chief Legal Counsel to the House International Affairs Committee. Kirk was the UN representative sent to N. Korea in the ’90’s to inspect the famine in that country. He was the Naval Intelligence Officer of the Year in the 90’s as well. Kirk has hunted war criminals in former Yugoslavia with the UN and flown in combat zones over Iraq for the US Navy. Kirk has been a grade school teacher and staffer to Parliment during his collegiate years. He is a grad of Cornell, masters from the London School of Economics and JD from Georgetown. In short, Kirk has done more in his life than the rest of us…especially little ‘lexi. - Steve - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:40 am: Rich: Thanks for putting up the video. At the 3:02 marker Alexi claims he’s never heard of the name of the late Chicago Mob Boss Sam Giancana. Imagine that. - Bill - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:47 am: ==Democracy is not a meritocracy.== No one knows that better than the citizens of Illinois. - E Pluribus - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 12:35 pm: Illinois is rapidly becoming an “idiocracy.” Re-electing Blago, nominating Cohen, and now, possibly electing Alexi? And Carl, no matter how partisan you are, to compare Alexi’s lack of any discerble positive achievement in life, other than being born rich, to Kirk’s record of public service (even if you don’t like his politics) is pathetic. Try a little objective reading. Every paper endorsed Kirk because of his record and his temprement. You can’t just change the facts becasue they are inconveninet. Alexi is a very weak candidate next to anyone. He’s a disaster next to Kirk. - Area 2 - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 12:42 pm: Rich— It appears you scrubbed my previous post. Isn’t the Rezmar/Terry Teele donation to the Giannoulias camp relevant to today’s post? Especially in light of Alexi’s representation in the SunTimes interview of being a unique, non-recipient of Rezmar-related contributions. - Fan of Cap Fax - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 1:08 pm: Enough with the lightweight glamour boys. It’s comments like this that make me say… Vanilla Man, I love you! Run for office! - Cousin Ralph - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 1:41 pm: What happens if a politically active Billionaire steps in and injects the necessary capital — such as a George Soros? Would’nt people and the press wonder if Alexi could maintain independence from the tycoon when voting on legislation that may effect that tycoon’s other business interests? And what if those that come up with the capital seem to get much less than market price or much less ownership or control as the market would suggest? What is the quid pro quo? This is a story that is not going away, and unfortunately for Alexi, does’nt seem to be moving toward a happy ending. - bored now - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 2:30 pm: i’ll be very impressed (shocked is another word) if a tea bagger “takes down” perry or hutchison. i never thought that the right would take out kirk, because illinois’ tradition of so-called moderate republicans is pretty substantial. the question is, will the right and the tea baggers (two different segments of the republican landscape) hold their noses and vote for kirk. i’m pretty sure that kirk needs more than just the judy baar topinka voters to win in november. that is really what i’m looking forward to: to see whether the brady voters will vote for kirk and the kirk voters will vote for brady. alexi’s task is fairly simple: get the people who support the president out to the polls in november. nobody who supports the president is likely to vote for a beltway insider who’s going to obstruct barack’s agenda at every turn. and, ftr, i’ve never heard of sam giancana, either… - Adam Smith - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 2:40 pm: Bored, do your homework. Kirk got approximately 20% of the Obama voters in his district to vote for him in 2008. And you may want to look at a recent poll or two. Independents, who heavily supported Obama in 2008 have shifted en masse to have a negative opinion of his presidency. Of course, Illinois still has more Dems than Republicans, but your assumptions are refuted by pesky little facts. Also noteworthy is the 1998 election where centrist George Ryan and conservative Peter Fitzgerald both got about the same percentage of the vote. Many differences from then to now, but it proves that an ideologically diverse GOP ticket can win in the right situation. Otherwise, your analysis is spot on. - bored now - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 3:21 pm: smith: there’s no question that kirk did well in the 10th, where he repeatedly ran as a porter republican. like i said, ne’er a mention of kirk at that tea bagger meeting on friday — probably because he is a porter republican. you seem to think that i’m suggesting that moderate republicans will have trouble pulling the lever for kirk, and i’m not. i have yet to see any indication that the social conservatives (brady voters) and the tea baggers are willing to vote for kirk. if you have indicators on that, i’d love to see them! here’s what i’m expecting: that brady and kirk’s message to voters will conflict, even contradict each other. given