Alexi Giannoulias has big trouble ahead. The wealthy and telegenic young candidate,
who handily won Tuesday’s Democratic primary for state
treasurer over downstater Paul Mangieri, has repeatedly claimed
that his experience working at his family’s bank qualifies
him to be state treasurer. But recent questions about some loans
the bank made to an ex-mobster and the candidate’s response
have cast doubt on whether Giannoulias is ready — or even fit
— to hold statewide office. Michael “Jaws” Giorango was
apparently a member of the old Chicago Heights mob operation. Years
ago he was convicted twice on bookmaking charges. One of the
bookmaking operations he worked for, according to the Chicago Tribune, used
“threats of bombings, beatings and robbery to collect unpaid
debts.” Then, in 2004, Giorango was busted again,
this time for promoting a nationwide prostitution ring through a
hotel he co-owns in Florida. His interest in that hotel was at
least partially financed with millions of dollars lent to him by
Giannoulias’ family bank. There has been no suggestion that either the
young Giannoulias or his bank knew what was going on at the Florida
hotel or that the bank did anything illegal, but when he was
pressed about the connection at a press conference, his answers
left many shaking their heads. After saying he had met Giorango at the bank
“a few” times, Giannoulias launched into a bizarre
defense of the man. Giannoulias called the ex-con “a very
nice person” and then kept right on flapping his gums.
“Is he a crime figure?” Giannoulias asked reporters.
“I don’t know what the charges are that makes him this
huge crime figure.” It’s completely unbelievable that
Giannoulias had no idea that the former bookie was a convict. Crain’s Chicago Business published a high-profile piece about the connection
well before the press conference, so Giannoulias had to have known
that the subject would be brought up. His campaign staff played Giannoulias’
remarks as simply a “gaffe” made by an inexperienced
candidate. That response only bolstered my long-held belief that
politically inexperienced rich people usually make lousy statewide
candidates. If they started lower on the rung, the media and their
opponents would have a chance to examine their backgrounds before
they moved up to higher office. But starting at the bottom, or even the middle, is usually beneath them, and that means we
end up with disasters such as Democratic U.S. Senate wannabe Blair
Hull, who spent $30 million but won just 10 percent of the vote in 2004
because it came out that the cops were called after he allegedly hit
his wife. Or Jack Ryan, who had to drop out of the U.S.
Senate race after winning the 2004 Republican primary when his
divorce records were unsealed. Revelations about Giannoulias emerged so late
in the campaign that they weren’t enough to blunt the impact
of his personal wealth and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s
endorsement. But there is more to come about the
Giannoulias family bank’s ties to Giorango, such as how the
bank lent $3.9 million to a Giorango family member last year. Most
of that money, $3.4 million, was also loaned to a person with a
Greek surname who appears on official records as an investor in
that Florida hotel. Or how, according to official records, one of
the other investors in that very same Florida hotel was Spiros
Naos. Naos became such a controversial figure in the
treasurer’s race a couple of weeks ago that Giannoulias was
forced to return his campaign contribution. Naos’ uncle owned
a casino fleet in Florida that he sold to disgraced Washington,
D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The uncle was gunned down
gangland-style after he sold the fleet. Later Naos bought the fleet
back. There’s no real indication that the
Giannoulias family bank did anything illegal. The younger
Giannoulias didn’t even work at the bank when most of this
stuff went down. But his public defense of Giorango puts all
of this on the candidate’s shoulders and guarantees a lot
more media coverage down the road. And that’s why I think that, like Jack
Ryan before him, Giannoulias may not even make it to November.
This article appears in Mar 23-29, 2006.
