ShoreBank Fiasco Reveals Rift on the Left
by Joel B. PollakThe Hill revealed yesterday that Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and three other Chicago Democrats have written a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, asking him to release $70 million in federal TARP funds to bail out ShoreBank. ShoreBank’s political patrons have made Geithner their number one target, ever since the Treasury balked on supporting one of the most brazenly corrupt bailouts of the past several years.
Photo credit: Associated Press
Bill Brandt, chairman of the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA), launched the first attack last month: “It’s now clearer than ever to me that while [Geithner]’s happy to have these people clean his apartment and those of his cronies on Wall Street, he’s not comfortable with them getting mortgages for their homes.” Ironically, the IFA itself declined to bail out ShoreBank when Schakowsky’s overtures to the State of Illinois were exposed.
The corrupt Shorebank bailout has pitted one faction of the left against another. On the one side are those like Geithner, who are starting to wake up to the grim economic reality that bailouts and corruption have imposed on our nation. On the other side are those like Schakowsky, who are determined to borrow, spend, and tax our nation into penury in order to chase their radical ideals and reward their political cronies.
The dividing line between the two factions is not based on ideology, but circumstance: those with actual responsibilities are the ones getting cold feet. Even Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) was prepared to allow an investigation of ShoreBank and other bailouts into the financial regulation bill, until that amendment was killed in Senate negotiations at the last moment by those determined to cover up the role of the White House in the affair.
Schakowsky and other Chicago politicians who have lobbied for the ShoreBank bailout claim they are acting on behalf of a bank that serves needy communities. What they refuse to explain is why ShoreBank is the only community development bank they have campaigned and lobbied for, out of all the community development financial institutions in America that would be eligible for the $1 billion set aside within TARP for their benefit.
Schakowsky did not try to bail out Park National Bank, for example, which failed last year and had a distinguished record of addressing the needs of low-income customers. Nor has she tried to help banks in her own community, such as Bank of Lincolnwood, which was an iconic symbol in the 9th congressional district. This year alone, 11 banks have failed in Illinois, and 86 nationwide. None received the help ShoreBank is getting.
The Treasury is backing away from ShoreBank because of the mounting political and financial cost of supporting it. Schakowsky and other Illinois politicians are determined to save ShoreBank because of what might be revealed in an audit if it were allowed to fail. This is the classic pattern of failed hegemonic political movements, left or right: they fall apart not over differences of principle, but over the rapidly dwindling spoils of power.
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39 Comments
Shorebank?
Every good political machine needs a friendly little piggy bank to run their slush fund through. Checks and debits are a whole lot more tidy than hauling around those bags of cash. Dig a whole lot deeper, look harder at Valerie Jarrett………….
SHOREBANK NEEDS MONEY? Why not go after the bad loans? They can get the money back from Jeremiah Wright… $10,000,000 line of credit and more than a million dollar home loan for a Preacher???
Washington cronyism at it’s worst. I am sick of hearing the white guilt crap how a bank has a stellar record of serving low income customers. That’s such BS, just cut through the chase and give’em a damn house. This is the kind of gobbledygook that has us where we’re at now (CRA), some stupid egalitarian trying to defy the main principle of business…PROFIT! Stop the dumb shit!
BHO's crime incorporated bank must fail and be exposed, again. It's gonna look really good when the King (SOB) goes away in handcuffs.
Hey Jan Schakowsky. "Check it out" Yeah. "Check it out" (Dwight Schultz played the audio of her on Doyle's show when she proudly proclaimed that they are going to create more jobs in the next 8 months than were created in 8 YEARS under Bush)
"Check it out"? Oh Jan. We have been checking it out. Valerie Jarrett's Grove Parc fiasco? We checked it out. Blago? We checked it out. The Nine-Fingered Mercenary? We checked it out. Shorebank? We checked it out. Geithner's taxes? We checked it out.
What baffles me more than anything is not that they are all not in prison. What baffles me more than anything is that Geithner was somehow painted as a newcomer to this racket when in fact Timmy was there all during the Subprime Housing Heist years.
And the MSM still has the hook in their throats.
Just a matter of time before the collapse comes and they turn on each other. BHO has got to go!
Not to change the topic, but these Shorebank threads are dull and don't get much action. Megan Kelly is fixing to interview that ape malikm Zulu Shabazz on FOX and get his comments on the New Black Panthers. That should prove lively.
Nobody has asked the question as to WHY this street thug has visited the White House. We'll see if he advocates killing crackers and their bhabies, and Jews.
Stay tuned for NEWZ…….
You and I are agreeing 100% on that one!
This country doesn't have a chance. I think the only option worth pursuing is that the red states secede. We don't need the blue states. They are just trouble.
Off-Shore Bank of Cheek-a-go, you say?
Funny.
Most of the hydrocarbons and fossil fuels are located in the red states.
