Alexi Giannoulias Talks Broadway Bank On 'Chicago Tonight' (VIDEO)

Alexi Giannoulias continued his media tour Wednesday night with a stop at the "Chicago Tonight" studios, answering still more questions about his role in the demise of his family's Broadway Bank.

It was the eighth interview he'd given Wednesday, after meeting with the editorial boards of the Sun-Times and Tribune in the morning.

The reason for all the press is the bank's downward spiral that, Alexi told the Sun-Times, is "quite likely" to cause its demise. In late January, the bank entered into a consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation requiring it to pay tens of millions of dollars or else face collapse.

In the discussion, he tried to paint the bank's struggles as part of the wider economic downturn. "My father had this mentality of, the safest investment out there is real estate," he told Carol Marin. "When the real estate market drops by 30 or 40 percent, which a lot of community banks are dealing with right now, you're going to have enormous challenges."

He repeated the claim he'd made all day that the bank's ill fortunes were not as a result of "reckless or risky lending." And he tried to parry accusations that the bank loaned to some unsavory characters, including convicted felon Tony Rezko, by pointing out that his opponent, Mark Kirk, has actually taken campaign dollars from Rezko.

The media tour comes as Mark Kirk seeks to play up the Broadway Bank issue early in the campaign. Only time -- of which there's plenty -- will tell if Alexi can defuse the issue before November.

Watch the interview:

Comments

[mamala4]

07:44 AM on 03/05/2010

Another reason yet to not vote for Kirk...they just keep piling up...

Kirk votes against jobs bill

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-10th, was among 201 congressmen who voted Thursday against a $15 billion bill aimed at stimulating job creation in the private-sector.

The bill would exempt business that hire workers who have been jobless for at least two months from having to pay the 6.25-percent Social Security payroll tax for the rest of 2010.

It also would allow small businesses to write off more expenses, such as equipment purchases, this year.

[poomplet]

11:09 AM on 03/05/2010

yawn.

15% of Dem House members voted against it (35). There's not social-issue controversies like abortion funding in the health bill...so why on earth would so many Dems shun the bill?

Maybe because they don't want to look like hypocrites by doing another end-run around their toothless "pay-go" rules they touted so much (that's the reason Bunning voted against the unemp. insurance extension...not because he didn't want to help people out).

Kirk explains the smoke & mirrors of this sham "jobs" bill pretty well in his explanation of why he voted against it:

"I voted no on this second Stimulus bill because it raided Social Security to provide a brief benefit that employers said would not work," he said. "The bill cut FICA revenues needed for Social Security's Trust Fund in return for empty promises from general revenue.

"The American people need jobs -- not gimmicks. Very few small businesses will spend $40,000 creating one new job just to get a $1,000 tax credit in return.

"In the meantime, the bill would raid Social Security and use other budget gimmicks to spend more money we do not have -- like requiring companies to pay 106 percent of their taxes now and 94 percent later, calling this 'new tax revenue,'" he stated.

[ekoorb]

01:43 PM on 03/05/2010

So now he's for Social Security after voting 97% with George W. Bush, who tried ramming through its demise?

[poomplet]

02:04 PM on 03/05/2010

Clearly, you don't care about pesky little things like 'facts'...it's much easier to regurgitate propaganda.

Kirk voted with Bush %63 of the time, which is #168 out of #181 GOP House members (higher # means higher % of Bush-support).

http://www.hanlonsrazor.org/2008/09/04/fun-with-math/

[poomplet]

04:21 PM on 03/05/2010

WOW...even HuffPo is above skewing information...telling half truths & building straw men:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/05/house-jobs-bill-represent_n_487739.html

"When running for U.S. Senate, every political move counts. So it's no surprise that Rep. Mark Kirk, the Republican candidate for Roland Burris' Senate seat, has made the news with his opposition of the HIRE Act, a jobs bill that passed the House Thursday in a largely party-line vote of 217-201.

But Kirk was joined by nine other Chicagoland legislators -- including five Democrats -- in opposing the bill.

Of the eight Congressmen who represent Chicagoans (seven Democrats and Republican Peter Roskam), only four voted for the bill (Melissa Bean)....[see link for more]

[poomplet]

12:27 PM on 03/04/2010

Let's just nip this "Kirk took money from Rezko" laugher in the bud, pronto:

He cut a check for $1000 to Kirk years ago, sure. Kirk never asked for it..met with him..and probby didn't even know it happened until people dug up Rezko's history.

Now, take a look at how much money he doled out to other politicos.....mostly, Dems, of course:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/353782,CST-NWS-rezpols23.article

Rezko was involved in several, MULTI-MILLION dollar deals & loans with Don Giablagstrogurris. He even wrote $540,000 in bad checks on a Broadway account to try to cover gambling debts. He has been singing to US Atty. Peter Fitzgerald for over 2 years, and it's all being saved up for the Blago trial...but you KNOW that the juicy bits will spill over onto The Don.....during the most critical part of the campaign, and in the national spotlight.

[Trance2010]

12:44 AM on 03/05/2010

Not a big fan of Kirk, but I can't help my Schadenfreude and see Giannoulias go down in flames.

[psych101]

08:27 PM on 03/08/2010

"He cut a check for $1000 to Kirk years ago, sure. Kirk never asked for it..met with him..and probby didn't even know it happened until people dug up Rezko's history."

Is this fact or speculation?