Posted on 06/27/2010 2:23:14 PM PDT by STARWISE
Illinois Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias said Sunday he was subpoenaed by former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's defense lawyers to testify at his corruption trial.
Giannoulias name surfaced last week during the trial, where prosecutors were focusing on the charges dealing with Blagojevich trying to sell the Senate seat Barack Obama was vacating after winning the presidential election.
The jury heard a lot about Blagojevich mapping strategy to see what he could get in return for appointing Valerie Jarrett to the Senate. Blagojevich learned, the jury heard on wiretaps, that all Blagojevich would get is "appreciation." Jarrett is now a Senior White House advisor.
Giannoulias told me in an interview on Sunday he reached out to Blagojevich former chief of staff John Harris to promote Jarrett for the Senate.
Giannoulias said he never talked to Blagojevich or Obama about Jarrett and the Senate. He also told me he helped set up a meeting between Jarrett, at the time a close friend and top presidential campaign aide and Illinois labor leader Tom Balanoff to discuss the Senate spot.
Giannoulias name came up last week in the trial, when prosecutors played for the jury a secretly recorded November, 2008 wiretap of a conversation between Blagojevich and Harris, where Harris is heard saying, "Alexi called me."
Harris said Giannoulias "wants to meet with me a few minutes this afternoon. He says it's . . . I said what's it about? He says the (Senate) seat 'but not for me, for someone else.' " Blagojevich never connected with Giannoulias.
Because of the Senate race, where Giannoulias faces Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), the GOP nominee, Republicans are trying to drag Giannoulias into the Blagojevich mess, but this seems like a molehill.
"Despite what the Republicans are trying to say," Giannoulias told me, "I am really not a part of this circus. I think you know I have always thought very highly of Valerie," Giannoulias said.
After the election, Giannoulias told me he "reached out to Harris to give him my thoughts and at a certain point, Tom Balanoff reached out to me to get in touch with Valerie; he did not know how to get ahold of her. I put the two together in the meeting."
The meeting was held in the office of John Rogers, a close friend of then President-elect Barack Obama, wife Michelle and Jarrett. Giannoulas was at the meeting. He said Jarrett was not aggresively pushing for the seat but she wanted to "hear Tom out."
Balanoff, President of both SEIU Local 1 and the SEIU Illinois State Council, a politically powerful union--and major Blagojevich backer--is expected to take the stand on Monday.
It has been known that Balanoff had discussed the Senate appointment with both Obama and Jarrett in addition to having met with Blagojevich.
Giannoulias and Blagojevich were not close; Blagojevich backed a rival in the Democratic primary when Giannoulious ran for treasurer. Giannoulias also called Blagojevich the "anti-Obama" after his 2008 budget address.
Giannoulias disclosed that he was supboenaed during our conversation. A supboena means only that a person may end up testifying at a trial. Monday starts Day 15 of the trial, with the prosecution continuing to make its case, expecting to last about three months.
Giannoulias, the state treasurer, joins a string of other prominent officials Blagojevich's defense team is lining up as potential witnesses to address the selling of the Senate seat charge--Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) and Jarrett.
UPDATE... As soon as news of the Giannoulias subpoena broke, GOP local and national operatives were e-mailing it around.
Kirk spokesman Kirsten Kukowski said in a statement, "Today's news developments further emphasize the troubling pattern that has emerged concerning Alexi Giannoulias.
As state treasurer, Giannoulias lost more than $70 million in Bright Start college savings funds and his family's bank cost the FDIC nearly $400 million in losses.
Now we've learned Giannoulias' name has come up on federal wire taps talking about the Illinois Senate seat and he has been subpoenaed in former and disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich's public corruption trial. This revelation raises additional questions about Alexi Giannoulias that he needs to answer.
~~~~~~
Giannoulias told me in an interview on Sunday he reached out to Blagojevich former chief of staff John Harris to promote Jarrett for the Senate. Giannoulias said he never talked to Blagojevich or Obama about Jarrett and the Senate.
He also told me he helped set up a meeting between Jarrett, at the time a close friend and top presidential campaign aide and Illinois labor ((SEIU)) leader Tom Balanoff to discuss the Senate spot
~~Ping!
How long before we start experiencing the used and abused "I don't recall"?
Well its Ill but at some point even they have to tire of the sport of electing the person most likely to serve jail time.
"If you keep your mouth shut, I'll get you a lucrative deal. The Hair Club wants
to show anxious baldies bad things can happen when guys have TOO much hair."
