Tag: illinois

Obama gives Giannoulias the Rochester treatment.

Which is to say, Obama’s locking Alexi Giannoulias* (D CAND, IL-SEN) in the attic and pretending that he doesn’t exist:

Giannoulias will not make trip to Quincy to see Obama

From chicagotribune.com: Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Giannoulias’ campaign chairman, expressed concerns over a lack of White House commitment to the candidate to Washington-based Politico after a recent meeting with President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Durbin quickly tempered his comments, and the White House offered a tepid statement that “the president intends to help Democratic candidates in Illinois up and down the ballot.”

Full story here – as for the Rochester treatment: well. Those familiar with Jane Eyre will no doubt remember how wonderfully that particular strategy worked.

Moe Lane

PS: Mark Kirk for Senate. He can go outside.

*Noun. Verb. Broadway Bank.

Crossposted to RedState.

Alexi Giannoulias pouting about the Broadway Bank thing.

A couple observations about embattled Senatorial candidate Alexi Giannoulias’ (D CAND, IL-SEN) recent bitter comment:

“Just about every sentence that Congressman Kirk utters these days is a noun, a verb and Broadway Bank,” Giannoulias complained to the City Club of Chicago,

Three, in fact:

  1. Dude.  Ripping off Joe Biden*?  What are you going to do next, ask a paralyzed man to stand up and take a bow?
  2. If you don’t want to be associated with a now-closed bank that gave $20 million loans to convicted pimps and bookies, don’t work for one.
  3. You couldn’t shut up about your blessed family bank connection & experience in your last election, remember?

Isn’t YouTube fun? If there’s an unfortunate / ironic / awkward campaign commercial that’s not on there, somewhere, it’s not for lack of people trying. Continue reading Alexi Giannoulias pouting about the Broadway Bank thing.

Blagojevich & Obama.

Oh, Rod Blagojevich: why could you not have used your powers for good?

(Via Instapundit) John Kass has a thoroughly entertaining article up on the way that former Governor Blagojevich is doing his level best to drag President Obama into the equally thoroughly entertaining drama that is former Governor Blagojevich’s corruption trial.  To summarize: the government is using Tony Rezko to go after Blagojevich; Blagojevich needs to taint Rezko’s testimony; so Blagojevich wants Obama to testify about Rezko.  Obama probably doesn’t want to testify about Rezko.  Particularly about things involving offers for Obama’s former Senate seat, which is why many details about the Obama subpoena were redacted… and promptly reconstructed (via Patterico).

Summing up, Kass cuts to the chase to write:

Though Thursday’s new information is quite fascinating, remember that it comes from the same defense team that has turned the case into a circus from day one.

And demanding the president take the stand in a corruption trial is all three rings, and the dozens of tiny little clowns pouring out of the diminutive car, and the bearded lady. Oh, and let’s not forget the dog-faced boy.

(murmuring) That was not a very nice thing to say about the Chief of Staff.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Scott Lee Cohen bringing a knife to the IL-GOV race?

What?  Too soon?

What’s odd is the reaction to this:

Gov. Pat Quinn said he’s ready to take on Scott Lee Cohen in the general election if the embattled Chicago pawnbroker publicly announces he’s making an independent run for the state’s highest office.

“When all is said and done, there will be a robust contest of ideas,” Quinn said.

I mean, you would think that the normal reaction to this – to wit, shaking Cohen violently while shouting “YOU TOOK STEROIDS AND THREATENED YOUR GIRLFRIEND WITH A KNIFE, YOU FOOL! GET OUT OF MY STATE BEFORE I SET THE WOLFHOUNDS UPON YOU!” – would have been the expected one from Quinn.  I mean, let’s review: Quinn already has to deal with a Senatorial candidate who’s loaned money to convicted pimps and bookies, a Lt. Governor candidate who got selected (not elected) because she’s white and has a useful last name, and, well, a gubernatorial candidate who’s laboring under the burden of being Pat Quinn.  The last thing the man needs is to have to run against a guy who somehow managed to win a Democratic primary despite being somebody who likes steroids for himself and knives for his partners.

And trust me: this will come up on a regular basis.  The possibility of being able to use the slogan Vote Republican.  We don’t cut women and have it still be relevant to the race after all comes as most welcome news to those of us on the VRWC…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

#rsrh Illinois Dems assign Lt. Gov nomination to Sheila Simon.

