Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias held their first debate yesterday on Meet the Press, and from the reaction on Morning Joe today, the Democratic nominee created more questions about his ties to mob figures than he provided answers. When Kirk hit Giannoulias on the loans to people like Michael “Jaws” Giorango, who not only had rap sheets with felony convictions but also had been extensively covered by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, Giannoulias couldn’t give a good answer as to why his family’s Broadway Bank authorized millions in loans to them when Giannoulias himself was the senior loan officer of the bank.  The best Giannoulias could do was to claim that he didn’t know the “extent” of the criminal activities of the loan recipients, hardly a denial:

These were hardly low-profile loan requests.  Republicans are passing around a list of loans approved by Broadway, with special notes for those loans approved during Giannoulias’ tenure as senior loan officer, that show tens of millions of dollars flowing out from Broadway to these mob figures, including Giorango:

Total Broadway Bank Loans to Criminals: $119,499,045

Total Alexi Giannoulias Loans to Criminals: $80,037,045

Michael Giorango

Name Amount Date

Michael Giorango                                           $1,100,000.00 8/27/1999

Michael Giorango                                           $900,000.00 9/24/1999

Michael Giorango                                           $300,000.00 12/5/2000

2601 Associates                                              $5,000,000.00 5/31/2001

Michael Giorango                                           $6,000,000.00 11/2/2001

Michael Giorango                                           $600,000.00 5/28/2002

2601 Associates                                              $400,000.00 9/19/2002

1201 S Western LLC                                      $1,360,000.00 9/1/2004

1201 S Western LLC                                      $4,400,000.00 12/21/2004

1201 S Western LLC                                      $6,120,000.00 12/31/2004

Sun & Ocean Properties                                  $5,800,000.00             3/31/2005

2601 Associates                                              $1,000,000.00 4/20/2005

Highland Park Real Estate Dev. Corp            $3,600,000.00             7/1/2005

1201 S Western LLC                                      $3,400,000.00 9/26/2005

Broadway Bank Total: $39,980,000

Alexi Giannoulias Total: $26,080,000

The best case that this demonstrates is that Alexi Giannoulias is a total incompetent, a conclusion that certainly follows from the failure of Broadway and the nine-figure federal rescue necessary when the FDIC seized it earlier this year.  Claiming that he didn’t know the “extent” of criminal activity while supervising tens of millions in loans makes this appear as something a little more problematic than just incompetence.  Giannoulias doesn’t belong anywhere near the US Senate, especially since he obviously has no real answers for the questions surrounding Broadway’s failures and the business that Giannoulias did while working there.