Giannoulias Bank Problems

Isn't this guy running for Senate? Shouldn't he, you know, have his own shit in order?

• (Crain’s) — Broadway Bank, the troubled Chicago lender owned by the family of Illinois Treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias, has entered into a consent order with banking regulators requiring it to raise tens of millions in capital, stop paying dividends to the family without regulatory approval, and hire an outside party to evaluate the bank’s senior management.

  The Jan. 26 consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Illinois Division of Banking comes less than a week before Mr. Giannoulias — Broadway’s chief lender and then vice-president from 2002 to 2006 — must face voters in the Democratic primary for the Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama.

  He’s faced criticism, principally from former city Inspector General David Hoffman, who’s running against him, for his past role at the bank and the $70 million in dividends the family took out of the bank in 2007 and 2008 as the real estate crisis was becoming apparent.

We aren't in the business of endorsing democrats for office, but any vote for Giannoulias would be a vote for "business as usual" in Illinois' corrupt government practices. If you're pulling a democratic primary ballot, Hoffman looks like the better bet for US Senate.

And while you're voting for Hoffman, throw a vote at Stroger for Cook County Board President. He's the most beatable of the democrats so we might actually see a republican winner in the fall.