As I've stated many times before in this space, future-failed Mob Banker Alexi Giannoulias used his self-proclaimed banking expertise to get elected as Illinois state treasurer. "We need a banker in the treasurer's office" was his mantra.But one college savings fund managed by Giannoulias lost millions of dollars.
The front page of today's Chicago Tribune takes a dim look at Bright Start.
As the economy began its meltdown in 2008, Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias was faced with a dilemma over the state's college savings plan for families.How much was lost? $150 million.
Giannoulias had made revitalizing the underperforming program a key component in his successful 2006 campaign, and the investment firm he selected to turn around Bright Start was making positive changes. But the fund manager also made a decision to heavily invest in volatile securities tied to the housing market.
Documents and e-mails recently obtained by the Tribune under the state's open records law show the rookie treasurer and his staff were concerned early on about the aggressive move by OppenheimerFunds Inc. in what was supposed to be a more conservative fund in the Bright Start program.
But at each turn Giannoulias stuck with the firm's strategy, even as the housing market soured and losses accelerated.
When Republican Judy Baar Topinka, Giannoulias' predecessor, served three terms as treasurer, boasts that she ran a "good honorable, outstanding office that never lost money."
Giannoulias can't say that.
Related post:
Ill. GOP comptroller candidate Judy Baar Topinka at the unity breakfast
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