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Post debate wrap-up

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* I admit that I hadn’t really thought of the Jacob Meister “gay” angle, because I figured David Hoffman’s constant claim that he’s the “only parent” in the race is directed for various reasons at the bachelor Alexi Giannoulias…

Meister is offended that Hoffman, father of a 2-year-old, keeps calling himself the only parent in the Democratic Senate primary. Meister complained, “I can’t get married,” and accused Hoffman of making an insidious, anti-gay slur.

“I’ve had a number of people from the LGBT community come up to me and say, ‘Why are letting him do this?’” Meister said at the debate. “This is horrible. This is a terrible thing, and it’s indicative of the problem that we have. This is not an issue. It is not something that should be brought up in this way any more than Barack Obama’s race.”

But Hoffman said his comment had nothing to do with sexual orientation.

“I’m proud to be married and to have a 2-year-old. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with talking about that. I’m a strong supporter of gay marriage,” Hoffman said, “and what I said up there was I’m a parent. I’m the only parent in the race, because being a parent, regardless of your sexual orientation – raising children – changes your perspective. And that’s the point I’m making, and of course that’s the point I’m making, and for someone to claim something otherwise, I think, is not right.”

Also, this is one way to get the word out that you’re gay. Kinda like Bobby Rush’s ploy to fire up the black troops for Cheryle Jackson.

I’m curious, though, why Meister was even at the debate since he hasn’t broken 5 percent in any polls.

* NBC5 makes a bit of a stretch in its setup of a Hoffman jab at Giannoulias…

Hoffman then linked Giannoulias’ job performance to the suffering Bright Start College savings program.

“How can we trust him when he ran Bright Start and lost 185 million dollars?” he said. “It’s no longer one of the top programs. On his watch, one of his job performance issues was not managing the Bright Start program.” [Emphasis added]

Only one of the funds in the program is actually “suffering.” Consumer Reports even gave the program an “A” earlier this year - one of only five in the nation.

The Hoffman campaign sent this after the debate…

Truth matters in a campaign, and Alexi Giannoulias drove right past it today. He did a grave disservice to the voters by deceiving them that Bright Start is one of the best managed funds in the country today.

Alexi Giannoulias continues to misstate the performance of the Bright Start College Savings Plan, which lost Illinois families $85 million on his watch. Giannoulias cited two year old reports that Bright Start was among the best funds of its kind in the nation.

Bright Start has been dropped by Morningstar, a leading provider of investment research, from the top rankings, and has not appeared on their best performing list since the end of 2007, after which the fund lost 38% of its value.

This misrepresentation is exactly why voters are cynical; they are sick of being lied to. This is why character, job performance and experience are key issues in this race, and why again Mr. Giannoulias fails these crucial tests.

Morningstar July 28, 2008:

“Undoubtedly, the fund’s latest struggles demonstrate the risk of going against the grain during prolonged bouts of uncertainty.”

Morningstar October 27, 2008:
“In fact, the fund’s recent losses (20% for the year ended Oct. 24 2008) have been sizable enough to erase any gains that investors made here over the past five years.”

Morningstar December 17, 2008:

Since our last update in October, this fund has continued its dramatic slide. For the year ended Dec. 16, 2008, it has lost 37.6% which is 31 percentage points worse than its typical intermediate-term bond rival’s loss…”

However, one of the latest Morningstar reports isn’t all that bad. It begins…

Illinois’ Bright Start College Savings Program is on the road to recovery.

It ends…

In all, we still think this plan offers investors plenty of reasons to invest here.

But this Giannoulias press release is just silly…

U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias’ campaign today exposed the hypocrisy of opponent David Hoffman in a critique of Hoffman’s first campaign advertisement.

The “Reality Check” ad contrasts footage of Hoffman alleging that “the bankers, the lobbyists, the powerbrokers, they’ve owned Washington for too long” with the truth - that his investments are protected by the very TARP-funded banks that he rails against.

Hoffman has almost a quarter of a million dollars invested in stock at three big banks which were bailed out with taxpayer money: JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of NY Mellon, according to his personal financial disclosure. The trio received almost $53 billion in TARP funds.

The ad critique poses this question to voters: “Will he work for us? Or the bailed out banks?”

“Taxpayer dollars protected Hoffman’s investments, and now he’s using his personal wealth to finance his campaign. It is hypocritical for David to rail against Wall Street banks when he is their beneficiary,” said campaign spokesperson Kati Phillips.

So, Hoffman has some money in bank stocks and that makes him a total pawn of the banking industry? Please.