You probably didn’t hear about this at the time…

Illinois Democratic leaders gave the nomination for lieutenant governor Saturday to Sheila Simon, daughter of an Illinois political icon, following the wishes of Gov. Pat Quinn despite warnings of a potential backlash from black voters.

[snip]

The Democratic State Central Committee was forced to pick a nominee because the winner of the February primary election, Scott Lee Cohen, dropped out over accusations of past steroid use, failure to pay child support and holding a knife to his girlfriend’s throat – accusations which he denied.

The committee passed over state Rep. Art Turner, a black legislator from Chicago who finished second in the primary. Some of his supporters had warned that rejecting Turner for someone who didn’t even run in the primary could sour black voters on Quinn.

Because, well, the Democratic party of Illinois decided to replace a knife-wielding, steroid-using, deadbeat dad with a white former city councilwoman with a famous name, and not the African-American state legislator who came in second in the first place.  That’s… all kind of awkward; which makes it a perfect fit for Illinois Democrats these days.  Embracing the Awkward is all the rage for those guys.

Moe Lane

PS: Just in passing: the Scott Lee Cohen situation is probably why Alexi Giannoulias has not yet been pressured to leave the race over the entire “20 million dollar loan to bookies and pimps” thing.  They’ve already had one yank-and-replace; having two would lead people to ask why Chicago Democrats even bother with primaries.

Well, more people.  And the choice of adjective modifying ‘Democrat’ there was deliberate.

Meet Bobby Schilling (R CAND, IL-17).

He’s running against Phil Hare; yes, Hare’s the guy that can’t tell the Constitution from the Declaration of Independence. Interestingly, Bobby reported in the interview that apparently this isn’t the first time that Hare’s done this. It’s always sad when our elected officials start treating their seats as rights, not privileges…

Bobby’s website is here.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Adam Kinzinger (R CAND, IL-11) up in two polls.

This Hill article is not quite accurate:

If this is any indication of where the healthcare debate has left Democrats, they could be in trouble.

Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.) trails her reelection race by six points in the first public House poll conducted after the healthcare debate.

The Public Opinion Strategies (R) poll for Iraq veteran Adam Kinzinger (R), which is set to be released widely, shows him leading Halvorson 44-38. The congresswoman is largely unknown, with a 33 percent favorability rating and 31 percent unfavorable.

…it’s not the only poll. Sean Trende over at Real Clear Politics is reporting that newcomer pollster We Ask America is likewise showing Adam over Halvorson:

Moving into the Chicago exurbs, first term Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson appears to be in a heap of trouble against former McLean County Commissioner Adam Kinzinger. She trails 42%-30% in the R+1 Eleventh district, which has traditionally sent Republicans to Congress.

Take that with as many grains of salt as you like, of course. Still, this is one of the GOP’s bright spots, even in an election cycle full of them.

Adam’s site is here; the Public Opinion Strategy poll is here.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Alexi Giannoulias (D CAND, IL-SEN) to get paid three times for Broadway Bank failure?

Nice work, if you can get it:

The family of Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias stands to collect more than $10 million in federal tax refunds even if its Broadway Bank fails, which Mr. Giannoulias said this week is likely.

A $75-million loss at the struggling lender last year generated tax benefits potentially worth between $12 million and $15 million to Mr. Giannoulias, his two brothers and his mother. As the sole owners of a subchapter S corporation that controls $1.2-billion-asset Broadway, they pay the taxes on the bank’s income and reap tax deductions on its losses.

The possibility of family members pocketing millions in tax refunds as Broadway slides toward insolvency and federal receivership is likely to fuel more controversy for Mr. Giannoulias, who is already under fire for his role in the bank’s downfall.

(Via Hot Air) Of course, not being in a rich banking family linked to Chicago’s culture of political corruption… oddly enough, that’s precisely the kind of work that I can’t get. And then there’s this little gem:

Asked whether he would advise his family to put the tax refunds back into the bank to help recapitalize it, Mr. Giannoulias said, “We’ll do everything we can to keep the bank going. . . .You’ll have to ask management of the bank what the best course of action is.”

Translation: “No.” Mind you, if they took this money and added it to the 70+ million in dividends that the Giannoulias family pulled in from the failing bank from 2006 to 2008, the bank would probably be able to avoid closing. But that would hurt them; so better to let the bank fail, let the FDIC take it over, and let the taxpayers take the blow. Much better, all around.

After all, the Giannoulias family got their refund.

Moe Lane

PS: Mark Kirk for Senate.
He doesn’t get paid three times for failure.

Crossposted to RedState.