DOC Banks on government cash

Unpaid taxes no obstacle | Big campaign donor still got OK to buy controlling interest in bank

October 18, 2007

BY CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporter

Dr. Ronald Michael once headed a company that faced more than its share of money troubles. It didn't pay its taxes. And it ended up bankrupt.

But those financial problems didn't prove to be a hurdle when Michael decided to buy a downstate bank.

RELATED STORIES
• Indicted but still lobbying

The List: Doctor's political giving

Dr. Ronald Michael has given a total of $178,390 to state lawmakers, state political groups and Chicago aldermen. Nearly 60 percent of the money has gone to Republicans.

Judy Baar Topinka, former state treasurer and 2006 GOP nominee for governor: $63,810
Gov. Blagojevich (D): $47,000
Illinois Republican Party: $25,000
State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D): $21,180
Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica (R): $10,000
State Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D): $3,000
Former Gov. George Ryan (R): $2,500
Kankakee Republican Central Committee: $2,400
Jim Ryan, former attorney general and 2002 GOP gubernatorial nominee (R): $1,500
State Senate President Emil Jones (D): $1,000
Chicago 1st Ward Ald. Manuel "Manny" Flores (D): $750
Chicago 7th Ward Ald. Sandi Jackson (D): $250
Republican total: $105,210
Democratic total: $73,180
Source: Illinois State Board of Elections
State and federal officials signed off on the Bourbonnais neurosurgeon's purchase of 73 percent of Arcola Homestead Savings Bank in 2003. And in the past year, the tiny bank has seen a big boost in deposits from public, taxpayer-funded sources.

So how do you go from running a bankrupt company to owning a bank with millions in government deposits?

Michael — who's made $178,390 in campaign contributions to state and local officials and thousands of dollars more to federal candidates — won't say. "I'm not talking about my personal life," he says.

His business troubles involve a restaurant delivery company called Hypermeals Inc. In the late 1990s, Michael started a business that acquired a 70 percent stake in Hypermeals. He personally held a 2.5 percent stake in Hypermeals and served as its chairman.

In 2002, Hypermeals' troubles boiled over. The company filed for bankruptcy that May after failing to pay $34,987 in state taxes. The state filed a second tax lien — for $49,979 — against the company in 2004. Hypermeals still owes the tax man, records show.

Less than six months after the bankruptcy filing, Michael began seeking approval to buy Arcola Homestead from then-Gov. George Ryan's administration. State and federal banking officials gave their OK to the $1.1 million purchase in February 2003, a month after Gov. Blagojevich took office.

Bank regulators won't say if they investigated Michael's involvement with Hypermeals. Nor will they release details of the financial report Michael filed with his banking application. They cite privacy laws.

But records show that, as of June 30, 2006, Arcola Homestead had just $550,000 in deposits from state and local government entities. A year later, that figure had soared to $7.2 million.

FDIC records don't specify where the cash comes from. But the Illinois State Treasurer's office says it has $285,000 in Michael's bank. The most recent deposit came in January 2004, when then-state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka deposited $95,000 in state funds.
Subsequently, in May 2005, Michael started donating to Topinka's failed 2006 run for governor. In all, he ended up giving Topinka $63,810.

Michael also has given $21,180 to current state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, a Democrat.
Topinka and Giannoulias say Michael's contributions didn't affect decisions about his bank. Also, they say they didn't even know Michael was in the banking business, that they knew only that he was a doctor.

Gov. Blagojevich has accepted $47,000 from Michael, including $25,000 on Nov. 23, 2002 — 18 days after Blagojevich won election.

About three months later, on Feb. 28, 2003, Michael won approval to take control of Arcola Homestead. He gave another $20,000 to the governor's campaign fund on July 25, 2003.
The donations had nothing to do with Michael being OKd to buy the bank, Blagojevich campaign spokesman Doug Scofield says.
Report

In the 20's Nazi thugs were not prosecuted vigorously by the old Prussian judiciary. We can't let this pass or it will seal our doom in 20 years. Obama is a bad president and a horrible person. SEIU was encouraged to strike back from the White house. That lead directly to this crime.

Our political left has crossed over to fascism.

a spooky parallel, and historical review: Obama = Nixon (resigned); Holder = Mitchell (convicted); ACORN/SEIU = CREEP (Committee to Re-Elect the President, all convicted)

Gosh, when seeing the title for this post, I was hopeful that the "Napolitano" being quoted was the Shrek-like Janet Napolitano.

Oh well. As right as the judge is, AG Holder doesn't give a damn about a black man being beaten for exercising his constitutional rights…especially since the beaters are friends of his boss.

I agree that the Justice Dept should prosecute SEIU thugs, however, that would be like Holder prosecuting himself. The connections are so tight that they are almost one and the same. Holder should recuse himself under the guise of "confict of interest." If Holder prosecutes to the fullest extent of the law, SEIU will expose the entire administration and how they stole the election (or beat the $hit out of those in opposition to the ONE).

This all just goes again to prove my point how much MORE compassionate Republicans are towards these kinds of situations, i.e. Hatecrimes etc. Democrats are the first ones to exploite something like this. Kenneth Gladney is a true American. After he was attacked, he didn’t go around saying how much he wanted to get revenge against his attackers. Instead, Kenneth handled the horrible situation better than anyone I have seen in a long time. I personally, would have sought out my attackers and picked them off one by one. This man is an amazing human being, truly. He himself didn’t even seem angry per se, jus hurt, and that is what touched us as Americans the most. While the MSM continues to ignore this unfortunate incident, Mr. Gladney, know that we the people as Americans have your back. We support you one hundred percent and please know that we do care.

This is a bunch of crap, a blackman hit him, so that makes it a hate crime. This guy was walking around after he got punched, then the next day was in a wheelchair get real. Two of the witnesses changed their story and said they did see what happened.

Here's a suggestion… work with Fox to see if they will let Big Government air a 3 – 5 minute segment somewhere in their programming on a daily, weekly or whatever time segment can be worked out. Maybe a monthly 1/2 hour program? This allows your staff to research and get out to the masses just what Obama and his socialists czars are doing. The short segments can hit hard and be concise. I know it's a huge undertaking to try to team up for a segment but your blog is awesome and I can only imagine what some air time would do for America.

The incident happened in August; the "hate crimes legislation" passed in November; playing devil's advocate here a little, wouldn't the prohibition of ex post facto law apply? Still, knocking someone down and kicking/striking him would seem to be an assault in any legal framework I can think of, at least in this country.

Of course I know that there is really just a lot of hypocrisy here; like in George Orwell's Animal Farm, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."

What amazes me is that no acolyte of big government has called Mr. Gladney an "Uncle Tom," for selling Gadsden Flags. Did I miss it?