If Alexi Giannoulias is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, Democrats will lose Barack Obama’s Senate seat in 2010.
Adding to the list of his Bright Start cover-up, loans to Tony Rezko and other misleading statements, Alexi Giannoulias just added another pound of baggage to his heavy load.
Today, Jan 26th, Crain’s Chicago Business is reporting that Regulators have clamped down on Giannoulias’ Broadway Bank. According to recent polls, Giannoulias, is the frontrunner with David Hoffman gaining ground rapidly and 27% of the electorate undecided.
First let me underscore that this is President Obama’s former senate seat and we know that Republicans will spend 10-15 million trying to win it back with a formidable opponent in Republican Mark Kirk.
The frontrunner/party insider in the race is Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois Treasurer and baggage-laden banker. Democrat David Hoffman brings the strongest resume and organization to the table of any other candidate in this race. Cheryle Jackson, Jacob Meister and Bob Marshall are all on the ballot, but Hoffman and Giannoulias are the only two running statewide campaigns.
Hoffman has received glowing endorsements from all of Illinois’ leading newspapers. Every endorsement highlights his willingness to challenge a broken political system and his solid record of fighting corruption in Chicago.
Here are some excerpts from the Chicago Tribune’s endorsement.
Independent and incorruptible: Hoffman for the Democrats
Hoffman is what Illinoisans deserve -- and should expect -- in a United States senator. He's an incorruptible man who tells truth to power, and his commitment to open and honest government is unquestioned.
We've seen Hoffman listen in the dark of night to the frustration of impoverished minority families victimized by street violence. As local head of a U.S. Department of Justice effort called Project Safe Neighborhoods, he met with large groups of paroled gang members, on their turf, to explain how any future gun crimes would land them in federal prisons ... for 15 years.
More recently we watched Hoffman expose the lousy deal Chicago taxpayers received from City Hall's long-term lease of their parking meters. And we recall his 2008 inspector general's report documenting $20 million squandered annually on underworked City of Chicago garbage crews: "(D)uring the entire 10 weeks of observations, the investigators did not see a single laborer doing a full day's work."
David Hoffman is running a contrasting commercial on television right now.
This Democratic Primary election is February 2nd – six days away. This is not rocket science – if you want to prevent another Massachusetts, please volunteer to make phone calls for David Hoffman and send money to give his advertising campaign a boost in the final stretch.
Democrats who are serious about politics should see the writing on the wall in today’s regulatory move by the FDIC. From the Crains story:
Broadway Bank, the troubled Chicago lender owned by the family of Illinois Treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias, has entered into a consent order with banking regulators requiring it to raise tens of millions in capital, stop paying dividends to the family without regulatory approval, and hire an outside party to evaluate the bank’s senior management.
The Jan. 26 consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Illinois Division of Banking comes less than a week before Mr. Giannoulias — Broadway’s chief lender and then vice-president from 2002 to 2006 — must face voters in the Democratic primary for the Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama.
The Giannoulias’ family scalped about $70 million in dividends in 2007 and 2008 before the bank started to sink. Is Alexi going to give part of his profits back to save the family bank or is he going to continue to dodge these questions on the campaign trail against $14 million in Republican attack money next fall?
Voters will be faced with Hoffman’s outstanding record vs. Alexi’s problems in the banking business... hmmmm tough choice. And we have not even begun to talk about Bright Start.
I hope the KOS community is smart enough to join in this fight to elect a reformer, David Hoffman. Join in the discussion about issues - I get all of his e-mails and have been following the campaign closely.