Marathon Pundit: Ethically challenged Chicago Democrat Giannoulias announces Senate run

Chicago Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois' state treasurer, officially announced his run for the US Senate yesterday.

Ethically challenged, he's the last thing Illinois needs in Washington.

With a hat tip to Backyard Conservative, here's why, courtesy of the Illinois Republican Party:

Buying a state board appointment from Rod Blagojevich: $10,000

Bankrolling Tony Rezko's gambling problem: $450,000

Loaning money to a convicted bookmaker and prostitution promoter: $12 million

Loaning money to a convicted mob money launderer: $15 million

Losing hard-earned Illinois family education savings: $85 million

Electing Alexi Giannoulias to U.S. Senate: Just not worth it

Documentation:

Buying a state board appointment from Rod Blagojevich: $10,000

"Gov. Blagojevich appointed Giannoulias' brother to a state board and reappointed him one month after a $10,000 contribution from Giannoulias' father: State records don't show Demetris Giannoulias as a campaign donor to the governor. But his father, Alexis Giannoulias passed away this summer after donating $10,000 to Blagojevich on June 29, 2005.

Demetris Giannoulias served as the Chief Financial Officer of the Broadway Bank in Chicago. This is the bank where Alexi Giannoulias was also an officer.

Demetris was first appointed by Blagojevich in 2004 for a stint that expired in 2005. He was reappointed Sept. 1, 2005, for a term that expires July 21, 2008." (The State Journal-Register, Blagojevich has twice appointed Giannoulias brother, October 26, 2006)

"Demetris Giannoulias also appears on Blagojevich's "clout list" with Rezko as a sponsor: "'Clout lists' that tracked politically backed job seekers to Gov. Blagojevich's administration surfaced in the case of indicted businessman Tony Rezko. Rezko also pushed for the appointment of Chicago banker Demetris Giannoulias, brother of Democratic state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, to the Illinois Finance Authority board, records show." (Chicago Sun Times, Gov's 'clout lists' surface in Rezko trial, February 22, 2008)

Bankrolling Tony Rezko’s gambling problem: $450,000

Giannoulias bankrolled Tony Rezko: "Rezko's company -- Rezmar Corp. -- was helped by Thomas' Carnegie Realty Partners to obtain financing to build a 24-story condominium complex at Chicago and Hudson, a project that ultimately did not get off the ground. The financial institution that backed that deal was Giannoulias' Broadway Bank." (Chicago Sun Times, Mole put on Rezko, May 5, 2007)

Giannoulias even bankrolled Tony Rezko's Vegas debts: "According to the May 16 criminal complaint, Rezko bounced $250,000 over five checks at Caesars Palace Casino between March 24 and July 15 of 2006. He also is accused of bouncing four checks on July 13, 2006, at Bally's totaling $200,000. All nine checks, according to the complaint, were drawn on Rezko's account at Chicago's Broadway Bank, which is owned by the family of Illinois Treasurer Giannoulias." (Chicago Daily Herald, Caesars, Bally's, Bellagio They all say Rezko owes them, May 30, 2008)

Loaning money to a convicted bookmaker and prostitution promoter: $12 million

“Giannoulias bankrolled Michael "Jaws" Giorango, a Chicagoan twice convicted of bookmaking and promoting prostitution.” (New York Post, OBAMA'S 'MOB-TIE' $IDEKICK, September 5, 2007)

Giannoulias approved over $12 million in loans to Giorango while he worked at his family's bank: "Earlier, Giannoulias also had tried to distance himself from the loans, saying they occurred in the 1990s, when he was not a full-time employee at the bank. But subsequent reports revealed that Giannoulias had overseen $11.8 million in loans to a firm run by Giorango and Stavropoulos last year when Giannoulias was senior loan officer. Giannoulias insisted Wednesday he only meant that the bank's business with Giorango began when he was away at law school. He said banking laws and regulations had barred him from volunteering information on the more recent loans. "It wasn't an attempt to be misleading," he said." (Chicago Sun Times, Giannoulias: I take it back: Treasurer candidate says loans to crime figures were bad idea, April 27, 2006)

$3 million of that money went towards buying a casino: "During the March primary, Giannoulias said Broadway Bank "never financed any casinos. We never did anything like that." The Tribune later revealed that in 2005 Broadway lent $3.6 million to Giorango and Stavropoulos to acquire a casino boat marina in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Giannoulias previously said he thought that property was for condos, but on Wednesday said that comment was a mistake." (Chicago Tribune, Giannoulias speaks up on loans, April 27, 2006)

Giannoulias changed his story on what he knew of Giorango's criminal record: "Giannoulias insisted he only knew that Giorango had "some legal problems" while he was servicing the loans, declining to say whether he knew they were criminal in nature." (Chicago Sun Times, Giannoulias: I take it back: Treasurer candidate says loans to crime figures were bad idea, April 27, 2006)

"On Wednesday, Giannoulias said he once discussed Giorango's criminal past with him." (Chicago Tribune, Giannoulias speaks up on loans, April 27, 2006)

