Kirk And Quinn Criticize Giannoulias And Brady Over Taxes

An income tax issue has Republicans attacking Republicans and Democrats attacking Democrats at the tops of both parties' tickets in Illinois this week.

Bipartisanship? Not quite.

Republican congressman Mark Kirk is running for U.S. Senate against Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, as well as Green LeAlan Jones. Kirk, seeking to get past a nasty scandal surrounding embellishments of his military record, has seized on a piece of troublesome news about his Democratic opponent. Because of the collapse of the Giannoulias family bank this April, Alexi was able to write off major losses on his taxes, and as a result didn't pay any income tax last year. In fact, he took a $30,000 refund, which he plans to donate to charity.

Kirk went on the offensive, launching a radio ad that reads:

Alexi Giannoulias just released his taxes. The Chicago Tribune headline said: 'Wealthy Giannoulias paid no taxes last year.' Fox Chicago reported that Alexi is worth at least $7 million, but paid no taxes. How? Alexi's Broadway Bank collapsed from risky loans and loans to convicted mobsters. Alexi just deducted the money he lost on his tax return. Bingo. Pay no taxes, and the government's FDIC pays Broadway's $394 million loss.

(Scroll down to listen to the ad.)

The trouble is, Republican state senator and gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady, who will share the top of the ticket with Kirk in November, also paid no taxes this year. His business, Brady Homes, lost money that he was able to write off, very much like Giannoulias.

According to WBEZ, Kirk said at a press conference, "I think that if you depend on a salary paid for by taxpayers, you ought to find a way to pay taxes." Giannoulias is currently the state treasurer.

When asked if the statement applied to fellow Republican Brady as well, Kirk said it did. But he hedged on the matter, saying Brady "did not transfer a $390 million bill to the FDIC and he does not want to raise our taxes."

Meanwhile, Brady's opponent, incumbent Democratic governor Pat Quinn, made a rare move for a politician, favoring intellectual consistency over party allegiance. He had previously attacked Brady for not paying taxes, and held to that position when the news broke about Giannoulias.

In fact, he sounded almost exactly like Mark Kirk.

"I believe in the principle that if you get a public salary, you are an elected official, you get a public salary, you should pay income taxes to the state and the federal government. I think that's a fundamental principle that I believe in," Quinn said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

He even went so far as to say that Giannoulias should be donating his refund not to charity but to the state of Illinois. Perhaps thinking it could help him plug the $13 billion state deficit.

So at the end of the day, Quinn and Kirk find themselves in alignment, attacking Brady and Giannoulias together. Looks like, from now to November, it's every man for himself.

Listen to the Mark Kirk radio ad:

Comments

[SouthSiderSam]

12:06 AM on 07/10/2010

Gee. There was a time when Democrats thought rich people should pay taxes, certainly more than their assistants pay. Why does this not apply to Alexi? Is the principle wrong? Are the Republicans right?

[lochnessmonster]

11:32 AM on 07/09/2010

Good grief...what are we in Illinois to do? I am so disgusted by all the pettiness I just may stay home in November...yet I can't let someone like Kirk win...my gut tells me there is something else seedy about the guy.

[Dan1902]

01:09 PM on 07/09/2010

Yeah he lies about everything even his sexual preferences!!! Closet boy

[ckdogs]

10:48 AM on 07/09/2010

Instead of scandal mongering, how about having the candidates discuss their plans for bringing Ilinois back to solvency, and what's their vision for the country as far as financial reform, health reform, energy independence, job creation. Apparently, neither Gianoulias nor Brady did anything illegal, so it's all divergent nonsense. Make the candidates take stands on the issues that really matter.

[seniorfellow]

10:06 AM on 07/09/2010

no one has yet asked the BANKSTER DON if he takes any responsibility as state treasurer these past years for Illinois ranked 9th on the planet as a government that is likely to go bankrupt

[VOTER]

10:34 AM on 07/09/2010

Questions should be asked and answered but you have to first go to our former
Governors, Thompson, Edgard and Ryan. ( No bid contracts. Hiring only Republicans, etc.)

Alexi has been a good State Treasurer.

[seniorfellow]

11:11 AM on 07/09/2010

Oh, I agree, Thompson and Ryan were slime,,,, But Edgar was pretty good ..Glen Poshard would have been pretty good too,,,,, But no way can The Bankster Don be considered a good state Treasurer

[VOTER]

10:04 AM on 07/09/2010

Why print anything crediting the Chicago Tribune?
Call it what it is - Liar Kirk's BS Campaign.

IF and I do mean, "IF" Quinn said Alexi should donate his refund to the State of Il
instead of to a worthy Charity or Charities, I want to hear the tape and exactly
how he stated it. I don't believe he was serious.

IF Quinn was serious, he would have, also asked Mark Kirk to pay full taxes for
his Highland Park Condo which would benefit the schools in Lake County.

[draba]

11:20 AM on 07/09/2010

Hey Voter, thanks for the heads-up about the juicy $35,000 tax break Kirk has received over the last eight years on his Highland Park condo. I hadn't heard about that, so I did some research. Now I know Kirk is a liar AND a hypocrite.

[VOTER]

06:07 PM on 07/09/2010

According to your figure, Kirk got a bigger tax break than Alexi.

$5,000 more.

Oh my, what can Kirk ever find to talk about without it coming back to
bite him in the butt?

lol