IL Senate: Family bank good for Giannoulias' taxes, bad for his campaign

The Democrat candidate and friend of Obama, Giannoulias, has already learned to lie in order not to pay taxes. Just think what he could do if elected to the Senate. We already know he approved loans to the mob and now we find out he scammed the IRS by claiming hours he worked at the bank while telling people on the campaign trail he no longer worked there.  Guess you could call this typical Chicago style politics.

We love this part:

Most recently, Kirk criticized Giannoulias for trying to claim he wasn't involved in the bank when Broadway approved a controversial loan for a project headed by Rezko, who was convicted in the federal corruption probe of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration. Giannoulias' answer has been that he wasn't involved in the bank when the loan was approved in February 2006.

In the recent interview, Giannoulias acknowledged that while he was still at Broadway when that loan was approved, he was only involved in closing out his existing accounts and knew nothing about any new loans.

"For loans like the one you're talking about (Rezko) where I had nothing to do with or my name was never on it, I don't think there's any inconsistencies," he said.

According to Giannoulias he had nothing to do with the Rezko loan and then added his name wasn't on the paperwork? Anyone want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge? Friend of Rezko, friend of Obama, and friend of Chicago Dems and he wants everyone to believe because his name was not on the loan, he didn't even know about it. If I remember right the VP of the bank who got us our mortgage didn't have his name on the paperwork either.

Last thing the US Senate needs is someone like Giannoulias who never knows anything about corruption that surrounds him.

Family bank good for Giannoulias' taxes, bad for his campaign
U.S. Senate hopeful tells voters he was gone from the ailing institution by late 2005 — but he told the IRS something else

By John Chase, Tribune reporter

12:04 a.m. CDT, September 29, 2010

U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias tells voters he was gone from his troubled family bank by late 2005, but that's not what he told the Internal Revenue Service.

Giannoulias was able to take a $2.7 million tax deduction last year because he reported working hundreds of hours at Broadway Bank in 2006.

Giannoulias says there's no contradiction, and in fact there is no suggestion the Democratic state treasurer took a tax break he didn't deserve. Rather, the issue highlights the fine line Giannoulias walks on the campaign trail in explaining exactly what he did at Broadway and when he did it.

The bank was at the top of his résumé when he was a 30-year-old first-time statewide candidate in 2006 with few professional highlights. But in his tight Senate race against Republican Mark Kirk, his tenure as a senior loan officer at Broadway is a bull's-eye for critics who hit him for the bank's loans to mob figures as well as troubled lending that contributed to Broadway's collapse earlier this year.


Saying he left in 2005 gives Giannoulias maximum distance from the bank's questionable lending practices, the April takeover by federal regulators and other controversies such as a loan by the bank to convicted influence peddler Antoin "Tony" Rezko in early 2006.

But by reporting that he worked at least 500 hours at Broadway in 2006, Giannoulias was able to get a break that helped him avoid paying federal income tax for 2009.

Giannoulias said he has been clear that he left the "day-to-day" operations of the bank in September 2005 to prepare his first run for public office, but was on paid leave until May 2006 when he left completely to campaign full time for treasurer.

That 2006 work consisted of roughly 30 hours a week closing out his responsibilities before quitting as a bank officer, and didn't involve making new loans, Giannoulias explained in a recent interview. It was more than enough to qualify him for the tax break, he said.

IRS regulations allow taxpayers to deduct business losses from certain types of corporations if they've logged significant hours there for five of the last 10 years. Giannoulias started at the bank in 2002, so working at least 500 hours in 2006 qualifies Giannoulias for the tax break.

Before leaving day-to-day operations in September 2005, "I was there, I think I worked seven days a week," Giannoulias said.

Asked what he was doing at the bank in early 2006, Giannoulias said, "I think the biggest difference is I wasn't taking on new customers. I was just finishing up what I needed to do, so I don't know how the hours worked out, but it wasn't a full-time job.

Excerpt: Read More at Chicago Tribune