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Et tu, Robin?

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Illinois

* Democratic state treasurer nominee Robin Kelly is Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias’ chief of staff. They are obviously not coordinating their campaign efforts.

For the past several days, Giannoulias’ US Senate campaign has been slamming his Republican opponent Mark Kirk for not giving back all the campaign money Kirk accepted from Goldman Sachs employees. Giannoulias has also called on Kirk to give back money contributed by other corporations accused or convicted of fraud.

Ms. Kelly apparently didn’t get those memos. Her campaign put out a press release this afternoon entitled, in part: “Rutherford should follow Congressman Kirk’s example.” In the release, Kelly notes that Republican treasurer nominee state Sen. Dan Rutherford has accepted $75K in campaign contributions from a Goldman Sachs executive…

“I’m calling on my opponent to donate this dirty money to charity and vow not to accept it in the future.”

Giannoulias’ governmental chief of staff then heaped praise on Congressman Kirk…

Kelly is asking that Rutherford follow the lead of fellow Congressman Mark Kirk, U.S. Senate candidate and standard-bearer of the Illinois Republican Party, who just last week announced that he would return the money he received from Goldman employees.

Specifically, Kirk said he would give back his Senate campaign contributions, stating: “I want to set an example of ethics for others to follow.”

Will Rutherford, who sits on the Illinois Senate’s Financial Institutions Committee, follow Kirk’s lead and avoid a conflict of interest? Will Rutherford do what is ethically right by donating the dirty money or will he side with a Wall Street titan accused of corrupt activity and against Illinois families?

“After all the pay-to-play abuses by Illinois politicians in recent years, we cannot risk electing a Treasurer who will be beholden to firms that accepted federal bailouts and fought against financial reform and hardworking Americans,” Kelly said.

Under the bus goes Alexi.

Also, notice that Kelly’s campaign refers to Kirk as a “fellow Congressman” of Rutherford’s. Rutherford is in the Illinois Senate. Kirk is in the US House. Kelly served in the Illinois House, so she surely knows the difference, or maybe not.

* In other campaign news, 8th Congressional District Republican nominee Joe Walsh is in more trouble. First, it came out that Walsh didn’t bother to mention that his apartment had been foreclosed upon during the primary. Now it emerges that Walsh loaned his campaign $28,500 six months after the foreclosure. The candidate responded…

Walsh characterized it as a “terribly risky” loan.

“That’s literally every cent we had, combined with a little extra I brought in that month to try and win the primary,” he said. “Some people might say that’s reckless, but so what?”

Walsh says it was too late to save his condo when he loaned the money to his campaign.

Walsh also failed to file his personal financial disclosure form. Asked if he was trying to hide something, Walsh replied…

Oh God no. Oh God no. Not at all.”

Fox Chicago also reports that two local members in the Schaumburg Township GOP want Walsh to resign from the ticket. The two supported other candidates in the primary, however…

“You have a small group of people with ulterior motives spreading misinformation and attempting to enlist whoever will listen to help them blow marginal issues totally out of proportion,” said Walsh Communications Director Whitney Schlosser.

Schlosser tells FOX Chicago the campaign plans to file Walsh’s personal financial disclosure by the end of the week, along with the required $200 late fee.

Ms. Schlosser was an intern for Sen. Barack Obama, by the way.

* Rahm Emanuel was in Chicago today and talked to reporters afterwards about all the breathless coverage of his statement that one day he’d like to run for mayor if Rich Daley ever retires…

“Don’t over-interpret anything. Don’t everybody get excited. At some point, when we come back, which is always our goal, which is why we rented the house. … You guys are way too excited. You guys gotta start drinking decaf.”

No kidding.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 12:33 pm

Comments

Ironically the companies that Alexi lists as ‘bad’ are two of the states larger employers…

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 12:37 pm
Rahm talks like Daley, only with grammar.

Comment by Way South of the Border Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 12:39 pm
Of all the tarnished candidates out there running, Joe Walsh should be the one to go?

That’s crazy.

Comment by just sayin' Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 12:40 pm
Time for pat brady to show some political skill. the northwest burbs have no shortage of highly educated republicans with solid resumes. Peter Fitzgerald came from that neck of the woods. There’s got to be someone with a few million and a little political ambition.

A 23 yearold democrat just out of college is not the best communications director for a gop congressional hopeful.

kelly needs a new editor. there should be a republican and delete congressman.

Comment by shore Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 12:46 pm
Has Kelly accepted any donations from financial firms that work in tandem with the State Treasuer’s Office?

