The Democrat’s Illinois Senate candidate, Alexi Giannoulias, has seen his family business stripped away from them and placed in the hands of a new owner (MB Financial) because he and his family could not come up with the $85 million needed to shore up falling liquidity.
Banking regulators seized the Giannoulias’ Broadway Bank this evening and placed it in the hands of MB Bank, a bank with branches throughout the Chicagoland area.
Alexi Giannoulias was the bank’s chief lender and vice-president from 2002 to 2006. He has been criticized for working for the bank when it loaned $20 million to Michael “Jaws” Giorongo and reputed mobster Boris Stratievsky. Giannoulias’ family has also been attacked for taking $70 million in dividends in both 2007 and 2008 as the bank’s loans were going bad.
In a press conference after the seizure was complete, Giannoulias attacked GOP opponent Mark Kirk as one of those that supported the status quo that led to the failure of banks such as his and said he would fight on with his Senate campaign. This is sort of like blaming your imaginary friend for stealing the cookies from the cookie jar, isn’t it? Of course, thousands of banks have stayed solvent by not making bad loans no matter what the “status quo” was doing, but what was the Giannoulias family doing? Taking obscene profits and making bad loans. And here is Giannoulias lamely blaming Kirk for all this? How many banks has Kirk badly administered and caused to fail? I can’t think of a one! Can you?
One can’t help but wonder how worried the Democrat Party is behind the scenes as its candidate for Senate is caught in such an unsavory situation? They’d be smart to be considering other options, wouldn’t you say?
Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as Breitbart.com, among many, many others. He has also written for several history magazines, has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows.
