Nov 24, 2009 5:18 pm US/Central
Giannoulias Gets Grilled On State Of Family Bank
Broadway Bank Ranks As One Of Weakest Financial Institutions In Illinois
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias
CBS
The U.S. Senate campaign of State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias said he'll release copies of his income tax returns Wednesday.
The documents may answer questions that have lingered about his personal finances, specifically what Giannoulias did with his share of a $70 million dividend his family took from the Broadway Bank it owns. Giannoulias told CBS 2 Tuesday that he got 3.6 percent of the cash, or about $2.5 million.
When he ran for State Treasurer, Giannoulias bragged that he'd done a great job working as vice president and senior loan officer at his family's Broadway Bank. But now that bank is on the verge of failing, ranked as one of the weakest in the state of Illinois.
Now Giannoulias is running for President Obama's old U.S. Senate seat. CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery grilled him about his role at the family bank.
"When I left the bank, it was a well-capitalized financial institution. That was four years ago," Giannoulias said. "And I think at the end of the day, people want to hear what I've done as state treasurer. They want to hear whose ideas are gonna help move this state and this country forward."
But CBS 2 wanted the treasurer to tell us what went wrong at Broadway Bank. Heavily involved in real estate loans, it's now ranked as one of the weakest financial institutions in the state of Illinois. The Giannoulias family paid itself $70 million in dividends in 2007 and 2008 from the bank, following the death of his father, Alexis Giannoulias.
When asked why his family took $70 million out of the bank, Giannoulias said, "Most of the dividends were used for tax purposes. And what was left, most of that was used to help settle my father's estate."
When asked to explain further, Giannoulias said, "I'm not gonna go into the details of my father's estate with you."
These and other issues facing Giannoulias are among reasons that presidential advisor David Axelrod and the president himself tried to talk Attorney General Lisa Madigan into running for the Senate.
The White House seems concerned that Giannoulias could lose in the general election to Congressman Mark Kirk.
"I think, again, these are stories that have sort of taken on a life of their own. I've spoken to the White House. They've made it clear that they're gonna do everything they can to keep the seat," Giannoulias said. "I'm proud of the fact that I'm the only Democrat who's got polls that show that I'm beating Mark Kirk. But, listen. No one said it's gonna be easy. It's gonna be a challenging general election. It's gonna be a challenging climate."
Giannoulias also says he hopes to announce a settlement soon in litigation over multimillion dollar losses suffered by families who invested in his offices' Bright Start college savings plan.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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