Comment by 2010 Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 1:00 pm
2010: no. although i no longer work for robin’s campaign, i can tell you that the first thing her campaign did was devise extraordinarily stringent fund-raising guidelines that prohibited that…

Comment by bored now Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 1:10 pm
=A 23 yearold democrat just out of college is not the best communications director for a gop congressional hopeful.=

If you’re led by consultants you get what you can afford.

Comment by Brennan Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 1:27 pm
Walsh’s financial picture is surely less than ideal. However, we have just come thru a brutal recession, especially devastating to people with assets tied up in real estate. He would be in a good position to understand the stress and strains of average people.

Why should we always want independently weathly congressman & politicians who are INSULATED from the concerns & pressures of everyday people.

We have had enough dithering rich Maria Antoinette types in Congress—-check out brain dead Country Clubber Judy Biggert R IL-13. Authentic Middle class representation is a good idea.

What are Mr. Walsh’s other qualities and strengths? Let him sink or swim on other merits or flaws. Don’t reject or hammer Walsh just because he isn’t RICH.

Comment by jaded voter Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 2:13 pm
Even though Robin is a PhD, she doesn’t seem so intelligent…she was Alexi’s COS while he was Treasurer and she must be held somewhat accountable for what transpired while she was in charge of the day to day…it seems to me she is the right sex and race, more than a decent candidate…

Comment by Loop Lady Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 2:15 pm
Reality check on Mayor Rhambo. Why trade one jerk for another?

Let’s smarten up here. Stop accepting the goons and clowns we are given by the powers that be.

How bout someone smart & sensible like John Geoghagan [spelling? Go-gain] who ran for Congress last year for IL 5th district special election.

Heard him once on NPR, unlike many candidates–quite impressive.

Comment by jaded voter Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 2:22 pm
Loop Lady: “Even though Robin is a PhD, she doesn’t seem so intelligent *** it seems to me she is the right sex and race, more than a decent candidate”

I believe you may have communicated more than you intended with that post.

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 2:37 pm
loop lady: trying to correct all the errors in your comment (and reasoning) might take hours, so let’s just focus on the facts that you should already be aware of (and which i assume you simply ignored to make your ridiculous point):

1.) alexi giannoulias IS (not was) illinois’ state treasurer.
2.) robin kelly IS (not was) the treasurer’s chief of staff.
3.) no one has argued that kelly shouldn’t be held responsible for “what transpired while she was in charge of the day to day.” just the opposite. both kelly and giannoulias want to take credit for the reforms that they brought into the office as well as the high ratings the office has received under their leadership. the rub, of course, is that republicans want to attack them for bright start while denying either the reforms they brought or the national reputation the office has garnered or the fact that they were the first to discover the fraud that had slipped into the fund’s management. good oversight should be rewarded, not condemned. that is, unless you don’t believe in government and you think we should all be allowed to be duped by the madoff’s of the world.

i’d suggest that you might not want to question other people’s intelligence when your weaknesses in that department are displayed for all to see…

Comment by bored now Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 2:38 pm
Life’s Been Good To Me So Far - Joe Walsh, enhanced by VanillaMan

I have a mansion
Forget the price
I just rent there
It’s really nice

My apartment foreclosed
My credit is shot
They say it’s risky
I say, so what?

They want me out but I’m havin’ a good time
I haven’t a clue as to what’s the big crime?
Life’s been good to me so far

My polling numbers
Show I’m under five
I’m losing funding
I hope I survive

I have a campaign aide
Who covers for me
She worked for Obama
So, I’m sure cagey

I’m breaking records
Supporters are in shock
This campaign is in discord
I’m deeply in hock

So I’m running for office
Hope to be in Congressional Hall
Wanna represent citizens
Livin’ in suburban sprawl

Lucky I’m sane after all I’ve been through
(Everybody sing) I’m cool (He’s a fool)
I can’t really address any election issue
Life’s been good to me so far

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 2:41 pm
Folks aren’t slamming Waslh because he isn’t rich, they’re slamming him because he seems irresponsible. He flip flops on the social issues when he switches congressional races. Then the foreclosure. Then the high turnover with his staff. Then the failure to file the financial disclosure form.

It’s little things adding up. I don’t think folks expect perfection here, but they do expect:

1) Any “issues” that a candidate may have have been resolved long ago. If it was a foreclosure or a DUI or a bankruptcy filing or whatever, it has to have happened several years in the past. Walsh’s problems are all very recent.

