ShoreBank Prez: White Bankers 'Deserve to be Pressured'

Crain's Chicago Business reports that politically-connected, Obama/Clinton-favored ShoreBank got extra nervous this week when Congress killed TARP in order to help pay for measures in the financial reform bill, but according to an anonymous administration official, the community lender with a global heart is still alive as those who applied before June 25 still qualify for funds. Still, despite massive help from the likes of Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, the Fed is still doubting ShoreBank's TARP-worthiness.

Yesterday HuffPoster Karen Harris weighed in with a passionate argument for saving ShoreBank:

Since its inception in 1973, ShoreBank has been a model bank committed to social justice. ShoreBank's mission has been to develop a triple bottom line of social responsibility, environmental responsibility and profitability, or "people, planet, profit." ShoreBank's website describes it as, "America's first community development bank."

You know, the same recipe that has ensured the success of financial institutions from the beginning of time. But I digress...

Last week we heard that Illinois Financial Authority chairman Bill Brandt promised "a firestorm" in Chicago if the Federal Reserve did not follow through with a bailout. This followed the reports of arm-twisting from the administration to get the Wall Street institutions to help ShoreBank qualify for TARP.

Today more evidence from The Chicago Way, as I report for the National Legal and Policy Center: ShoreBank president Mary Houghton says "white bankers" have difficulty reaching across cultures, so they "deserve to be pressured" to lend in inner city communities. Oh, and she has kind words for Saul Alinsky too.