Clinton pictured above with ACORN founder Wade Rathke.
The tax-exempt Clinton Foundation had just donated $250,000 to ACORN.
The tax-exempt Clinton Foundation supposedly provided $275,000 in grants for ACORNS’S "Katrina Benefits Access project" and ACORN'S "Operation Hope Project; Restore Hope."
The tax-exempt Clinton Foundation also helped secure "private sector" commitments for ACORN.
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Senate Finance Committee Study ACORN comprises a mind-boggling 94 different affiliates, that amounts to "a big shell game," a biting Senate Finance Committee study shows. The study, by the staff of Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, reveals four ACORN charity groups give more than half their revenue to taxable entities that engage in "impermissible lobbying and political activity."
ACORN and it’s subsidiaries for decades have moved taxpayer money into their own pockets and into the left-wing Marxist machine.
Sen Charles Grassley's documents show leaders of ACORN community groups transferred several million dollars in charitable and government money-----meant for the poor---- to parts of the group that have political (and sometimes profit-making) missions.
Sen Grassley's documents indicate that ACORN's tax-exempt groups----along with its tangled web of allied organizations---- used more than half their charitable and public money in 2006 to pay other ACORN affiliates.
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REFERENCE The IRS has pinpointed tax-exempt "foundations and charities" as the locus classicus for tax evasion and money laundering. The BIGGEST tax-exempt fraud --- a tax-exempt foundation writing checks to a tax-exempt charity (the way crooks look "altruistic" as they siphon off tax-free money for personal/political uses).
REPORT POSSIBLE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY : Conspiracy, collusion, government fraud; mishandling public property, falsifying official records, tax fraud, computer trespass, US Postal and electronic fraud.
IRS TOLL-FREE 1-800-829-0433----you may remain anonymous.
EMAIL .......OAAG.Tax@tax.USDOJ.gov
FBI TIP PAGE http://tips.fbi.gov/ (you may remain anonymous)
Toll-free Capitol switchboard: 800-965-4701----800-828-0498------- 877-762-8762
Dang, do they make a big enough popcorn bowl for this?
I have to wonder how deep Dick "Turbin" Durbin is in this mess. Hopefully up to his eyeballs
He is one vile piece of chit and a rat I would love to see do the perp walk.
REFERENCE---SEIU BLOG---SEIU Laid Foundation for Needed Immigration Reform
August 20, 2009 | by Joaquin Guerra
FR Posted by machogirl
In a meeting to convene a diverse group of labor, advocacy, faith and business leaders, SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina met with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to discuss immigration reform. As an added bonus, President Barack Obama made an unscheduled visit to the meeting and reiterated his support of pushing through a comprehensive immigration package this Congress.
The Hill reports that: "Obama urged leaders to work together in order to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Advocates took the presidential visit as a sign of the administration's commitment to the issue."
In the first of its kind meeting -- to convene a diverse group of advocates to begin sketching a framework for reform--SEIU Vice President Medina issued the following statement:
"Today's White House meeting with Secretary Napolitano and a diverse group of labor, faith, and business leaders is an important step towards shaping smart, comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the comings months. As the leader of the Department that has for far too long been tasked with the impossible job of enforcing broken, outdated laws, Secretary Napolitano knows first-hand how critical it is that we pass sweeping immigration reforms that are smart, enforceable and strengthen our economy for the long term.
"In coming months as the immigration debate heats up, Secretary Napolitano will play a central role in promoting real progress on the issue. In order to achieve the smart policy solution that the American public wants, we urge Secretary Napolitano to stand up publicly, light the fire and become an outspoken champion of comprehensive reform.
"Enforcement without reform has been tried for decades with dismal results. Instead of solving problems, it wastes taxpayer dollars, marginalizes immigrant communities and degrades the quality of life for all workers.
"In particular, expansion of employment verification programs like E-Verify is like painting the roof when the house is on fire; it's the wrong solution at the wrong time.
"For every day we delay on passing a solution to our broken immigration system, we impede our nation's economic recovery, create unnecessary divisions in our workforce, and cost taxpayers billions of wasted dollars.
"It is unacceptable to live in a country where millions of workers are living in shadows. The only way to ensure that every job in this country is filled by a legal permanent resident is to get undocumented immigrants out of the underground economy, into the system and under the rule of law. Diverse groups are aligned on the need for a comprehensive solution. Now we need the Administration and Congress to take bold steps, roll up their sleeves and pass smart reforms once and for all.
