Giannoulias renews call for Kirk to return Goldman contributions

Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Alex Giannoulias went on the offensive Sunday, targeting his GOP opponent's campaign contributions from troubled Wall Street investing giant Goldman Sachs.

Giannoulias' attack on opponent U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk's campaign coffers comes less than two days after the federal government shut down the Giannoulias family's Broadway Bank and turned over most of the accounts to MB Financial. Giannoulias, who is the state's treasurer, blamed the bank's failure on the poor economy. It was one of seven banks shuttered by the federal government Friday.

Kirk has made the bank's misfortunes a central theme of his campaign against Giannoulias and blasted the bank's lending practices. Giannoulias served as a senior loan officer there until four years ago when he was elected treasurer.

During a Sunday afternoon news conference in Chicago, Giannoulias said Kirk should return all money donated by Goldman Sachs employees. Giannoulias' camp claims more than $32,000 remains in Kirk's campaign war chest from Goldman employees despite Kirk returning $24,000 earlier, which they say breaks a pledge Kirk made to return all the money. The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Goldman Sachs of fraud last week. Giannoulias said Goldman was "complicit in destroying the economy."

Senate investigators suggest that internal Goldman Sachs e-mails from 2007 show the bank was profiting by betting against the housing market. That assertion will be front and center during financial reform hearings this week in Washington.

"To understand Mark Kirk's record, all you have to do is look at who funds his campaigns," Giannoulias said. "Time after time, Congressman Kirk takes Wall Street money and every time he votes their way."

Kirk's team called the Democrat's campaign strategy "desperate" and resumed their attack on his time at Broadway Bank.

"It is ridiculous for someone whose family bank was engaged in years of risky lending schemes, including hot money investments and millions in loans to convicted felons and organized crime figures, to question the decision by Congressman Kirk to err on the side of caution and return contributions from individuals accused of no wrongdoing," said Kirsten Kukowski, a Kirk campaign spokeswoman.

• ABC 7 and The Associated Press contributed to this report.