Perhaps we could join OPEC, and immediately sever all pipeline connections. Let the Yankee bastardz freeze in the dark.
Gee !!! I'm so shocked, shocked let's get this straight ; rezko, wright, daley,ombimbo, michelle, rostenkowski, emanuel, blago, capone, shore bank, na couldn't happen. let's move on bp, aig, lehman bros, new black panthers, soros, pete stark, pelosi, bill ayers, I'm getting very confused can I still join acorn ? I need my meds.
Malik Zulu Shabazz just said he is a black Hebrew.
OOOOOOOokayyyyyyyyy!
Why doesn't someone put a target on this moron and use it?
[...] BigGovernment.com [...]
Just throw it in with the original point of TARP being to purchase Toxic Assets which STILL hasn't happened yet.
http://econgressnow.com
Flattering pic of this CrackerHoBeeyotch. let's see….husband..convicted felon, ideology….anti-American, job experience…taxpayer welfare, lifestyle….elitist. 20% of the voting block are LeftLoons driving policy and progressivism down the throats of 80% who are center-right. Seems backwards, no?
Boy, you just GOT to love those low-life, Chicago, thug politicians, don't you? I'm sure somewhere, deep in hell, Al Capone is beaming with pride at his proteges' hutzpah! And I'm equally certain that VERY soon, Obama will instruct his lackey weasel Geithner to do his bidding and release the funds to Schakowsky's scum-bag buddies at Shorebank!
waste of a good target
she's holding up two fingers to indicate she can count that high.
Anybody know the statute of limitations for bank fraud and wire fraud?
Fannie Mae, Shore Bank, Freddie Mac, Broadway Bank would have a good perp walk photo op for President Mitt Romney.
I can't say I blame you, but there has to be a better way. I happen to be from Illinois. We just really need to rid this state of the vermin that are running it. There are plenty of decent people in the blue states, but in the case of Illinois, it's really the city of Chicago and Cook (or Crook would be more fitting) County that ruin it for the rest of us.
"President Mitt Romney"
You were doing okay until you got to the end. I hope I don't find myself in the position of having to hold my nose and vote for him.
STOP, NO MORE BAILOUTS.
THERE'S ONLY ONE OPTION FOLKS, AND THAT'S TO STOMP
OUT OBAMANOMICS, SOCIALIST ENSLAVEMENT AND BANKRUPTCY:
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
http://i27.tinypic.com/34rj0uv.jpg
Just imagine all the juicy secrets locked up in those ledgers, the price to keep the book closed, apparently 70 million.
This sort of interference from Congress is the near inevitable result of the "rescue" of the financial system begun back in 2008. Again and again, we see regulators making ad hoc decisions to benefit the politically powerful.
The time has come to codify a bankruptcy process for financial institutions and trust regulatory agencies only to implement clearly articulated law.
It seems the time for a good 'ol hangin judge from the old west is in order! The dust is settling, the picture is becoming clear, many politicos' future seems to hold some serious time in the Federal prison system. Eventually that reality will strike at least one of them, who will seek a plea-bargin for leniency if they connect the dots. The house of cards foundation is getting very weak.
We all remember this, RIGHT???
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,593343,00.htm...
Not that your saying and I don't know but possibly could have the Debit/C.C. donations been issued by Shore Bank?
Just asking
Lecher you mean
Hate's expensive.
IF COMMON CITIZENS CAN RECOGNIZE BLATANT CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, WHY CAN'T THE JUDICIAL? Many starving citizens have been FORCED to fill their "Honey hole"!!! PIRATES are guarded by Pirates, of course they can't see anything wrong!!!
THEY SHARE THE SPOILS!!!!!
Waste of a good bullet!!
Because order of the masses trumps all truth.
Is this woman totally corrupt or what?
Rep. Schakowsky played a leading role in the ShoreBank bailout which is not based in her congressional district, and she did not help the Bank of Lincolnwood–which is in her district, and failed in 2009–or Park National Bank, which was also active in community development in Chicago until it was closed by federal regulators last year.
ShoreBank was one of several banks that Rep. Schakowsky’s husband, Robert Creamer, used in the check kiting scheme for which he was convicted and sentenced to federal prison in 2006.
When another bank, Cole Taylor Bank, refused to continue honoring his checks, Creamer turned to ShoreBank for help. ShoreBank evidently provided him with extra time to find over $1.4 million to cover the overdrafts.
She's just trying to help the bank out that helped her husband's criminal activity.
She definitely should not be re-elected this year.
Ya know, if you just clip the left side of the photo about half an inch…
This is complete garbage fabricated by desperate conservatives who want the November Senate seat in Illinois.
Here is the truth: http://mediamatters.org/research/201007120005
If the “right-wing” is so dangerous why are “left wing radicals” burning cars in California?…
I didn’t quite follow this to begin with. But when I read it a third time, it all added up in my mind. Thanks for the insight. Definitely something to think about. Thanks for sharing…
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