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| Chicago and Wilmette (Photo credit: Frank Kehren) |
Since the late 1980’s, Illinois officials and their agents have
tried every available means to push a huge public works project to fruition, with
a keen eye toward ensuring their own political futures and continuing cycle of
self-enrichment.
The project is a 23,000-acre airport three times the size of Chicago ’s O’Hare
International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world. The state’s desired
location is a small farming community north of the Village
of Peotone , in eastern Will County, about
40 miles south of downtown Chicago .
The project is often called the Peotone Airport.
Airport boosters have dismissed the long-standing practice of
producing crops in eastern Will County. Instead, they view the prime farmland
as vacant and prime for development. The people most affected, including the
local governments of three of the surrounding communities and several adjacent
townships, have resisted the development for more than two decades. But, the
efforts of this sparsely-populated, politically-innocent region has fallen prey
to Illinois ’ well-funded,
long-entrenched political "pay-to-play" scheme, one that rewards supporters
and contributors with lucrative jobs and contracts.
Tax dollars have funded a multitude of government lobbyists
who make regular trips to Washington , D.C. and Illinois ’
capital of Springfield
to guarantee that despite its inability to gain traction on its own; this is the
project that will not die. Airport supporters have left tracks on campaign
contribution lists and at political fundraisers for years.
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| Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) |
Instead of following through
on his promise to clean up government, Gov. Patrick Quinn is following in the
footsteps of his predecessors on the Peotone project. Ex-Illinois Governor
George Ryan now resides in a federal penitentiary, convicted on numerous
charges of corruption.
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| CHICAGO, IL - DECEMBER 7: Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (C) holds hands with wife Patti Blagojevich (R) as they get in an elevator in the Dirksen Federal Building December 7, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison after he was found guilty of 17 public corruption charges. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) |
Ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich
was roused from his bed in the early morning hours last winter by FBI agents
who took him into custody. He was later impeached by the Illinois legislature. Among
other things, he was accused of trying to sell a seat in the U.S. Senate,
formerly held by President Barack Obama, to the highest bidder.
One of those bidders was identified as Congressman Jesse
Jackson, Jr., D-Chicago, one of the airport's biggest proponents. He too is
being investigated.
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| English: Former Illinois Governor George Ryan (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Despite numerous factors that threaten to shelf the
decades-old project, the former Lt. Governor under Blagojevich, Quinn pushed
for another $100 million to buy land for the airport. Land acquisition, started
in 2001 when Ex-Gov. Ryan paved the way. The state bought numerous unsold lots
in an upscale subdivision belonging to one of his campaign contributors. The housing
development was located just outside the airport boundaries, but was close
enough to initiate a selling frenzy.
Together with threats of eminent domain, an inability to sell property
in the doomed real estate market long-manipulated by the threat of an airport
nearby, and the fear of the future; some landowners sold to the state. They
simply gave up and moved on with their lives. The first talk of an airport in
the Peotone area was a headline in the local newspaper forty years ago, in
1968.
Many of the remaining families who live in the airport
footprint are what the state calls, "unwilling sellers." They have dug
in their heels, refusing to be intimidated. Undaunted, the state continues its
efforts to coerce real estate sales. Some landowners have farmed there for
generations.
Several farms have been in the same family for more than 100
years, honored as centennial farms; by the same state that now wants to take it
from them. In some cases huge signs marking “Illinois Centennial Farm” is down the road
from signs that read, “State Property No Trespassing.” Many believe the only
reason the state hasn’t used eminent domain is because they would have a tough
time proving there is a project in a court of law. No need has ever been proven
for the project nor has it been authorized by the Federal Aviation
Administration.
The state owns about one-third of the land needed to build a scaled-down
“starter airport,” with only one runway and a terminal building. Ryan decided
that the only way to gain approval for the mega airport was to start small. He
decided to propose building the "inaugural airport," reducing the
size from 23,000 acres to 4,000.
With unending funds, tied directly to the pockets of Illinois taxpayers, the
public relations work continues. Upwards of $100 million has been spent on what
the state has called ‘studies.’ In actuality, the ‘studies’ are a set of organized
reports, containing cherry-picked pieces of data tied together to induce a favored
outcome. Since the beginning, and to this day, consultants, lobbyists, and
other campaign contributors form a closed circle of airport backers.
Will County government, which would have jurisdiction over the
airport if it was ever built, has long been on the state’s bandwagon, despite a
majority of residents opposed to the project. County officials recently hired a
consultant. They also employ a lobbyist.
Will County supports an effort to write a new law to establish
an airport authority which would take effect even before an airport is built. Their
aim is to thwart the efforts of Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Chicago who
started an airport authority of his own.
For more than twenty years, an organized group opposed to the
airport, has found it difficult to gain traction against the systemic political
machine in Illinois with its 'pay-to-play' structure heavy with lobbyists and
campaign contributors. It is a never-ending cycle that must be broken.