that republicans in illinois seem to share illinois democrats’ belief that only illinois matters, it could very well be that brady voters say “screw kirk” and skip over the top race on their ballot. or tea baggers will offer their own candidate. does anyone doubt they could collect 25,000 signatures at the drop of the hat? - Chicago Cynic - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 3:32 pm: 10th, Let me tweak this for you. Alexi and his family owned and ran a bank. The bank and Alexi made a lot of money on risky real estate deals. Now the bank’s failed and we’ve got to bail them out. That’s right, Alexi Giannoulias and his family got rich and now they got a bailout. Alexi Giannoulias - Illinois can’t afford the Risk. - Responsa - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 3:58 pm: @bored now, Earlier on here it was suggested that Obama Democrats who aren’t crazy about Alexi and believe he is a flawed candidate will still vote for him in order to support the president’s agenda. Yet, apparently you are unable to see that there will be a corresponding tactical or big tent effect on the right. If you really “expect” that any contradictions between Brady and Kirk will trump centrist and right leaning voters’ desire to gain Republican seats in the US Senate, then I suggest you are missing the big picture. Also, have you taken note of the number of Democrats who post here who have already stated they will be voting for Kirk? - 10th Indy - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 4:50 pm: Well said CC. - Adam Smith - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 4:59 pm: Bored- I refer you to the 1998 election again, where moderate Ryan and conservative Fitzgerald were almost tied in votes. That is not to say that a few Poshard voters didn’t vote for Fitz and a few Braun voters didn’t choose Ryan, but probably not a huge number. My point is that in the face of your conjecture, there is a factual example where two Republicans who did not agree on several issues and were not universally loved by all segments of the party both won. I never suggested that Kirk would not do well with moderates. In fact, he will clean up among suburban moderate voters. He will also pull overwhelming support among conservatives and those you pejoratively call “tea baggers.” You may not be aware of this, but there are actually thousands of conservative Republicans in the 10th District. They vote for Kirk every two years. And for those few far right wingers who just can’t vote for Kirk, he more than makes up for it by winning over moderates and centrist Democrats. In this contest, my conjecture is that there will be more Dems who can’t stand voting for Alexi because he is unqualified, unaccomplished and tainted by his questionable business practices and associations, than there will be conservatives who won’t vote for Kirk. Furthermore, a conservative who won’t vote for Kirk is not going to then vote for Alexi, but a Dem who won’t vote for Giannoulias is very likely to opt for Kirk. - fed up - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 5:18 pm: Alexi made bad loans to mobsters and then defended them as good buisness decisions. Now those loans dont look so good and the taxpayer is going to be on the hook when this bank goes under. In recently filed foreclosure suits, the Giannoulias family-owned North Side bank alleges loan defaults by four companies whose owners include two convicted Chicago bookmakers — one also convicted of promoting a nationwide prostitution ring. The loans are on a hodgepodge of properties, including a South Beach hotel and a South Side shopping center that has lost its grocery anchor. The defendants include 1201 South Western LLC, a Berwyn-based company whose activities include making short-term real estate loans at interest rates of 1% a week, property records show. Questions about Mr. Giannoulias’ role in the loans surfaced in 2006, when he overcame concerns about his youth and inexperience to be elected treasurer. He defended the loans as sound business decisions, a claim undermined by the foreclosures. - fed up - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 5:18 pm: The qoute is from Crains article 13 july 09 - bored now - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 5:20 pm: responsa: i don’t know anyone else who has suggested that this race will be a choice between the candidate who will support the president’s agenda and the candidate who will filibuster the president besides me. and you’ve completely misrepresented what i’ve said, because i certainly haven’t argued that alexi was a flawed candidate. my own experience with alexi suggests he’s a much stronger candidate than insiders recognize. but that’s because i pay attention to what voters think. alexi is a great campaigner, and he’s been comfortable doing stuff throughout the state. if you can find a big tent on the right, feel free to expose it! i don’t see any evidence of that as of yet. again, i refer you to the tea party mtg on friday in new lenox. i didn’t get the impression that there are any kirk voters there. more to the point, the social conservatives that united behind brady have been really vocal about the fact that they believe that moderate republicans have ruined the party and is the cause for their defeat the last time around. so it