Coincidence or not? Obama, Rezko, Giannoulias

In 2006, when Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias was running for office, his good friend Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) not only vouched for him but also appeared in a campaign commercial in support of his campaign.

When Giannoulias visited Chicago’s SouthtownStar editorial board last week, he said that he had “met several times” with convicted political fixer Antoin “Tony” Rezko as a “banking customer,” Kristen McQueary reported June 15, 2008.

Before being elected state treasurer, Giannoulias was vice president of his family’s North Side bank, Broadway Bank. Rezko was a client. In addition to at least one loan secured through the bank, Rezko held a checking account there. Rezko is accused of writing nine bad checks from the account totaling more than $400,000 to Las Vegas casinos, Nevada authorities revealed last month.

Wouldn’t you know it? Rezko liked to gamble, just like his pal Christopher Kelly, who faces federal charges in a separate case alleging he hid gambling debts and cheated the IRS. Both men were close advisers to [Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich].

Giannoulias could not, and would not, elaborate on his specific financial dealings with Rezko because as a banker, that information is private, Giannoulias said.

“I would love to, but I can’t,” Giannoulias said.

As for Rezko’s bounced checks, Giannoulias said they simply show “the bank did the right thing.” In other words, the bank didn’t help Rezko by covering the losses. Giannoulias said he oversaw the loan portfolio of the bank anyway and would not have been aware of Rezko’s bad check-writing habits.

Giannoulias told McQueary “Rezko never asked him or Broadway Bank to help with the gambling debts; Rezko wasn’t steered to Broadway Bank by Barack Obama, a mutual friend; and Rezko had no personal connection to Giannoulias, other than as a bank customer.”

“Where else will Rezko’s taint spill over?” McQueary asked.

P.S. Would it surprise anyone to know that Obama’s close friend Alexi Giannoulias was tossed under the Obama bus more than two years ago—and Giannoulias still runs the Obama endorsement on his official website?