2) If the candidate had the aforementioned problems, they need to get out in front of it and do the mea culpa. Maybe even make it part of the rationale for WHY they may be a good candidate. i.e. “When I was young and stupid, I fell into xyz mistakes. I learned a lot from it–humility, how to accept responsibility for my actions, the right perspective about what’s important in life, etc. In fact, that bad experience helped shape my world view…it’s through my experiences as a younger man that I learned the value of A/B/C….”

So long as the candidate wasn’t violent or a pedophile or something, that kind of approach is usually best.

Waslh has done none of that.

Comment by ABCBoy Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 2:44 pm
3.) no one has argued that kelly shouldn’t be held responsible for “what transpired while she was in charge of the day to day.” just the opposite. both kelly and giannoulias want to take credit for the reforms that they brought into the office as well as the high ratings the office has received under their leadership. the rub, of course, is that republicans want to attack them for bright start while denying either the reforms they brought or the national reputation the office has garnered or the fact that they were the first to discover the fraud that had slipped into the fund’s management. good oversight should be rewarded, not condemned. that is, unless you don’t believe in government and you think we should all be allowed to be duped by the madoff’s of the world.

Being the first one to notice the horses have left the barn doesn’t mean you get out of any responsibility for leaving the barn door open (or failing to notice it wasn’t open sooner)…

As for wanting to point out the negative and not the positive, well welcome to politics.

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 2:50 pm
As others have pointed out:

Walsh: $50K
Bean: $1 million+

He’s got zero chance.

If the ILGOP could recruit a self-funder or a known guy like state Senator Matt Murphy to jump in, then they’d have a chance. But since Bean has the $1 million banked and she’s been ensconced for several cycles now, most rational rich-guys won’t jump in. And Murphy probably feels the need to mend some fences amongst the GOP base after jumping in with McKenna that last go-around before he asks for their support for a higher office again.

Comment by AnonToo Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 2:50 pm
I just don’t understand why it is that whenever I catch Joe on offense (rare, I’ll admit), he’s fighting all of Congress rather than taking jabs at Bean.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 3:40 pm
Thanks for the finger lashing all, but I am entitled to my opinion formed of Kelly the last ten years…she was definitely groomed for this postion by the insiders in Dem politics…BTW, I am not racist, nor a feminist…I just call it as I observe it…and I have observed her close up…please call off the ACLU all…

Comment by Loop Lady Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 3:45 pm
OneMan: of course, your analogy belies your assumptions or your naivete. unless, of course, you’re trying to suggest that the market is secretive, seductive and requires substantially more government oversight than we’ve given it. (in that case, i’d agree.)

feel free to go over the information available to the treasurer’s office (of this, or any other state) and point out where the office failed in its fiduciary responsibilities. yes, fraud was committed. yes, the office caught it. you, apparently, seem to believe that the treasurer’s office should be held accountable for the fact that fraud occurred. if so, then we are back to being naive. the college fund is designed to help families save for college, but even with their rather conservative investments, i don’t believe that there are any guarantees that the markets will always go up or won’t fail. only that the state will act in your interests if they do.

let’s be very clear here: if we believe that giannoulias or kelly have the power to predict the markets perfectly, we shouldn’t be electing them to office, we should be investing in their hedge fund. of course, this is politics. and you’re just taking a cheap shot because you got nothing better.

or just naive…

Comment by bored now Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 3:48 pm
loop lady: lol. if robin was groomed, you might have thought someone would have told her. you are, of course, free to your own opinion, just not your own “facts”…

Comment by bored now Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 3:50 pm
bored now –

I am going to go on the assumption that they didn’t do all of that movement into bonds that did not match the description of the fund in a single quarter.

If that is the case then one would think the state would review the asset mix specifically of each fund in the managed fund mix each quarter.

Did you lose any money thanks to that? I (or should I say my kids did).

For a guy who seems to hate wall street and everyone on it so much he sure did give in kind of easy on the settlement.

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 4:14 pm
Unfortunately, the 8th CD race is just another in a long line of primary races for many positions in which the winning candidate might have been different had not the primary been held so damn early. Let’s be honest here–both parties are fielding candidates (and in one case had to replace a candidate) that in a longer primary season and with proper vetting might have yielded different results. The GA which moved the primary to an earlier date as a publicity stunt to help “our favorite son” in 2008 has a lot to answer for IMO.

Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 4:14 pm
OneMan: robin has stated before that the treasurer’s office uses financial consultants to review the assets held by the state. they are very proud of the fact that they made money for the state. the assets held in trust for parents as part of the college program is a little bit different. first of all, parents choose which fund (of 20-21 funds) in which to participate. the office has oversight — which it exercised. i assume that the office’s oversight is more frequent on it’s own assets (since it can, and does make decisions to increase their worth) than on illinois’ parents (which it can’t make decisions to increase their worth). as i’ve heard robin tell it, the office was about to challenge oppenheimer but then the fund gained in value, so they waited a month. regardless, we were the first state to notice the difference between the assets held in bright start and what the portfolio it was supposed to have.

lisa madigan’s office, not alexi giannoulias (or robin kelly), negotiated the settlement…

Comment by bored now Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 4:28 pm
Bored now : I guess you don’t have money in the plans. BTW in terms of funds, I like I suspect a decent number of parents pick the age based fund (more risk when they are younger, less when they are older) so I didn’t specifically pick the bond fund.

Thanks to the more aggressive mix of the funds for younger kids the two funds I have (one for each) are almost equal in value now even though my oldest has had more put in.

the office was about to challenge oppenheimer but then the fund gained in value

So they just looked at returns as the basis of if something needed to be done?

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 4:42 pm
Joe Walsh is a nice guy, a smart man, and very altruistic and charismatic. But he looks compromised and crippled on several fronts here: ethics, money, public image, you name it.

I think he has some hard thinking to do about what is best for his family, himself and the GOP.

Comment by Bubs Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 5:30 pm
no, oneman, my kid is graduating. as for your last question, i’m don’t know that i could answer that. however, robin has been pretty forthcoming about the subject so i’d suggest you ask her (or the treasurer’s office). what i *inferred* from her responses to prior inquiries is that the consultants have a regular schedule of oversight. but since i never heard robin respond to that specifically, i’m guessing. it sounded to me that the treasurer’s people found the discrepancies as a matter of routine oversight.

btw, i think you have every right to be mad about what happened — just as madoff’s victims have a right to be mad, and all the other con men who took people’s money with the claim of less risk and higher returns. what is sad is that the prisoner’s dilemma became the pervasive model throughout wall street — leaving many, many victims throughout the world. we actually need more people in government like robin kelly and alexi giannoulias, who have shown a willingness to point out that esteemed corporations slipped outside the bounds of ethical behavior…

Comment by bored now Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 5:32 pm
About Rahm Emanuel and that “house” he is keeping back in Chicago.

I saw a ‘net item about a year ago or so that disclosed that Emanual’s personal residence in Chicago while he was Congressman was held in title by a not for profit foundation controlled by his family. As a not for profit, no property taxes were paid on the house he lived in. All this according to the ‘net report.

Any one have more info on this? A link?

With all the grief Brady is getting for taking legal deductions to eliminate his taxes, I wonder whether Mayoral wannabe Emanual should get a pass on the property tax thing.

Comment by Conservative Republican Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 5:54 pm
Unfortunately, there’s a pattern with Treasurer Giannoulias not to take any responsibility for the adverse outcomes that happen under his fiduciary watch. No blame for the family bank failure, no blame for the significant bright start losses. Fair or unfair…doesn’t much matter. Serious questions about competency and accountability will persist from now thru November, and his COS’s campaign may be affected by her association with the young Treasurer.

Comment by Budget Watcher Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 6:12 pm
Yes, Responsa. I often also wondered why it was that Rodriquez, who lives in the 10th and has done a great job supporting candidates out there, decided to run in the 8th.

Many were of the opinion that her running during the Primary through things off a bit for us, too.

Comment by The REALAnonymous...fka Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 6:39 pm
Sorry. That should have read “THREW things off a bit for us, too.”

Comment by The REALAnonymous...fka Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 6:40 pm
Walsh is dead in the water. He owes political consultants money who helped him in the primary. In fact one, Keith Liscio, has sued him for $20,000. Walsh loaned his campaign $28,500 in cash in the same year he was in foreclosure on his condo. While his condo was being foreclosed on he rented a $3,300 house. This man is reckless with his own money. Can you imagine if he had access to federal tas dollars for recommended appropriations? He lives well outside the district to boot.

Comment by Jon Zahm Tuesday, Apr 27, 10 @ 7:03 pm
Emanuel acts like he didn’t orchestrate this whole media circus.

He’s been putting himself in the limelight for months. First, there were the Washington Post and New Republic “if only Obama had listened to Rahm” stories when it looked like health care was going down.

Then the 60 Minutes puff piece. Then the “I want to be mayor stuff.”

The guys is desperate for attention.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 6:33 am
Conservative Republican, LMGTFY: http://tinyurl.com/246gjyg

Comment by Way South of the Border Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 9:30 am