40 Comments - VanillaMan - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 10:17 am: I have a message for all three men - Kirk, Giannoulais and Jacobson… Kirk should be smart enough to take Jacobson’s advice. The easy bashing is finished, and his points have been made. Campaign money has been raised from those wondering if Kirk had a chance. The Congressman is considered a player with good polls. It is time to move on. As Broadway fails, it will make it’s own news and only reinforce the messages Kirk made earlier. It is time to move on and sell his candidacy. Both men need to start focusing on how their opponents did their work in public office. Giannoulais needs to focus on the Congressman’s decade long record serving his Democratic constituents, and Kirk needs to focus on the Treasurer’s 36 months writing Illinois checks. As for Giannoulais, he has to give voters real reasons to vote for him. His anti-Kirk/Bush stuff is downright lame. The voters he needs have moved on, and he needs to do the same. As for Jacobson, he needs to let us know that he recognizes where the Broadway Bank news story is worth reporting, and when it is not. Giannoulais based his entire curriculum vitae on Broadway Bank, so it isn’t just another little bank failing in this case. Broadway Bank is about Giannoulais’ credibility as a public official beyond his current three years as state treasurer. - Chicago Cynic - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 10:19 am: Leave it to skippy to get rolled by Alexi’s spin machine. Funny, he sounded just like Alexi did at the CityClub on Monday. And why is Walter back on the air again after years of dreck? Oh right, desperate ratings call for desperate measures. Whatever. - Red Ranger - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 10:35 am: What Walter forgets is Alexi said his experience at the bank was a reason to elect him to office. Alexi has made the performance of the bank an issue; not the Trib or Kirk. It is disingenious to claim on one hand “look at my record as a banker, it is so great, I have experience vote for me” when times are good, and then when times are bad say, “pay no attention to the bank, I haven’t been there in a while (even though I was a big shareholder in it) it is mean-spirited to bring it up” - 10th Indy - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 10:39 am: Gee Walter, Kirk didn’t mention broadway bank once in his tax day message. - shore - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 10:44 am: 1. Kirk’s campaign is dominating the narrative of the campaign. There should be jubilation at kirk hq over that clip because it shows he is suffocating alexi and people are starting to take note. 2. twice every 2 years I watch local news, for election night and primary election night, jacobson reaffirms why it’s no longer a media format that needs my attention. The guy is ill informed and out of his league. If the campaign were decided on resume and issues, Mark Kirk’s exemplary record of service and ideas (david brooks calls him a policy rockstar on a weekly basis) would thrash the dc talking points regurgitating hair gel banker. But the media would call alexi obama junior and we’d get the latest incarnation of carol mosely braun. - dupage dan - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 10:51 am: Just when I thought it was safe to wear suspenders again Jacobsen has to ruin it for me. Sheesh. - Anonymous - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 10:58 am: Red Ranger, I can see where you’re going with the experience thing. However, Voters don’t seem to like being reminded constantly that they made a mistake, especially one from a while back that can’t be corrected. They’ll get defensive at some point and will begin to justify their past actions. There’s a difference between saying “this guy is not qualified for the Senate, and let me tell you why” v. repeating “Silly, Voters. You never should have voted this guy in as Treasurer in the first place”. V-Man’s right. Too much more and it will be perceived as nagging so the message will get lost. - sideline watcher - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 10:59 am: If you are a felon, does that mean that you can’t borrow money from banks? I guess I mean, the Broadway bank can’t be the only bank Rezko and other nefarious characters borrowed from. Do we have any statutes that say what banks are supposed to use to disqualify a person from borrowing money when all paperwork is in order? Is there some allegation that the Broadway bank handled the transactions improperly or is it just that bad people took out loans? Are there criminal background checks on loans besides the credit checks? This all just seems asked and answered. How old is Broadway bank anyway? - Anonymous - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 11:00 am: Indy, how much coverage did the tax day message get? - Anonymous - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 11:06 am: And to back up my 10:58, take a cue from Daley. He’s basically telling the Voters is was OK to vote Alexi in originally. He’s making friends. - Carl Nyberg - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 11:15 am: Giannoulias’ message is that he’s a mainstream Democrat who will focus on the welfare of the middle class. Kirk wants to go to the Senate so he can carry water for the Israel Lobby’s campaign for the United States to bomb Iran. - Niles Township - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 11:16 am: Skippy should have stayed retired. If this is what counts as political coverage at Ch. 2 since Flannery left, they are in worse trouble than I thought. - Carl Nyberg - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 11:20 am: Kirk’s message lost? What is Kirk’s message? He got his shills in the media to talk about his bill to help small business. See Ellen. But he never introduced the bill. That would be too much like working for constituents on policy. If it doesn’t involve foreign policy, going to war or intelligence matters, it’s just boring to Mark Kirk. Why should Mark Kirk work if he can get credit for working in the media without ever doing the work? - Anonymous - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 11:22 am: Niles…really. I’m sure there are some other “old people” around who’d listen to another “old person” before someone who’s not as experienced. Let’s hope so. lol - Obamas' Puppy - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 11:44 am: More evidence of the Tribunes increasing irrelvance. Way to go Walter! - sal-says - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 11:46 am: “* CBS2’s Walter Jacobson is fed up with the Giannoulias coverage…” Sounds fair. I’m fed up with Skippy’s goofy Perspectives this time around. - Carl Nyberg - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 11:52 am: You notice that the snide remarks about Walter Jacobson don’t refute or particularly disagree with his thesis? The Trib and Sun-Times have been recycling the same old information over and over to create the appearance of a large scandal when it’s questionable whether Giannoulias did anything unethical and it seems certain he didn’t do anything illegal. If Mark Kirk wants to make it illegal to loan money to convicted felons, he should introduce a bill that does that. Otherwise, the next time Kirk says something about Broadway Bank, the media should ask him why he hasn’t introduced such a bill. - Cosmic Charlie - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 12:16 pm: Quinn is still running the campaign from the Governor’s office and Brady doesnt make a peep. The entire Lt. Gov Selection process which was 100% political was spearheaded by Jack Lavin PQs top Government guy, they invite the campaign videographer to all the government press conferences on Government property for these nifty videos. He doesn’t even have a campaign manager for cryin out loud. In an time where voters are tired of this junk, the mixing of government and politics, and Quinn is thumbing his nose at them. Why wouldn’t he? No one is calling him on it. Hello Bill Brady, are you there? - Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 12:17 pm: ===invite the campaign videographer to all the government press conferences on Government property=== There’s nothing at all illegal about that. - Responsa - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 12:36 pm: CN (and Walter), if Alexi’s campaign is not based on his personal bank background credentials, and his professed financial competency as seen through the lens of the judgment he applied to various financial matters he was involved with, then what IS his candidacy about? The Farmer piece concerning Alexi, which Rich linked from HuffPo up in the Cohen thread basically asks this very question. What is the answer? - A.B, - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 12:44 pm: Carl - Come back to reality. It isn’t about whether is it is legal to loan money to felons, it is about what that says about A.G.’s decision making and the people he chooses to work with. - Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 12:48 pm: ===A.G.’s decision making and the people he chooses to work with. === OK, but if it shouldn’t be illegal to loan these guys money, and they got other loans from other banks (which they did), then the implication is that loans should be based on bidness factors alone. So, his decision-making and the people he hangs out with don’t have a lot to do with it. Careful how you frame things, AB. - Carl Nyberg - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 12:57 pm: Including primaries Alexi Giannoulias has won three statewide elections. He assemble different coalitions in the 2006 cycle and the 2010 cycle. By some measures Giannoulias has vastly improved the efficiency of the state treasurer’s office. Is Alexi a policy genius? Not particularly. Does he have good instincts about what’s important to middle-class voters? Yeah, he does. Alexi isn’t running to be the Secretary of the Treasury or the CEO of Goldman Sachs. He’s running for U.S. Senator. Is there any reason to think Giannoulias skills at building coalitions won’t translate to be a Senator of at least average effectiveness? BTW, what’s Mark Kirk’s record at passing bills in the U.S. House? If Kirk was a mediocre (or worse) legislator in the House, why would you expect him to get more effective in the Senate? Kirk’s A-game is not going toward helping the people of Illinois, but making the case for belligerent foreign policy toward Iran. What’s that do for families in Centralia? Rockford? Naperville? Or Chicago? - Cosmic Charlie - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:03 pm: ===There’s nothing at all illegal about that.=== I think Rich you could debate that point. You are not supposed to conduct political activity on Government property. Can Quinn have John Kupper and AKP just hang around these events and shoot ads? And if Quinn misspeaks can he say “cut, lets do it again. Take two.”? Where the line is drawn I’m not sure. Is it criminal? I suppose a prosecutor wouldn’t go near it. Is it good government? I’d say no. Would they let Brady’s video tracker walk up to the Governor’s desk and get close up angles of the pens to be used for the bill signing? Can I show up with my video camera and get all of the shots that Quinn’s campaign people get? I’m sure the answer is no. But regardless of whether it is right or wrong, or illegal for that matter, the Brady campaign should call him on it. It may or not be illegal but it is a completely legitimate political attack. - Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:04 pm: ===You are not supposed to conduct political activity on Government property=== If you’re a state employee. People do a whole lot of political stuff on government property. Brady just had a campaign press conference in the Blue Room. - A.B, - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:12 pm: Yes and no Rich. But first let me state that my initial post was regarding the legality issue raised by Carl and I am stating that this entire issue is not about legality of the loan. Moving on to Rich’s point. First whether another bank gave them loans doesn’t matter. At this time it doesn’t appear the people involved with those decisions are not running for public office. In this case we are talking about convicted felons preparing to serve time. How then does the impending incarceration of the individuals not impact “bidness factors alone”? Please remember that A.G.’s own brother has admitted they had