Kirk takes aim at Giannoulias' role in family bank
Rep. Mark Kirk insisted he needed to leave a Tuesday news conference in a hurry to get to another appointment, until he was asked about his Democratic opponent in the race for U.S. Senate and the questions swirling around his family's bank.
"He has built up a record of reckless irresponsibility regarding other people's money," Kirk said of Democrat Alexi Giannoulias after speaking at the Shedd Aquarium about his opposition to closing a Coast Guard helicopter station in Waukegan.
The Republican nominee hit on the issue that promises to dog the Illinois state treasurer for the rest of the campaign: Giannoulias' family's collapsing bank and his role in its troubles, as well as reports that Broadway Bank loaned millions of dollars to convicted felons.
Giannoulias' spokeswoman Kathleen Strand blasted Kirk in a prepared statement, calling his comments "outrageous for a man whose record in Washington consists almost entirely of supporting the ruinous economic agenda of George W. Bush -- and undermining President Obama's attempt to clean up the mess left behind -- to attack anyone else for fiscal recklessness."
But Strand, who previously has said Giannoulias had "no role with these two individuals nor did he sit on the loan committee with these loans," did not address specifics about the bank or comments Kirk made about Giannoulias' role there.
Kirk countered that such talk does not jibe with Giannoulias' previously comments about his experience at the bank, particularly during his successful campaign in 2006 when he ran for state treasurer.
"He said he was senior loan officer of the bank and that he did, quote, 'everything,'" Kirk said.
Days after Democrats dismissed talk Giannoulias should bow out of the race in the light of the bank's problems, Kirk sounded like someone clearly happy about who he's running against.
"That's not Illinois law," he said, when asked if he thought the White House would try to get Giannoulias to drop out of the race. "Under Illinois law, once you become the elected nominee of your party you're in it."