"The Secret O'Hare Files"

Monday, November 15, 2004

Unit 5: The Secret O'Hare Files
Suburban Mayors Say City Targeting Them
WMAQ-TV Ch 5 (NBC), Chicago (IL)


CHICAGO -- Chicago city officials were forced to produce 67,000 pages of
documents in a lawsuit over the expansion of O'Hare International Airport.
Some suburban leaders believe that the documents show that when it comes to
O'Hare expansion, the city doesn't plan to take "no" for an answer.

Unit 5's Phil Rogers reported on Sunday that the files reveal that in the
two-decade story of the fight to expand O'Hare, there is evidence of
backroom deals, powerful political influence and a campaign of
misinformation -- all to push the agenda of the major airlines and the city.


"The handwriting was on the wall," said former Park Ridge mayor Ron
Wietecha.

Memos from consultants described the fight over a third airport as a
guerilla war against the state, while opponents of expansion are dubbed
"nattering nabobs of negativism." City employees stress their efforts should
be "kept as confidential as possible."

"The whole program here is to make sure they protect the interests of O'Hare
at all costs," said Bensenville mayor John Geils.

Rogers reported that one of the interests is money. The cost of adding new
runways at O'Hare is estimated to be $15 billion -- and growing. It would be
the biggest public works project in history -- a treasure trove of jobs and
contracts, which Rogers said some seem to be willing to do anything to
protect.

Memos discovered by Unit 5 describe efforts dating back to 1995 to convince
the public that the "world is against the idea . of an airport in Peotone."
The memos go on to say that a "shell organization" should be created to
front the campaign against a suburban airport.

In 2002, documents show an ongoing organized effort to portray anyone
against their plan as "fringe players," Rogers reported. One of those fringe
players was Wietecha.

"If you make a powerful enemy, you really have to watch your backside,"
Wietecha said.

Wietecha said he thought fighting O'Hare expansion was part of his job, so
he said he was happy after he and Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley worked out
a compromise deal on the airport over dinner in Washington, D.C. -- the
details sketched out on a cocktail napkin. Wietecha said O'Hare would have
been allowed to add a runway under the agreement. Wietecha said Daley never
came through on that deal. Soon, Wietecha said, he started feeling pressure
from city hall in Chicago -- in a Park Ridge election.

Two years ago, Wietecha said he suddenly found his town greeted with a slate
of four new aldermanic candidates, who brought with them armies of campaign
workers from downtown Chicago.

"At people's doors, they would say, 'Oh yes, I work in the city of Chicago,
but I am here campaigning for a person who I think is very good,'" Wietecha
said.

All four candidates won seats on the Park Ridge village board, Rogers
reported. Wietecha said they began asking him questions.

"They accused me of owning land in Peotone -- in public meetings," Wietecha
said. "They mayor should talk about how much land he owns in Peotone. I
don't own any land in Peotone -- I wish!"

But Wietecha said what happened when the board voted on staying in the
anti-expansion Suburban O'Hare Commission left him stunned. Two loyal
aldermen flipped their votes, Rogers reported. Suddenly, Park Ridge dropped
out of the fight against O'Hare expansion.

Members of the opposition bloc on the Park Ridge city council who Rogers
spoke to insist they only wanted to end the suburb's opposition to O'Hare
expansion because it was costing too much money. They maintain they don't
know Daley and have no knowledge of campaign workers from the city of
Chicago. One called Wietecha's charges "preposterous."

Wietecha also said people -- who were strangers to him, were watching every
detail of the evening's vote -- taking notes and taping on a tape recorder
the whole meeting's proceedings.

Rogers said those people were consultants, paid by the city of Chicago to
watch the meeting -- and provide detailed notes of who said what, and how
everyone voted.

Within months, Wietecha resigned, packed up his family, and left Park Ridge.

"It may sound corny, but I thought it was the best thing to do for this
community," Wietecha said.

With Wietecha out, Geils and Elk Grove Village mayor Craig Johnson say their
getting the same kind of attention from Chicago's city hall.

"It breaks you in half," Geils said. "This guy [Wietecha] was destroyed!"

A spokesman for Daley released a statement saying, "There is absolutely no
truth to these charges. With all his responsibilities as chief executive of
the nation's third largest city, Mayor Daley has neither the time nor the
inclination to get involved in suburban elections."


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