He also didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal: "Giannoulias described Giorango as a "very nice person" to the Chicago Tribune and questioned "what the charges are that makes him this huge crime figure." (Chicago Sun Times, Youth seems to be trumping experience in treasurer race, November 2, 2006)

Loaning money to a convicted mob money launderer: $15 million

Giannoulias bankrolled much of the Stratievsky $15 million real estate empire: "Bankrolling many of their mortgages was Broadway Bank, owned by the family of Illinois State Treasurer Giannoulias. From 2001 to 2005, before the men were charged, the bank lent more than $10 million to companies tied to Lev and Boris Stratievsky, records show. A spokesman for the treasurer had no comment on the loans." (Chicago Sun Times, The Face of the New Mafia, February 24, 2008)

"Boris Stratievsky admitted that he had struck a deal in 2000 with a man he thought was an associate of Ukrainian drug traffickers, but really was an FBI informant. Stratievsky transferred $80,000 in what he believed were narcotics proceeds from Moscow through Germany to a New Jersey bank. In return, he was supposed to receive a 20 percent fee. The New Jersey bank account was actually controlled by the FBI. On secret recordings, Lev Stratievsky called his son a "professor" of money laundering who washed millions of dollars for Moscow clients." (Chicago Sun Times, Millionaire Pleads Guilty, May 15, 2008)

Stratievsky wasn't averse to violence "In his youth, Borya was very daring," Stratievsky once said. "He had attempted murders and s---." The son, Boris "Borya" Stratievsky, also dubbed "Half Dollar," wasn't picky about the method, his father said. "It's the same for Boris, whether to stab someone with a knife or shoot them," Lev Stratievsky explained." (Chicago Sun Times, The Face of the New Mafia, February 24, 2008)

In addition to money laundering, Boris Stratievsky and his father, Lev, invested heavily in real estate and were among the worst slum lords in Chicago: "Ms. Diane Cosby lived in a roach-infested building in the 4500 block of North Magnolia that the Stratievskys owned through one of their companies, Interpacifica. Cosby, 61, remembers three Russian tough guys pressuring tenants to move out in the mid-1990s to clear the way for a renovation of the apartment building into condos. "They pulled the roof off the back part of the building, and it rained all over the people who lived there," Cosby recalled. "They were the worst landlords I ever had," she said. "We always called them Russian mobsters. . . . We did not know they were mobsters, but they sure looked like them." (Chicago Sun Times, The Face of the New Mafia, February 24, 2008)

Losing hard-earned Illinois family education savings: $85 million

In 2008, Illinois families saving for college lost $85 million investing in Alexi Giannoulias' Bright Start program. Some lost 38% of their college savings. Giannoulias picked the investments.

"Bright Start assets in the Core Plus fund fell from $355 million as of March 31 to $271 million at year-end -- down nearly $85 million. Investors in Bright Start's Active Fixed Income Portfolio, which put all its assets in Core Plus, had the most exposure.” (Chicago Tribune, Bright Start: Give back our money, January 15, 2009)

“Of the 178,805 Bright Start investment accounts, 2.5 percent were invested entirely in Core Plus. So 4,426 were exposed fully to its 38 percent loss in market value last year.” (Chicago Tribune, Bright Start: Give back our money, January 15, 2009)

“The treasurer announced this week that Oppenheimer Funds will take over management of Bright Start.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Illinois improves its college saving plan, March 16, 2007)

On May 3, 2009, the Chicago Tribune reported that Alexi Giannoulias' office spent Bright Start proceeds to buy a $26,000 SUV he uses as his state car -- the same fund that lost $85 million because of Giannoulias' failed investment strategy. (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/05/illinois-treasurer-alexi-giannoulias-bright-start.html)

The $26,000 used to buy an SUV for Treasurer Giannoulias' use would have paid for THREE students to attend Governors State University for one year or THIRTEEN students to attend Triton College for one year.

Seems like a lot, doesn't it? Do you think the Illinois GOP left some stuff out?

Yes, they did.

Giannoulias has been accused of being a "granny grifter."

And because of all of his ethical entanglements, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is also the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, refused to endorse "The Boy Banker" after he won the Democratic nomination for state treasurer in 2006.

And did you know that Alexi never voted in an election until his name appeared on the ballot?

This spring Giannoulias announced that he would not accept money form corporate political action committees, but it's assumed he will accept funds from union pacs.

Meanwhile, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Barack Obama's first political sponsor and a former customer of Giannoulias' Broadway Bank, is being incarcerated at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he is believed to be cooperating with federal prosecutors.

Haven't we had enough?

Related posts:

Alexi Giannoulias: Not so transparent
Likely Senate candidate Giannoulias kowtows to SEIU
Just as with mob loans, Giannoulias quiet about SUV purchased from money losing state investment fund
Obama's Chicago skeletons: Rezko and Broadway Bank
Obama's "sweetheart" mortgage: Was the competing lender Broadway Bank?
Obama, Alexi, and Broadway Bank
Coincidences and the Las Vegas Rezko arrest warrant
Obama's state treasurer pal needs a memory upgrade

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