The Chicago Tribune supports David Hoffman, opponent of Alexi Giannoulias, who had close ties to Barack Obama and Chicago corruption figures. Hoffman and Giannoulias are competing in the Democrat primary for the former senate seat of Obama.
From the Chicago tribune, January 28, 2010.
“Once again: Hoffman”
“An honest mistake, yes, and a careless one. But it was handled with the forthright integrity we’ve come to expect from Hoffman. And for all the whining from the Giannoulias camp about negative attacks, it’s the only statement whose factual basis has been challenged successfully. Unless you count this: In a press release this week, Giannoulias accuses Hoffman of citing a “non-existent Daily Herald story” in an ad that references loans made by Giannoulias’ family bank to convicted influence-peddler Tony Rezko.
“David Hoffman should stop insulting voters, take down this smear job and put up an ad talking about jobs,” it says.
We’ll leave it to voters to decide if linking Giannoulias to Rezko is a “smear job,” but the Daily Herald story does exist, and the Giannoulias camp knows it. Hoffman’s ad got the date wrong. Careless again. But it has allowed Giannoulias to present himself again as the victim.
None of this changes our opinion. As we wrote in our endorsement: Hoffman, the former inspector general for the city of Chicago, “is an incorruptible man who tells truth to power…”
Hoffman is the Democrats’ best choice to bring the highest ethical standards to the U.S. Senate.”
Read more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-hoffman0129-20100128,0,1398080.story
From the Chicago tribune, June 12, 2007.
“Obama endorses Alexi Giannoulias for state treasurer”
“But Obama’s record of local endorsements — one measure of how he has used his nascent political clout — has drawn criticism from those who say it reflects his deference to Chicago’s established political order and runs counter to his public calls for clean government.
In the 2006 Democratic primary, for example, Obama endorsed first-time candidate Alexi Giannoulias for state treasurer despite reports about loans Giannoulias’ family-owned Broadway Bank made to crime figures. Records show Giannoulias and his family had given more than $10,000 to Obama’s campaign, which banked at Broadway.”
Read more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-obama_endorse_12jun12,0,484394.story
From Source Watch
“Barack Obama and campaign contributor Alexi Giannoulias”
“Alexi Giannoulias—a “man who has long been dogged by charges that the bank his family owns helped finance a Chicago crime figure” and “who became Illinois state treasurer” in 2006 after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) “vouched for him”—”pledged to raise $100,000 for the senator’s Oval Office bid,” Charles Hurt reported September 5, 2007, in the New York Post.[1]
The September 5, 2007, Chicago fundraiser was omitted from Obama’s public schedule and the event was closed to the press,” Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times reported.[2]
“Before he promised to raise funds for Obama, Giannoulias bankrolled Michael ‘Jaws’ Giorango, a Chicagoan twice convicted of bookmaking and promoting prostitution.”
“Obama and Giannoulias reportedly met on the basketball court “in the late 1990s … at the East Bank Club, a luxurious spot in downtown Chicago,” Jodi Kantor wrote June 1, 2007, in the New York Times.[3] Now, “thanks in part to [Obama’s] backing, [Giannoulias] is now the Illinois state treasurer. Other regular gymmates include the president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health and several investment bankers who were early and energetic fund-raisers,” Kantor wrote.”
“Obama the king maker”
“”Did U.S. Senator Barack Obama clear the field in the Democratic state treasurer’s race?” lawyer and political analyst Russ Stewart wrote January 4, 2006.”
“But none announced, and all deferred to Alexi Giannoulias, a 29-year-old Chicago investment banker who was an early supporter of Obama in his 2004 Senate race, whose father owns Broadway Bank, and whose family helped bankroll the Obama campaign. Giannoulias has said that he will campaign as a ‘progressive,’ and he has promised to put more than $1 million in family funds into the race,” Stewart wrote.”
“In March 2006, Giannoulias said that “his ‘good friend and mentor, Barack Obama,’ inspired him to run.”
In fact, Giannoulias’ “endorsers” were “essentially the base of the Obama coalition: white north side progressives and south side blacks.””
Read more:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Barack_Obama_and_campaign_contributor_Alexi_Giannoulias
Obama endorses Giannoulias Ad
Post Obama Chicago?
Citizen WElls 