Still, some of the most intense battling at the Statehouse is between community banks and “big banks.” I can see where the animosity comes from. I just don’t think it’s a valid hit.

Here’s the video…

From what I gather, Giannoulias started the argument over the banks today, probably so he could bring up his new video.

All of this aside, Giannoulias didn’t participate in the candidate media availability after the debate was over, and reporters were absolutely furious. That may do more to slant today’s coverage than any post-debate spin from either side.

…Adding… Apparently, Giannoulias answered media questions shortly afterwards at city hall.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:03 pm

Comments

Wait… So if one of my mutual funds owns bank stocks in a bailed-out bank I am a tool as well…

Looking forward to the Hoffman counter-shot about the lawsuit against Alexi’s bank…

That should be fun

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:10 pm
Hoffman is really doing one heck of a job at this point.

Comment by anon Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:13 pm
Meister doesn’t have to be married to have children. Apart from the possibility of having them biologically, he could adopt a child or children. Illinois has many gay adoptive parents.

Comment by been there Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:13 pm
I didn’t listen to the entire debate hosted by the Tribune Editorial board, but I did make note of Hoffman’s “parent” comment. Meister had no answer in that debate.

Comment by Brennan Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:16 pm
I understand Alexi’s message here with Hartmarx and now the “investment” hit on Hoffman - trying to go populist. It will be interesting to see the effectiveness of that - a lot of Illinoisans are invested in some shape or form - will they buy this argument - doubtful. But why is he using that as a basis for his argument about Brightstar? A hit on Hoffman not being truthful on criticisms seems to be more accurate and could be more effective…

Comment by Chicago Law Student Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:17 pm
Its nothing - so he pionted out he was a parent - so what??? Rich if you are wondering why Meister showed for the debate - im wondering why you put his releases on your blog?

Comment by anon Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:19 pm
anon, you are too much of a tool to respond to.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:21 pm
Just an FYI- Alexi isn’t a bachelor. He is engaged to his long time girlfriend.

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/candid-candace/2009/09/dance-for-life-is-another-sell-out.html

Comment by Old Man Winter Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:22 pm
It was great to see Hoffman finally taking off the gloves. Alexi has been getting a free ride for far too long. Maybe the Illinois press will finally respond and flesh out how Alexi screwed families around the state with his failed management of Bright Start? We’ll see.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:28 pm
Cheap shot by Meister. There are plenty of gay parents in Illinois.

Meister has a radio spot playing on WBBM quite a bit. I don’t know why — it doesn’t say anything.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:31 pm
Not that I’m an Alexi fan (though I’m undecided for the primary right now), but also relevant would be how BrightStar fared compared to similar programs. Given how much states are struggling across the board with decreased revenues, that would tell me more about his performance as treasurer than the isolated fact that the fund was having troubles.

Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:37 pm
Alexi is running out of time to announce when that settlement is going to pay out of the pocket of Oppenheimer Funds and into those of Bright Start.

Comment by Brennan Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:47 pm
“Hoffman finally taking off the gloves”?

Hoffman’s campaign has been nothing but negative from the beginning.

Mark Kirk could not have constructed a more ideal primary opponent to soften Giannoulias.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:50 pm
LCD,

The Bright Start story really hasn’t been covered by anyone other than Greg Hinz, and even Hinz hasn’t nailed the point. Alexi promoted the core bond fund as a safe investment that would protect principal even though he knew (no later than April, 2008) that the fund invested in junk bonds and mortgage backed securities. It was a junk fund sold as a safe fund and families lost a ton of dough.

It was a simple case of bait and switch and people who saved for years paid the price for his incompetence. That’s the story nobody has told.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:50 pm
AS one who might listen to ads more than watch them (TV on in the room) I got more Hoffman than AG out of the ad anyway!
Go Hoffman! This seat is too critical to be in the hands of an insider -

Comment by collar oberver Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 1:54 pm
==the fund invested in junk bonds and mortgage backed securities==

I thought it was just MBS that we later learned were technically “junk”. Were there actual high yield bond investments that Alexi requested?

Comment by Brennan Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 2:11 pm
Brennan,

It’s not that he requested them, it’s that he ignored them. What really gets to me is that even by his own admission he knew there were problems with the fund in April and yet he didn’t warn people or pull out until December, which is when most of the $$$$ were lost.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 2:14 pm
Hoffman is a really bad candidate that would completely explode if the Giannoulias campaign had their act together. Amateur hour.