Shortly after the meeting, Secretary Napolitano issued a statement on the meeting saying: "Today's meeting on comprehensive immigration reform was an important opportunity to hear from stakeholders and build on the significant time I've spent on the Hill meeting with members of Congress on this critical subject. I look forward to working with President Obama, my colleagues in Congress and representatives from law enforcement, business, labor organizations, the interfaith community, advocacy groups and others as we work on this important issue."
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Is SEIU Funneling Cash from Illegals Into US Elections? (video)
Naked Emperor News | Dec.2, 2009
FR Posted 12/02/2009 by Free ThinkerNY
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.tv
Michigan Gov Granholm gave an unprecedented $2 million tax credit to SEIU. No questions about what that’s intended to do. She isn’t running again and can afford to give taxpayer money to support the next Democrat candidate.
Ping to Post #9
Worst journalist in Chicago. She is like the Helen Thomas of Chicagoland. I wish she'd just go away. She is blowing smoke up our behinds covering for the Democrats.
Mark Kirk is a RINO!!! However, and I still say this Giannulious is absolute scum.
Fieldmarshal I figured you and or Billy would want to ping this to our fellow IL FReepers.
But yeah Lynne Sweet hands down the worst reporter in Chicago. To her Mark Kirk is a right wing conservative of the Barry Goldwater type.
Any wonder why the Chicago newspapers are bankrupt???
Atleast the White Sox are finally playing good ball (other than today) so I can focus on something other than the Senate Match which is a lose lose for every IL FReeper.
I'd rather be watching baseball in October than these two clowns attacking eachother, mark my words I guarantee Kirk is going to try and campaign further left than Giannulious because he assumes we will all vote for him.
Guess him and his people haven't been listening to a damn word said by the real people who should be running the IL GOP. Us.
Evil sounding; Heh .. heh heh....heh...heh!
The only good thing about this state to me is my four favorite sports teams (Everyone but the cubs).
Maybe I should move to Tennessee, fieldmarshal I'd probably be a lot less stressed than the joys of living in Crook County. The really really really good thing is Judy Biggert is my congressperson, the rest of my family have Bobby "Black Panther" Rush, whose English level is that of a 1st grader.
I'll take a moderate over a black panther who can't even speak properly.
Either way I wish they had CourTV still, I wanna see Blago on the stand I bet that would be a hoot.
He honestly thinks that he is innocent of everything. That my friends is what we call a sociopath! Then again we have a sociopath in the White House I guess it is something in the city water, I stick to Ice Mountain Bottle Water from CostCo, maybe that's why I haven't completely lost my mind.
The picture for statewide GOP future is bright in TN, the RINOs are a bigger threat.
But DJ will tell you bad things about Nashville. His own area is overrun with illegals.
The RINOs are a bigger threat than the rats I meant to say.
I haven’t read Sweet in a while.
I don’t think she’s very intelligent. At least they could have a liberal writer who isn’t dumber than an eggplant.
And the Cub fans wonder why we always make gay jokes about them. Like my t-shirt says "Wrigley Field - World's Largest Gay Bar" "The VERY friendly confines."
If the Hawks really think they are going to win over a bunch of queers to become fans they are clueless. I doubt many homos are in to hockey, the only thing they like invloving ice is probably the ice dancing in the olympics.
I used to subscribe to the Sun Times but the delivery people would give me the Naperville Sun about 3 out of 7 days of the week, I complained ateast 20 times, they still screwed up so I cancelled, and I wouldn’t spend a penny on a tribune.
Well it’s not to late to bring the Cup to the Cell at some point.
They should.
There’s something called the “Chicago Gay Hockey Association” so their must be a few of them interested in the sport.
I don’t think having the Cup in the gay parade is any attempt at getting fans. Just a reflection of liberalism. I’m glad old man Wirtz is dead, otherwise the Hawks would never be on TV. But I can’t image he’d be too happy about it.
I don’t want to make too big a deal about it but it’s insulting to the Stanley Cup to become a political prop in a gay parade. Did this have to happen for the first time after WE won it? Does this city need more embarrassment? Sopel is lucky he doesn’t have to face down the Redwing fans as a Blackhawk next year.
The new Cubs owners (including a lesbian member) were there and brought Ernie Banks, which is a shame.
No word on whether Jay Mariotti was there.
BTW I’ve got Luis Gutierrez. I’d rather have Rush or even Jaggoff Jr.
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