January 28, 2010

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias tried to dampen criticism Thursday of what role he may have played in causing problems at the family bank where he worked before being elected state treasurer.

On more than one occasion, however, Giannoulias did not answer direct questions about which loans he approved while chief loan officer at Broadway Bank that have since gone bad.

"We'll have plenty of time to get into that," Giannoulias said at a hastily called news conference.

After the news conference, a spokeswoman clarified that Giannoulias doesn't know which loans may have contributed to the bank's problems because he hasn't been involved in the bank's day-to-day operations since he left.

With just days before the primary election, Giannoulias' opponents have made his experience and decision-making at Broadway Bank a major issue. The struggling bank, which was founded by Giannoulias' father and is still run by one of his brothers, reached a consent order this week with federal regulators that requires it to receive more oversight.

The bank is suffering in part from bad loans that haven't been paid back and from being undercapitalized. Giannoulias was chief loan officer at Broadway from 2002 through 2006, when he left to run for treasurer.

Giannoulias quickly organized the news conference to answer criticism raised by U.S. Senate rival David Hoffman, who earlier highlighted the consent order Broadway reached with Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Hoffman said the consent order raises questions about Giannoulias' experience and what he described as Giannoulias' inability to accept responsibility for his actions.

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