The Sun-Times is reporting that they’ve discovered yet another shady deal between convicted felon and political mover-and-shaker Tony Rezko and Democratic senatorial candidate Alexi Giannoulias’s now-defunct Broadway Bank:
On Feb. 14, 2006, newly obtained records show, the bank made a $22.75 million loan to a company called Riverside District Development LLC, whose owners, it turns out, included Rezko.
You won’t find Rezko’s name on any documents filed in the public record in connection with the loan.
But Rezko acknowledged his ownership stake in Riverside District Development to a federal judge about a year after the loan was made, according to a transcript of the court hearing.
The loan could prove to be a political liability for Giannoulias as he campaigns against his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, for the Senate seat now held by Roland Burris. Not only does its disclosure come during the Senate campaign, but records show the loan was made while Broadway Bank was already having problems with an earlier loan to another Rezko company.
Federal authorities shut down the bank in April.
Rezko’s representatives have responded with their usual retorts—guilt by associate, etc.
This discovery might have been handy a couple of years ago but I suspect that the Illinois voters are starting to tune out the various pieces of bad news attending the senatorial race. We already know that we have a choice between serial resume padder Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias, who’s rather clearly either an idiot or a crook (or both), not unlike the former governor whose jury is deliberating their verdict even as I type.
You and I both live in the Chicago metro area. Here’s a gentlemen’s bet that this very relevant story doesn’t get more than casual play in the press, or with the voters.
This is so tiring that the Mrs and I are actually starting to talk about where to go after our daughter graduates from high school. 15 years ago not in my wildest dreams did I believe that we would not move back to the city after our daughter went off to college. I live and breath Chicago. But a zombie-like electorate, perhaps so because of a zombie-like press, continues to tolerate this mess. Election after election. Chicago, and IL, are slowly being destroyed by these guys. And I’m saddened.
Things don’t crumble overnight, but IL has become part of the net population reduction crowd. By virtue of the work I do, I’ve been to the major cities in every state in the union except Alaska and Maine. There are lots of nice places to live. Chicago could blow it.
I’d be interested in a view: how do you break the cycle?
No taker here. That’s what I think is going to happen.
Cycles are very hard to stop once they’ve begun. They’re self-reinforcing. Better to prevent them from starting.
The fiscal cycle is unsustainable. Something will break, though the state workers I’ve spoken with believe that a large income tax increase is going to occur after the November election. That is, regardless of who wins and loses, the lame duck decides.