First time vanity candidates generally are. There’s a lengthy political graveyard of people who think they can get in a new business and start at the top. Here’s a list of people who grabbed their baseball glove and decided they could play major league baseball, Oberweis, Vallas, Schmidt, Burns, McKenna, Gidwitz, Eisendrath. Unless you have Bloomberg’s money you can’t just start at the top without working your way up, but that doesn’t stop all these vanity types from thinking so.

Hoffman’s a small, empty suit full of hypocrisy. If he ever gained any traction, or if his opponents knew what they were doing here’s what you’d find out about him:

- his personal IG expenses were ungodly. The David Hoffman self promotion tour wasn’t just pervasive, it was expensive.

- his anti-clout “credentials” are hypocritical. Did David Hoffman interview for his job as IG and get selected based on merit? No. He was the hand-picked personal friend of the deputy chief of staff. The chief of staff at the time has now gone on to run CPS and the DCOS who hand picked David Hoffman has left government work and is now a clout-heavy contractor with fat contracts at Chicago Public Schools. This is something David Hoffman doesn’t want you to know and he gets angry, very angry, when you bring it up to him. So if you see him on the street mention it in passing.

- is that the only clout-heavy hiring issue he’s involved in? Of course not. Hoffman heavy handed a move where he backdoored one of his lawyers into a general counsel spot that didn’t exist at the aviation department by moving her into an executive assistant spot first.

- was Hoffman good at his job question #1? Of course not. The dirty building inspector case that he self promoted to the hilt was given to him on a silver platter by the head of the department who suspected his own employees were bad apples.

- was Hoffman good at his job question #2? Of course not. Ask him about the Motorola price fixing case in the federal court system. The City sued Motorola over a contract and repeatedly asked Hoffman to investigate. The case has had about a half dozen continuances because Hoffman couldn’t be bother to do any actual work that didn’t involve self promotion.

The worst part is that this is a guy with very, very thin skin so the inevitable blow up should be hilarious to watch. The worst ingredient for a vanity candidate is alway thin skin. They just can’t understand how the whole world doesn’t understand that they’re awesome. And how dare someone suggest otherwise. If his opponents had a clue, I mean anything remotely resembling a clue, he’s already be out of this race. Instead we’ve got to endure his nonsense and just look forward to the day he implodes. I’ve got the popcorn ready.

Comment by Screwball Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 2:23 pm
This ad is completely crazy on Alexi’s part. He really wants to engage in bank ownership?

Judging from the video over on Progress Illinois, David Hoffman did a complete rejection on him when Alexi tried to do a layup with particular ball.

Hoffman wins today.

Comment by Dumb Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 2:28 pm
I may be remembering wrong and don’t have time to research this at the moment, but didn’t the Treasurer’s office negotiate a refund of most of the Bright Start money that was lost? Not saying that absolves Alexi of any mishandling accusations, but at least he had grounds to recoup most of the money (if I’m not mistaken about this).

Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 2:37 pm
Hey, Rich– how about this Screwball BS– you’re allowed to post stuff like that here?

Comment by Rumors? Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 2:43 pm
I still don’t understand why Lisa Madigan isn’t going after Oppenheimer after that rouge trader defrauded all those Illinois families out of their future college money.

How many Illinois children aren’t going to be able to go to college now?

Please help us, Lisa Madigan!

Comment by Where's my money, Giannoulias? Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 2:53 pm
Meister is whining.
How ridiculous.
If Giannoulais regularly referred to himself as a “man”, would Jackson be offended?

What? We can no longer tell voters how we identify ourselves?

Whiner!

Also Hoffman needs to straighten Giannoulais out regarding who and who is not pro-banker here. Giannoulais attacking banks? That is like if Alberto Culver’s Ron Gidwitz attacked Blagojevich over his use of hair products.

Giannoulais is a banker!

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 2:53 pm
Small Town Liberal,

Back in June, Alexi announced to great fanfare an imminent settlement with 90% returned to families. That was six months ago. There’s been no settlement. In the meantime, Oregon (I think it was ORegon) settled with Oppenheimer for 50 cents on the dollar. I highly doubt the IL settlement is real.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 3:08 pm
As a parent, I can say that Hoffman is right that being a parent (at least the parents that care about being parents) changes people in major ways. I can also say that none of those ways have impacted my political views. Learning to be calm when the baby yells makes me more calm generally, but it doesn’t provide me with new insights on national defense.
I still get offended every time that a candidate wants to bring his/her family into the matter. It was a cheap shot by Hoffman, and it sounded way too much like Palin’s whining last year about how she is so different because of her status as a parent of a disabled child. Tell us what you want to do as Senator. Don’t bother us by trying to claim that because you have successfuly reproduced, you somehow are a better person than your opponents.