knowledge of the legal issues around Giorango. Therefore the question is this: If you know an individual is a felon, you even know what his past entails and you are deciding whether to loan him money from your family bank, would / should you do it? This simple decision making process is indicative of the person who wants to represent us in Washington. From my perspective that is the entire issue that the public should be considering. - Cosmic Charlie - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:12 pm: To take Quinn out of it, hypothetically, the Jesse White campaign decides to send in a bunch of non-government employee volunteers into the SoS office and do envelope stuffing for a fundraiser. Under your statement of the law that would be permissable. Whatever, my point is Brady should pounce. - Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:16 pm: ===my point is Brady should pounce. === Yeah. He should’ve pounced on Quinn for sending a videographer into the Statehouse during his campaign press conference at the Statehouse blue room yesterday. Sheesh, man. Get a clue. - Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:18 pm: ===Jesse White campaign decides to send in a bunch of non-government employee volunteers into the SoS office and do envelope stuffing for a fundraiser.=== Don’t be silly. There are public areas of the Statehouse where it’s permissable to do politics, like the blue room and the rotunda. - 10th Indy - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:21 pm: “You notice that the snide remarks about Walter Jacobson don’t refute or particularly disagree with his thesis?” Mine does. - Cosmic Charlie - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:31 pm: Wow Rich, getting a little personal here. I don’t think I’m a fool or silly or need to get a clue. I think you should stop throwing out drive-by generalizations of what the law is and then when called on it start with the personal attacks. Anyway, I’m sure you are as sick of this back and forth as I am. Go Blackhawks. - Carl Nyberg - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:34 pm: ===Gee Walter, Kirk didn’t mention broadway bank once in his tax day message.===10th Indy This is what I distilled WJ’s thesis to===The Trib and Sun-Times have been recycling the same old information over and over to create the appearance of a large scandal when it’s questionable whether Giannoulias did anything unethical and it seems certain he didn’t do anything illegal.=== 10th Indy, I don’t see how your first post refutes or disagrees with Walter Jacobson’s point? I feel like you are either a genius and I’m at a level where you don’t make sense to me without making an extra effort to explain it. Or you’re an idiot and you can’t even cobble together a logical argument. - Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:38 pm: ===I don’t think I’m a fool=== I don’t either, that’s why I deleted my own comment and gave myself a timeout. lol Go Sox. - wordslinger - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:39 pm: Kirk will have a race before it’s over. The bank is incredibly damaging to Alexi, but perhaps not fatal. Kirk will still have to make the case for himself. What is it? - A.B, - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 1:54 pm: Carl - While much of what you stated is opinion that I don’t wish to address, I do want to respond to one statement. “Is there any reason to think Giannoulias skills at building coalitions won’t translate to be a Senator of at least average effectiveness?” - A.G. has never built a legislative coalition. There is nothing that says he will or won’t but all he has built are are political coalitions. Your statement infers that A.G. is comparable to Mark Kirk. Kirk has a decade of experience and has crossed the aisle more than almost anyone in Congress. On this one issue, I don’t think there is even a comparison. - Carl Nyberg - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 2:11 pm: What is Kirk’s big legislative accomplishment in Congress? What is the bill he championed that is now law? Kirk engages in triangulation on social issues, like abortion. He is not trusted by either side because he does not approach the issue as a matter of principles. He approaches it as a cynical political calculation. John Kerry’s vote for invading Iraq was insincere and cynical. Since that vote I have held him in contempt. The contempt I have for Kerry, there are a whole bunch of people who feel the same way about Kirk. - 10th Indy - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 3:21 pm: Carl Jacobson: “Kirk only talks about the bank, the bank, the bank.” Indy: “Kirk didn’t mention broadway bank once in his tax day message” Do you see it now? - Carl Nyberg - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 3:41 pm: 10th Indy, if you listen to WJ he says that Kirk mostly talks about “the bank” but that he always turns questions on policy matters to talking about “the bank”. So, your example doesn’t contradict what Jacobson said. But if you create a straw man then your point stands. You successively knocked down the straw man that existed in your mind. - shore - Friday, Apr 16, 10 @ 4:52 pm: kirk owns the narrative in the campaign right now and has all the momentum. the democrats have failed at every attempt to change the subject, the media isn’t buying their schtick and continues to pound on him (listen to wls ray long show this week) and some retired journalist on a tv program that’s been last in the ratings for a decade thinks it isn’t fair that for once republicans are getting better coverage from the liberal media than the liberal party. don’t quit your day job, walter. carl, alexi lost the 10th big, like lee goodman did better in 2004 than alexi did in 2010 and lee goodman spent 84 grand for a campaign that lasted 1.5 years. he’s dead meat to the north shore. - Squideshi - Monday, Apr 19, 10 @ 2:07 pm: I was once asked by a Village Trustee to stop handing out fliers for a candidate at a Village festival held just outside the Village hall on Village property. He tried to tell me that it’s illegal to conduct partisan campaign activity on state property. I was a bit disgusted by his lack of knowledge about the law on this matter. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.