One Republican candidate for congress in the 11th district is adamantly opposed to the Peotone Airport.

“I am absolutely dead set against it,” said Terry Heenan, an airline pilot for the past 30 years. Heenan is one of three Republicans running in the Feb. 5 primary to take over for U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller who is not seeking reelection.

Heenan explained that one day he was meeting voters at a train station when someone there asked him how he felt about the Peotone airport.

He admitted that although he was always against it, he felt somewhat removed from it because he felt nobody wanted it and it would probably never be built. Yet, he became aware that it isn’t the dead issue he thought it to be, when he heard about what he calls the “Jesse Jackson maneuver,” referencing U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s recent repeal of the “Weller Amendment.” Weller wrote a provision, as part of the 2006 defense spending bill, that would guarantee local control of a new airport.

“I never wanted to see an airport here,” said Heenan, a man who has spent years around airports.

But, he said when he met that woman at the train station, on the first day of his campaign for congress, “it was like the light bulb went off.”

Since then, he has contacted some of his associates at other airlines, and representatives of the Air Transport Association, (ATA,) the trade group that represents the airlines.

“I was told that their (ATA’s) position has not changed. They oppose the Peotone Airport,” Heenan said.

Several years ago, 16 major airlines wrote a letter to Gov. Jim Edgar to express their opposition to a new airport at Peotone. The group also made their position known to former Gov. George Ryan.

Heenan has also spoken with George Ochsenfeld of STAND.

He has since taken an official position on the subject.

Calling it one of the most important issues in the 11th district, Heenan said, “Nobody concerned wants or needs the airport.” He referenced the citizens of Will County and the airlines. And, he said he suspects that Mayor Daley doesn’t want it either.

He agrees with the position of the ATA, which indicated that the airlines have made substantial investments to modernize O’Hare and Midway, which he says will have “no trouble handling our region’s air transportation needs into the foreseeable future.”

Heenan points out that the airlines would pick up a major part of the cost of a new airport, which translates into higher ticket prices, “added expenses for something we don’t need.”

Heenan called it “immoral” that the people living in the area where the airport is proposed and surrounding the footprint, have been held hostage for a generation.

Given his profession, Heenan has the authority to speak to the issue.

Most recently he was the Captain of the Boeing 767, flying trans-Atlantic flights between the U.S. and London for MAXjet, a business-class high-end airline. He lost his job when the company filed for bankruptcy.

Heenan also flew as the chief pilot for Midway Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy more than a decade ago. Heenan spent about 10 years as a pilot instructor and check pilot on various jet airliners as well. When Midway Airlines underwent bankruptcy proceedings, Heenan served on the committee to represent the airlines’ 900 pilots.

There is one more thing that sets Heenan apart from the field. He is not a politician. 

One of the other contenders he is up against in the Republican primary is Tim Baldermann, the mayor of New Lenox and police chief in Chicago Ridge.

Baldermann’s name surfaced early when Weller announced he wasn’t going to run for another term in office. Baldermann is Weller’s choice to succeed him.

The other Republican candidate is Jimmy Lee, who has previous experience in the Bush administration. Lee led the Asian-American initiative in the Bush White House and as as the executive director of the Chicagoland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce under Ex-Gov. George Ryan. Lee is new to the 11th district, after having recently moved to Utica.

Both could be considered politicians. And historically, that has played as a positive in choosing a congressional representative. But in recent years, with a high disapproval rating of President George W. Bush, even members in his own party are steering clear of associations with him.

Being Jerry Weller’s best friend isn’t necessarily going to catapult anyone into office either. Weller is leaving office under a cloud of ethical questions associated with Nicaraguan land deals and undisclosed financial ties. 

Heenan offers voters in the 11th district a choice. If voters are unhappy with the politically connected, they can feel good about sending him to Washington. He was neither asked by the party to run nor targeted as a candidate by GOP insiders. The only people who asked him to run for office were ironically, those he met while unsuccessfully gathering petition signatures for Baldermann. 

Some voters can relate to Heenan, who, as a participant in the volatile aviation industry, recently lost his job – laid off — shortly before Christmas.

Heenan admits that this is his first attempt at political office, but he sees that as a plus. He is not a professional politician. He has no staff and a budget of probably one one-hundredth that of his opponents. And, he has no political experience. But, he points out that Ronald Reagan had no political experience when he ran for governor of California. He didn’t run as a politician, he ran as a citizen statesman.

“We need more of them in government, and that’s what I intend to be,” he said.