will be interesting to me to see whether brady’s message continues along that line. it would not surprise me at all if there are more democrats who vote for mark kirk than tea baggers. i suspect the number will be exponentially greater. i’d expect a lot more democrats will vote for kirk than tea baggers will. i doubt even the most partisan democrat will hiss at kirk’s name, as i’ve seen tea baggers do. but, in the end, alexi and kirk may trade a few partisans (democrats voting for kirk (madigan and his loyalists come to mind), republicans voting for alexi), but the fact is an overwhelming majority of illinois’ partisans will end up voting for the candidates on their ticket. which is why you see alexi running ahead in the polls… - Rob N - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 5:44 pm: AB…. - Saved the VA hospital in his district from being shut down. >> Just as much as Giannoulias saved the Republic Windows plant from shutting down… - Stopped companies that were polluting in the Great Lakes. >> News flash: Indiana’s GOP governor (a former Bush bureaucrat) is still fighting to let BP/Amoco dump toxins into the Lake, our source for drinking water - The first sophomore member of Congress to become an appropriator in over 40 years. >> Was his role as appropriator before or after his inappropriate acceptance of donations from Blago’s pal Tony Rezko? - Before running in 2000, he was the Chief Legal Counsel to the House International Affairs Committee. >> So he’s a Washington insider and has been part of the problem since before he was first elected? Kirk was the UN representative sent to N. Korea in the ’90’s to inspect the famine in that country. >> Isn’t that famine still going on? He was the Naval Intelligence Officer of the Year in the 90’s as well. >> And he’s also been the subject of a Pentagon disciplinary investigation for apparently violating military code by campaigning while on duty ….I could go on but your Kirk kool-aid was already getting stale. - Will County Woman - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 6:03 pm: - Carl Nyberg - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 11:11 am: Where/how did I attack Alexi G on inexperience???? Admittedly I, as a moderate, am partial to Mark Kirk because he is a moderate as well. I merely stated facts—understandably hard to refute. Attacks? um…no. Mark Kirk has been a fine federal legislator. That’s why democrats in his district have elected him multiple times: he has proven that he is able to represent their views and still maintain an ability to represent republican interests. How awesome is that? An actual elected representative who represents his constituents! on both sides of the aisle. In this day and age, and especially in this state, it is refreshing to see a politican who isn’t myopically focused on himself. Illinois is quite fortunate to have someone of Mark Kirk’s caliber wanting to advocate on its behalf. Based on what I have seen of him and his time in Congress and in terms of his quality overall, I am extremely comfortable giving Mark Kirk a promotion to the U.S. Senate. He has earned it and he deserves it. - Anonymous - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 7:52 pm: WCW, you’re not doing Kirk or Republican Moderates a favor by implying that Dem “Moderates” are the same as Republican Moderates. - Anon - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 8:34 pm: Failed as a banker (there’s 200 small banks in trouble right not out of more than 8,000 — less than 3 percent). Failed. When the Feds have to take it over, it’s a failure. Failed as Treasurer. See Bright Start. Honest? Nope. Failed that too. Lied about his associations with numerous mobsters. Lied about Bright Start. Lied about not knowing his cousin (he who opened the bar/restaurant). What else is there to say? - Anonymous - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 8:38 pm: How much damage were you expecting from Bright Start and how much was realized? - justfedup - Monday, Mar 1, 10 @ 10:11 pm: Thanks for the link, Rich. I need a timeline because I thought Jaws had already been convicted prior to the Indian River, SC Sun Cruz gambling dock loan. And according to news reports, Jaws Greek partner was actually sitting in jail and had his wife physically co-sign the loan. Now, maybe the Martha’s restaurant deal with murdered Boulis’s nephew was before the conviction — I don’t know. And what about the Sun Times article about the bank financing the Russian mob’s real estate loans? He said he never gave a loan to Rezmar, but I read an article which said something about Broadway covering for Rezko’s gambling debts in Vegas, until Rezko went down — isn’t that a loan? Then there’s the granny, hologram museum saga, with Alexi giving a loan with a repayment that he KNEW the old woman couldn’t afford, but secured by a property on the edge of Greek town. It is hard to know the truth since media is often loose with the facts. I am a life long democrat (maybe I should say “was”, as I am becoming independent), and I can’t vote for him; he smells to high heaven. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Mar 2, 10 @ 5:49 am: From what I’ve read, a “bailout” isn’t in the offing for Broadway Bank. It will be a shutdown. Big difference. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.