Update-Bring A Man of Integrity To U.S. Senate: David Hoffman for Illinois

Update:

David Hoffman’s chief opponent as the Democratic candidate for US Senate from Illinois , Alexi Giannoulias, now has some serious banking issues.

From Politico: Here’s a story that Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias (D) didn’t want coming out less than a week before next Tuesday’s primary.

The Crain’s piece reports that Giannoulias’s family bank, Broadway Bank, is in such rough financial shape that it’s facing a new series of regulations and demands that it overhaul its lending practices.

Giannoulias, currently the state’s treasurer, has been under fire from David Hoffman for his past stewardship of the bank (he was its vice president from 2002 to 2006) and its record of offering loans to convicted felon Tony Rezko and several organized crime figures.

Given the populist, anti-Wall Street sentiment that the Democrats have been whipping up in the wake of the Massachusetts special election, Giannoulias’ background in banking is shaping up as a serious liability — and this story could give some new traction to Hoffman’s underdog challenge.

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Back in early 2007 – I can’t remember where or why I became aware of the job – I applied for the position of Chief Auditor for the City of Chicago.  The Inspector General of Chicago, David Hoffman, was looking for someone to start up an internal audit team to supplement his investigators, former prosecutors and assistant district attorneys, former cops and assorted anti-corruption oriented career public servants.  I applied and, after a lengthy interview process, was offered the job.

David Hoffman was appointed Inspector General for the City of Chicago in October 2005.  When he resigned this post last August to run for U.S. Senate, Carol Marin, a respected journalist and renowned anti-corruption fighter, said of him:

NBC-5 Chicago: Since becoming Inspector General in October 2005, Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor who specialized in gangs and was a law clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, has been gaining acclaim around the city for taking on the mayor and his policies.

Most recently Hoffman’s office released a report saying the city was shortchanged by upwards of $1 billion for the parking meter privatization deal.

Hoffman is considered fiercely independent and somewhat of a pest by Mayor Daley. Earlier this year Hoffman’s office issued a report on City Hall hiring practices that led to Daley’s personnel chief’s resignation.

I decided not to take the job.  You see, when you take a job like that, you have to be dedicated to it, independent and objective, and in service only to the City and its citizens.  My writing, which I could not imagine giving up at that point, may have been perceived as being informed by my work for the city. That would have been inappropriate and damaging to their mission.  In addition, my family is very politically active.  Participating in politics, volunteering for and donating to campaigns, is in our genes.  I realized I would not only be subjecting myself to public scrutiny but also my family.  They were willing. But I knew David Hoffman, and I knew that some very high profile things were probably coming.  Some of them eventually would hit the community where my parents and most of my family live, where I had grown up.

During the interview process, I came to admire and respect David Hoffman for who he is as a professional.  I have closely followed his activities since. My mom clips every news story about him for me and often said, “What if you had taken that job…” When David announced his candidacy for U. S. Senate from Illinois, I offered my support immediately. For more information about David, his career, his eduction at Yale and the University of Chicago, and his family, go here.

To see a video he made for my friends and readers, go here.

To see his responses to candidate questionnaires submitted by political action groups and the media, go here.

If you are not from Illinois but agree with me that it is important to support candidates who dedicate their lives to public service, I urge you to donate to his campaign.  The primary elections to choose the Democratic candidate here in Illinois are February 2.  Go here to send as much as you can to the campaign.

If you are in Illinois, please donate to the campaign then please vote for David Hoffman.  We have seen what happens, such as in Massachusetts, when candidates are not clear, articulate and sympathetic to what voters care about, what voters want, what voters need.  The Chicago Tribune said in their endorsement:

“Hoffman is what Illinoisans deserve — and should expect — in a United States senator. He’s an incorruptible man who tells truth to power, and his commitment to open and honest government is unquestioned.”