Comment by OdysseusVL Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 3:13 pm
IL 529 (”Bright Start” Plan):

Re: State of Oregon settlement with Oppenheimer Funds ($20 mil):

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/OppenheimerFunds-529-ms-3084314164.html?x=0&.v=1

New Mexico reached a settlement with Oppenheimer Funds for $67.31 mil on 12.15.2009

IL, nothing new yet.

Comment by Judgment Day Is On The Way Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 3:35 pm
Carl:

I answered your questions on the earlier posting.

Comment by Niles Township Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 3:47 pm
Personally, I’d love to hear Hoffman explain how being a parent “changed his perspective.”

Did he not think education was important two years ago, or care about global warming, or the deficit?

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 3:57 pm
been there:

Happy for you as a gay adoptive parent.

Now for the reality check:

1. Good luck finding a judge to approve an adoption for gay parents outside of Chicago.

2. The largest adoption agencies in the state are run by faith-based organizations who refuse to place children with gay parents.

3. If being a “parent” qualifies you to be a United States Senator, we’re setting the bar pretty darn low.

Rich -

I don’t think this is being aimed at Alexi, I think its a set-up for Mark Kirk.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 4:07 pm
Bravo Odysseus!

As usual, you’ve said it much better than I.

“Objection! Relevance?”

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 4:09 pm
Yellow Dog - Hoffman is saying that being a parent qualifies you as a Senatorial Candidate, he states being a parent gives you a different perspective which is true.

In regards to Alexi’s silly adverstisement - you’re going after a guy for collecting dividends when you, yourself are a banker/rich kid who got money from his daddy’s bank business? Come on. Weak.

Comment by 2010 Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 5:13 pm
Yellow Dog - I meant to state that Hoffman is not saying being a parent qualifies you….

Comment by 2010 Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 5:14 pm
VM, So Meister is a whiner because he pointed out that a group of people have been denied their civil rights. Would you describe the plaintiffs in Brown v Board of Education a bunch of whiners?

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 5:54 pm
Anon 554,

Give me a break. Unless you’re a complete idiot or are being totally disingenuous, you know darned well that’s not what VM meant about Meister’s whining. (Oh my, this may be the first time in history I’ve defended VM. Oy.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 6:41 pm
Finally got a chance to see a part of the City Club debate which was on the Chicago Tonight broadcast. Alexi definitely picked the fight with Hoffman. He towered over Hoffman and looked and sounded like a bully. I don’t know if one of his handlers told him to do that, or if those were Alexi’s own natural political instincts kicking in, but he did not acquit himself well, especially for that crowd, IMO. Hoffman’s defense and counter attack as shown in the clip were strong but seemed more professional and rational than Alexi’s comments.

Comment by Responsa Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 7:57 pm
What’s lost in all of this is that Giannoulias has done better in the office than predicted. There are things he’s done that aren’t getting any mention at all–helping some of us reserve component soldiers out with a loan fund, rebates for people who buy hybrid cars. And for what it’s worth we’ve got our daughter’s college money in one of the zillions of Bright Start funds that didn’t lose money (we didn’t go for the level of risk that was described in the one that had problems).

Comment by RFK fan Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 10:13 pm
RFK, the Core Bond Fund was sold as the one to go for for people who were about to send their kids to school. It was supposedly the one with the LEAST risk, not the most. That’s why it was so outrageous that it lost almost 40% of its funds.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Dec 16, 09 @ 11:40 pm
2010 -

When you say “As a parent, I believe…” you are explaining your perspective.

When you say “As the only parent in this race…” you are saying it is a qualification.

If Terry O’Brien said “As the only white candidate in this race…” he’d be excoriated, just as Stroger’s supporters have been excoriated for saying that the County Board President should be black.

BTW, this is NOT just about Hoffman being anti-gay.

Its an insult and affront to the many voters, most of them non-breeders, many of them married or in committed relationships who don’t have children either because they can’t or choose not to.

They see an elected government that panders endlessly to seniors and married families with kids, while they are an after-thought.

Case in point: Governor Quinn’s tax increase, which he offsets by increasing the standard deduction.

That’s just fine if you’re a family of four making $30K a year.

But what if you’re a married couple making $30K a year who decided not to have kids right now because it didn’t seem financially responsible?

Guess what — you just got whacked again by the government.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, Dec 17, 09 @ 9:21 am
Meister is not ready for prime time, if he seriously thinks he can milk this for sympathy. He cannot possibly be unaware of all the gay parents out there.

Comment by T.J. Thursday, Dec 17, 09 @ 11:54 pm