The Politico (minus Ben Smith who does a very good blog on Democratic politics and actually talks to people outside of DC) does reliable stenography for Bill Daley:
Giannoulias, though, has some baggage that primary opponents could exploit. His relative youth could prove to be a disadvantage, especially against someone like Daley, a former Clinton administration commerce secretary who boasts extensive experience in national politics.
More important, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is already connecting Giannoulias to Blagojevich, alleging that his family’s bank made numerous loans to indicted Blagojevich fundraiser Tony Rezko and to individuals connected to organized crime. The NRSC also alleges that Rezko urged Blagojevich to appoint Giannoulias’ brother to the Illinois Finance Authority Board.
Those vulnerabilities have emboldened Daley to take a serious look at running. Supporters of Daley, who currently serves as Midwest director for JPMorgan Chase, say he would offer a clean break from the era of Blagojevich and Burris.
“He is very serious about doing it. I would say he is very close to pulling the trigger,” said one Democratic operative with ties to Daley. “He would be the only guy in the race with maturity and steadiness. He’s a solid, unassuming guy and he would bring significant stature to the race.”
Bill Daley is a fresh face without any ties to the problems of corruption or taint.
Are you fucking kidding me? Seriously, a Daley is a fresh break from the politics of the past?
Presumably this bit of slop was directly from Democratic Hamlet’s pals who think Bill Daley is a swell candidate because he is “Serious” (TM).
The problem with it is that not only is Daley a, you know, Daley, that is bringing him some attention:
William Daley returned a call Monday evening, hours after his name surfaced in the federal corruption trial of brother Richard Daley’s former Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez.
William Daley’s comments are included in today’s story, which offers new details about the creation of a key cog in the mayor’s political machine. Here is a lengthier version of those comments.
Former city worker Roberto Medina testified that he was involved in founding the scandal-scarred Hispanic Democratic Organization at the urging of William Daley and others.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the guy,” William Daley said of Medina. “I have no memory of him.”
Daley asked when Medina said their meeting supposedly took place. Medina testified Monday that the meeting was in the early 1990s at a restaurant on Fullerton Avenue and that it also was attended by top mayoral strategist Timothy Degnan, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and mayoral Cabinet member Ben Reyes.
“A restaurant on Fullerton Avenue?” Daley said. “I may have had meetings in ’91 or ’90 about Rich’s election. It surely wasn’t about creating some organization.”
He then added, “I’m not saying I didn’t meet (Medina). Everybody meets a lot of people in politics.”
Adding the best bit:
Daley was asked if he knew of Degnan or others close to his brother ever promising city jobs for political support, as alleged by another witness in the Sanchez case.
Daley replied that he knew of no such conversations, but added, “Times were different. You’re talking about 20 years ago. Even if it happened—and I’m not saying it did—things were different. There was nothing illegal about that stuff.”
Let me point out that while he was attacking Alexi, Daley tried to pin Rezko on Alexi because Rezko got perfectly legal loan from Giannoulias’ family bank and apparently Rezko bounced checks. From Kristin McQueary in the Southtown June 15, 2008
Before being elected state treasurer, Giannoulias was vice president of his family’s North Side bank, Broadway Bank. Rezko was a client. In addition to at least one loan secured through the bank, Rezko held a checking account there. Rezko is accused of writing nine bad checks from the account totaling more than $400,000 to Las Vegas casinos, Nevada authorities revealed last month.
Wouldn’t you know it? Rezko liked to gamble, just like his pal Christopher Kelly, who faces federal charges in a separate case alleging he hid gambling debts and cheated the IRS. Both men were close advisers to [Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich].
Giannoulias could not, and would not, elaborate on his specific financial dealings with Rezko because as a banker, that information is private, Giannoulias said.
“I would love to, but I can’t,” Giannoulias said.
As for Rezko’s bounced checks, Giannoulias said they simply show “the bank did the right thing.” In other words, the bank didn’t help Rezko by covering the losses. Giannoulias said he oversaw the loan portfolio of the bank anyway and would not have been aware of Rezko’s bad check-writing habits.
So, the ‘relationship’ with Rezko was a loan–something not uncommon for a developer to get and the guy later wrote bad checks on his checking account with the same bank. I’m having a hard time finding the scandal. Rezko essential defrauded the bank that Giannoulias worked for and somehow that puts Alexi in cahoots with him.
This is perhaps the silliest charge yet against Giannoulias outranking the claim that he was in cahoots with the mob when he made a loan to a woman who qualified and then was taken to the cleaner. This charge is made even though Giannoulias contacted the family of the woman and suggested they act to prevent her from going in on the deal.
The biggest difference. Alexi can actually remember the things.
ArchPundit
