Joe Birkett on Alexi Giannoulias' Bank Deceptions

Alexi Giannoulias calling the seizure of the Broadway Bank a "sale" is like Bernie Madoff calling his Ponzi schemes' collapse a run of bad luck and that's exactly what's going on. Right now Alexi, according to news reports, is referring to the seizure of the Broadway Bank as a sale. In April Broadway Bank was seized by government regulators. When the bank closed, the regulators said it was closed because of risky and reckless banking practices. The FDIC announced that the bank's failure would cost 394 million dollars. We know that from 2002-2006 Alexi was Vice President and Senior Loan Officer of that Bank, so in other words Alexi played a significant role in those bad and risky loans. The New York Times, Crain's Chicago Business and others have all documented how Alexi drove the bank into risky, hot money, broker deposits, heavy real estate and construction investments and paid millions in loans to organized crime figures. That's Alexi's work, and the voters of Illinois are too smart to be fooled by his attempt to re-tool his campaign. But Alexi does not want the people of Illinois to know this. He does not want the people of Illinois to know he made the same kind of risky lending decisions that have brought our economy to its knees. So instead he tried to re-tool and re-brand his campaign. According to Alexi, Broadway Bank wasn't seized, it wasn't bailed out by the FDIC, it didn't collapse, and it didn't fail. Those are are all accurate descriptions. The inaccurate and deceitful description is sale. This bank was not sold. It was taken over by government regulators because it had collapsed. The re-branding campaign apparently is that the bank was sold. That's what Alexi told the tribune yesterday. And apparently this sale is why Alexi won't disclose his financial info to the US Senate Ethics Committee, as required by federal law. We've seen this movie before. I stood here, right here in this exact spot in 2005, when I was talking about then Governor Rod Blagojevich who was about to run for re-election. Remember what we said then. Don't be fooled again. Don't be fooled again. Alexi is stepping in the same kind of footing that Rod Blagojevich was in. I didn't do anything wrong. It's just not true. I need an extension of my financial reports so the public won't know what I'm hiding until it's too late. We've seen this movie before. It's the Rod Blagojevich script all over again. Alexi again is trying to re-brand his campaign.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Mark Kirk
• Mark
• Kirk
• Alexi Giannoulias
• Alexi
• Giannoulias
• ilsen
• il-sen
• Illinois
• senate
• race
• election
• politics
• chicago
• campaign
• 2010
• senate election
• senate race
• senate 2010
• 2010 elections
• 2010 election
• 2010 Illinois
• mark kirk
• alexi giannoulias
• alexi
• giannoulias
• mark
• kirk
• Broadway Bank
• Loans
• Mob Banker
• Joe Birkett