Bensonville Village President Geils Rails Against Challenger
Soto, Mayor Daley
A letter from the Chicago and Cook County Building and
Construction Trades Council recently sent to voters in DuPage
County has called on union members to support the candidacy of
Frank Soto for Village President of Bensenville. In something of an
odd campaign strategy, the letter criticized current Village
President John Geils for opposing the O'Hare Modernization Program
(OMP)... which critics say has taken a heavy toll on the Chicago
suburb.
As ANN has reported, nearly 600 homes in
Bensenville have been leveled by the expansion effort, which also
threatens to uproot a historic cemetery in the area. In a statement
last week, Geils appeared hopping mad anyone would have the
audacity to run for village office, on a platform of supporting the
expansion plan.
"If people want to criticize me for standing up to the Chicago
Daley machine and fighting for the people of Bensenville, so be it,
but I know I would never accept support from any group that wasn't
protecting Bensenville," Geils said. "Bensenville is my home: I was
born here; I was raised here; and I will die here. I will fight to
protect this town with every inch of my fiber. Soto and his
supporters clearly don't feel the same."
"The OMP is a corrupt boondoggle," Geils continued. "I do
support stimulus money to provide union jobs for worthy projects
like a third airport or construction projects to improve
Bensenville, but not the O'Hare expansion which even the airlines
have opposed."
"If Frank Soto and his supporters want to give up on Bensenville
and just let the OMP do whatever it wants, they are entitled to
that opinion. But that is not how I feel and it's not how most
residents of Bensenville feel," he concluded. "Anytime I see a
letter like that it does give me a small sense of satisfaction that
we are making a difference. For union bosses and the Daley machine
to make those types of accusations and efforts to manipulate our
elections means we are doing something right, and we will continue
to fight for what is right."
Work on the next phase of the O'Hare expansion has not begun,
and funding for the $20 billion program has not yet been secured.
Critics of the plan cite FAA studies showing the expansion will not
provide any significant improvement to airline delays or alleviate
congestion at O'Hare. In fact, some aviation experts are on record
stating OMP will instead produce massive delays and increase costs
for both consumers and airlines during and after initial
construction.
In addition, the airlines, including United Airlines and
American Airlines, have called the OMP plan "ill-conceived" and
"premature."