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."

FMI: www.ohare.com, www.stop-omp.org