I received correspondence from Democratic US Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias.
Dear Daniel,
Yesterday, I spent the day talking with editorial boards and different
media outlets about Broadway Bank, the business founded by my late
father thirty-five years ago. The bank, like countless of other small
and mid-size businesses across this nation, is struggling in the wake of
the worst recession since the Great Depression.Republican Congressman Mark Kirk is attempting to make this community
bank’s financial troubles an issue in this campaign. I haven’t worked
at my family’s business for over four years and when I left it was
profitable and very well-capitalized. I spent over 10 hours talking to
the press including a live interview with Carol Marin on Chicago
Tonight (watch the video here). I answered their questions,
and I will continue being transparent because inaccuracies must be
corrected, and because I am proud of my family and my father’s bank.For Mark Kirk, whose ten years in D.C. have allowed him to perfect
his Washington games, attacking my family and me is pure politics.
For me — and for my family — it’s personal.My father was a first-generation Greek immigrant who came to this
country without a penny in his pocket. But despite having nothing, he
had the only thing that mattered – a belief in the American dream and a
willingness to work hard to achieve it.So he worked his way up, from selling pickles to buying property to
starting a community bank so that others could have a chance at that
dream. My father has helped thousands of people start businesses, send
their kids to college, build homes, and invest in their neighborhoods.I grew up in my father’s business, from before I could look over the
teller’s desk. I saw my dad pour his sweat and soul into his daily work,
and I saw how his success touched on and improved so many lives.
Broadway Bank was his life’s work, his legacy, and his dream.I followed in my father’s footsteps after law school and worked at the
business he started from scratch. But in 2005, I left to pursue my own
dream of a career in public service. At the time I left the bank,
Broadway Bank was one of the best-performing banks in Illinois.But that hasn’t stopped Congressman Kirk from launching negative,
reckless attacks about Broadway Bank. It hasn’t stopped him from
ignoring the fact that my family’s business, just like so many others,
is suffering in a real way because of the reckless Bush policies he
supported that got us into this economic mess.This is why I’m running for the United States Senate. And this is why
I need your help today.Far too often, those purportedly representing us in Washington are
completely oblivious to the real-world effect of their policies. To Mark
Kirk, the community businesses that are struggling because D.C. dropped
the ball are just another political football. To me, and to the small
business owners I talk to every day on the trail, it’s all too real.
This experience makes my fight for a better economy and a way forward
that much more personal.I haven’t worked at the bank for years, but I know that Kirk’s reckless
economic policies that benefit Wall Street fat cats just aren’t working
for community businesses like Broadway Bank.
And I know that we won’t get Washington working for families and small
businesses again until we vote insiders like Mark Kirk out of D.C.I’m not a Washington politician like Mark Kirk who has been at this game
for a decade. I come to this race by choice without federal lobbyist
or corporate cash in my campaign pockets. Mark Kirk takes millions of
contributions from Wall Street, and then votes for corporate bailouts
and repeatedly votes to protect outrageous executive bonuses financed by
taxpayers. That’s what Washington insiders like Mark Kirk do. But
despite the fact that our campaign doesn’t have the millions that Kirk
boasts, we have the only thing that matters – the truth.That’s why we are launching our new website, TruthAboutAlexi.com.
The same right-wing special interests that lied about President Barack
Obama in 2008 are now out in full force again in the race for the seat
he once held in the Senate. They’ll say anything and do anything to
protect a politician like Kirk who takes their cash and does their
bidding.
But together, we can battle back against the right-wing smears, starting
with TruthAboutAlexi.com.Please visit the site, share it with your family and friends, and help
us set the record straight on Broadway Bank and other issues that Mark
Kirk is trying to distort for political gain.Together, we can win this seat for the people of Illinois, turn this
economy around, begin to rebuild the American dream and move our country
forward.Sincerely,
P.S. You can watch my full interview with Chicago Tonight‘s
Carol Marin here.
