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A slain Brooklyn slumlord’s shady business practices helped sink a bank that counted President Obama as a customer and ex-Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon as a member of its board, The Post has learned. Two unpaid loans to murder victim Menachem “Max” Stark and his business partner Israel “Sam” Perlmutter were among 17 bad bets that spelled $104 million in losses for Chicago’s Broadway Bank before it was shut down by the feds in 2010, court papers show. [BIG SNIP] Broadway Bank was run by Demetris and George Giannoulias, brothers of former Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias. Alexi is a...

Tony Rezko's former development partner is broke. ### Dan Mahru -- a lawyer who became an ice peddler and real estate developer -- has filed for bankruptcy, declaring that he and his business partners, including Rezko, owe as much as $95 million to creditors. Mahru estimates his personal debts could be as high as $50 million. Mahru and Rezko split a few years ago. But they're still fighting dozens of lawsuits filed over housing developments they built. "I couldn't handle all the multitude of lawsuits involving Mr. Rezko,'' Mahru says. Mahru lists $48,970.61 in assets in the bankruptcy case he...

Congressman told FBI he asked for -- and got -- free home upgrades ### Convicted political fixer Tony Rezko gave U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez free upgrades on a riverfront town house after the congressman asked for them, Gutierrez told the FBI, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. Gutierrez's comments to federal agents in a previously undisclosed 2008 interview contradict what the congressman told the Sun-Times in 2006 about the purchase. "I walked in with my wife -- as any other consumer could have -- and purchased the unit at the listed price, with no considerations," the Northwest Side congressman said then,...

Giannoulias admits to dirty trick with third-party campaign in IL « Hot Air

POLITICO just dropped a bombshell with a story Sunday evening about a leaked email written by Mark Kirk to his campaign manager Eric Elk on November 3, 2009. Full story: Kirk feared attack from right. POLITICO says the email came from a Democratic operative who in turn claims to have received it from “someone close to Kirk’s inner circle.” Could a certain “Svengali figure” be involved somehow? We just don’t know. In any case, the email and its instructions reflect some panic on Kirk’s part going into the campaign season for the February Primary. Kirk’s email was sent just a...

ay 18, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Republican Illinois Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk said Tuesday he opposes Arizona's new immigration law, taking a stand contrary to the conservative wing of his party. Kirk's stand comes in the wake of the flap at Highland Park High School where the girls' basketball team was stopped from attending a tournament in Arizona. Even though Highland Park High School lies within his 10th Congressional District, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk held his first news conference Tuesday since the Arizona trip controversy erupted last week. Kirk believes student athletes should not be...

By Jonathan Weisman Illinois Democrats are using the long-shot candidacy of libertarian Mike Labno to peel off conservative voters in the southern end of the state from Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk. A flier obtained by Washington Wire appears to be a Labno promotion. The first page is a picture of Rep. Kirk, asking “Congressman Mark Kirk, not a conservative?” with a quote from Mr. Labno questioning Mr. Kirk’s political beliefs. The next panel touts “Conservative Mike Labno” as “the only pro-life, pro-gun candidate for U.S. Senate.” It then portrays Mr. Kirk as a tax hiker who voted for President...

It appears that President Obama has pulled strings to help his shady banker friend win a tight U.S. Senate race by delaying an overdue federal report on his mob-connected bank’s failure until after the election. Federal regulators will conveniently postpone issuing a material loss report on Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias’ Chicago bank (Broadway Bank) because releasing it before the election could create "another political headache" for Giannoulias in a “close contest” with his Republican opponent, reports the state’s largest newspaper. Currently Illinois State Treasurer, Giannoulias helped operate the family bank before it was shut down in April for...

Obama get-out-the Democratic vote rally in Chicago on Saturday, Oct. 30 By Lynn Sweet on October 21, 2010 1:45 PM The Democratic National Committee made it official Thursday what I reported yesterday—President Obama is returning home to Chicago on Saturday—the final weekend before the election—in a get-out-the-vote rally to help Gov. Quinn and Illinois Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias.

