GOP Pounces After Democratic Candidate’s Subpoena In Blagojevich Trial

Chicago, IL, United States (AHN) – Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has been subpoenaed by lawyers of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to testify during the former governor’s corruption trial.

Giannoulias told the Chicago Tribune on Sunday that he introduced a union official to Valerie Jarrett, White House senior advisor and presidential assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement.

Jarrett is believed to have been President Barack Obama’s choice for the Senate seat he vacated when he won the presidency. Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell his appointment to the seat, which Giannoulias is seeking in the November election against Rep. Mark Kirk.

Federal wiretaps played last week at the trial had Blagojevich”s former chief of staff, John Harris, saying that Giannoulias had called him about the Senate appointment. Giannoulias told the Tribune he called to recommend Jarrett, a close friend of the Obamas, for the seat, but that he had not acted on the president’s behalf.

Republicans have been emphasizing Giannoulias’ ties to Blagojevich, who is a Democrat, in hopes of diverting attention away from Kirk’s “overstatements” about his military record. They point out that Giannoulias previously claimed Blagojevich’s staff had “reached out” to him about the vacant seat.

“Why did Alexi Giannoulias hide his phone call to John Harris from the public and why won’t he tell voters if he made other calls?” Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady said in a statement last week. “Alexi led us to believe the Blagojevich team was seeking him out when in fact he was seeking them out. Alexi is running for the very same Senate seat that was put for sale – he must come clean and document the timeline of events.”

Giannoulias is currently deadlocked with Kirk in the highly contested Senate race, according to a Public Policy Polling survey last week. The Democrat has been facing questions about his role in $20 million worth of loans his family’s bank is said to have lent to criminals.

A Tulane University Law School graduate, Giannoulias served as a senior loan officer and vice president at Broadway Bank, a once-successful community bank in Edgewater now facing insolvency, when the loans were approved.

Despite the financial issues, Giannoulias has received solid support from key organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters. The environmental groups announced their decision earlier this month, dealing a blow to Kirk, who had received their backing in all but one of his previous election campaigns.

Giannoulias’ subpoena to testify at the corruption trial of Blagojevich follows controversy over his rival’s military record as well as claims of being a “teacher” in a nursery school in New York.

Kirk, a five-term congressman, met with different newspapers early this month to apologize for claiming to be a veteran of the Gulf and Afghan wars while he actually served in Maryland in the Navy Reserves.

The congressman confessed to having wrongly boasted about being awarded intelligence officer of the year in the Navy for his service in the Kosovo war when it was actually a group citation, the Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Award, for his whole unit.

Kirk issued his apology after critics and observers exposed a number of questionable claims, such as his statement that he commanded the war room at the Pentagon. Giannoulias has also called him out for saying in a congressional floor speech, “The last time I was in Iraq I was in uniform, flying at 20,000 feet, and the Iraqi Air Defense network was shooting at us.”

Following his apology, the New York Times revealed that his claim throughout the years of working as “a nursery school teacher” in his last year at Cornell University had also been “overstated.” The head of the church where the congressman said he had worked told the Times, “He was never, ever considered a teacher. He was just an additional pair of hands to help a primary teaching person.”

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