Rally against ShoreBank bailout - speech by Joel Pollak

Press release (6/9/2010):

Pollak campaign leads demonstrators against ShoreBank bailout

Joel Pollak, Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in the 9th congressional district of Illinois, led several dozen demonstrators in protest against the corrupt ShoreBank bailout outside ShoreBank's downtown branch on LaSalle St. in Chicago today.

The bank is the only one of 72 that have failed in the U.S. this year--30 in Illinois since the beginning of 2009--to receive a bailout, apparently because of its high-level political connections.

"We are tired of corrupt insider deals," Pollak said. "We want jobs, not bailouts."

The bailout comes as ShoreBank struggles to deal with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

Pollak's opponent, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D), was the main advocate for the ShorereBank bailout, lobbying the state of Illinois and pressuring Wall Street banks for $145 million towards capital needed to save it from closure and closer federal scrutiny.

"Rep. Schakowsky had a conflict of interest, since ShoreBank may have saved her husband some prison time in the 1990s by allowing him to pay back money from a check kiting scheme for which he was later convicted in 2006," Pollak said.

"She also encouraged the public to invest in ShoreBank in January 2010, when she knew the bank was in trouble. She should never have involved herself in the bailout effort."

The Pollak campaign was joined by Rev. Isaac Hayes, Republican nominee in the 2nd congressional district against Jesse Jackson, Jr. Members of the Chicago Tea Party also attended, handing out leaflets and showing their opposition to the ShoreBank bailout.

The demonstrators demanded a full forensic audit of ShoreBank before it can receive $75 million that the U.S. Treasury is about to give it to cover its capital shortfall.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ShoreBank
• Isaac Hayes
• Joel Pollak
• Jesse Jackson Jr.
• Chicago
• Jan Schakowsky
• Dick Durbin