On Monday night, my opponent Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) delivered this speech to Democrats at a restaurant in Chicago–with U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias and Governor Pat Quinn in attendance

Alexander Giannoulias (D) 41 11% Mark Kirk (R) 229 63% LeAlan Jones (G) 4 1% Mike Labno (L) 90 25%

Even as supporters claim they won’t need subsidies, it is more likely that L.A. is about to plunge itself forever into debt with a new stadium, the Staples Center. A look at just about any other convention center, or stadium in the country easily shows that these projects seldom pay for themselves as builders insist that they will do. Yet, every time you turn around another city is falling for this false hope. Unfortunately it is almost impossible for the average citizen to track where the budget money is going in any particular city budget. As we learned from Bell,...

... The so-called major party Senate candidates and their supporters are slinging the televised campaign mud. One of the latest negative ads compares voting for Giannoulias to driving drunk, at the end of the ad saying, "friends don't let friends vote Alexi". The group American Crossroads is responsible for that ad. American Crossroads was founded by Karl Rove, former President George W. Bush's political guru. The group is helping republican Congressman Mark Kirk against Giannoulias. "Of course, he's gonna put up characters and cartoons because he can't talk about his own record in Washington, D.C.," said Giannoulias. "He voted against...

Like his president and his party, the Democrat Senate candidate for Illinois, Alexi "the Mob Banker" Giannoulias, is quick to claim that they have "created jobs" with the various and sundry, and continuing "stimulus" bills. But now that Illinois has been reported as having lost the third most amount of jobs nationwide, will Giannoulias take credit for that too? Back in July, Giannoulias appeared on Fox Chicago TV and told us all that he was proud to have helped "create jobs" in Illinois. I'm also proud, not only have we helped create jobs here in Illinois, but I’m the only...

This is pretty funny… well, not so funny if you are The Illinois Review, one of our fine political news blogs in Illinois. Apparently billionaire Nadhmi Auchi has sent a threatening letter to the blog demanding that they delete an August 9 post linking Auchi to Democrat Senate candidate Alexi "the Mob Banker" Giannoulias. The letter issued by attorneys Carter-Ruck demands that the August 9 piece be removed due to "defamatory and untrue allegations." The letter also says that Carter-Ruck thinks that the source for the blog post was the Observer (of London) and the New York Times. Apparently the...

On a day that Democrat Alexi Giannoulias released a new commercial slamming him as a liar, Republican Mark Kirk tried to shift the focus back onto Giannoulias’ family bank, saying the bank gave a loan to Nadhmi Auchi, who Kirk said sold arms to Saddam Hussein. “According to the New York Times, he was a banker to Saddam Hussein,” Kirk said of Auchi. “And According to the Observer of London, he was a middleman in the billion-dollar naval arms deal between Hussein and the Italian Navy.” Voters should care, Kirk said: “This is not political Kryptonite -- this is Hemlock,”...

NRSC cut a great ad here on "Mob Banker" Giannoulias, "Alexi is screwing up, but Illinois voters are who's paying the price"...Announcer speaks in a mobsters voice...Barack Obama is scheduled to attend a fundraiser for Giannoulias in Chicago on Thursday...

So far, the biggest negative that has stuck against Illinois Democrat Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias is that he is a poor money manager. The worst is that he was an officer in a family bank that has since gone under due to shady loans to mobsters -- to the tune of $20 million in unpaid debt -- and other bad banking practices . And now we can add another poor financial situation to Alexi's already groaning deficit accounts: he's still $200,000 in debt for his recently completed primary campaign. As reported two weeks ago, Giannoulias has under performed in campaign...

ILLINOIS REVIEW Crossroads of the Conservative Community Tuesday, July 06, 2010 Is Kirk trying to be a skunk at the GOP picnic? The Illinois Republican statewide slate has been pushing unity and cohesiveness for the last couple of months, and all except for one seems to be getting the script down. Why in the world would GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk use a press conference today to antagonize those who could get him downstate votes and bridge the huge chasm between conservative Republicans and liberal Gold Coasters?  Unbelievably in one fell swoop, Kirk blasted his own party's top two ballot...

The sniping between Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is beginning to get to full steam these days and Democrat Giannoulias isn't handling it all very well. As a bank executive, he's gone from dissembling about his efforts to loan mobsters $20 million that his bank then lost, to now as a candidate lying about his desires to raise taxes. The latest Giannoulias gaffe comes as a result of his announcement of his tax returns. It seems that he declared a personal business loss that negated his entire tax bill and so Giannoulias paid no federal tax in 2009....