U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. vowed Thursday to push ahead with his plans for a privately funded third regional airport in Will County, despite a federal roadblock and a looming challenge from fellow Democrats.
Jackson and his opponents held to their positions following a meeting hosted by state Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) to discuss a compromise on control of the Peotone project, which is expected to yield $200 million in initial contracts and about 15,000 jobs.
Jackson, a Chicago Democrat, dismissed as unconstitutional an amendment passed this week by Congress that would give Will County a majority say in running the project. And he said he would rework the makeup of his 33-member airport commission, representing primarily south Cook County communities, following a ruling last week by state Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan that questioned the legality of one of its major decisions.
“We plan to move forward with the road map that the attorney general’s office provides in its opinion,” Jackson said.
But following the meeting in Jones’ office, state Sen. Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete) said she plans to introduce legislation in the spring to create an airport authority that could eventually compete with Jackson’s Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission. Halvorson is Jones’ floor leader in the Senate.
Jackson for years has pushed for a one-runway, five-gate airport to be built by 2009, saying it would be an economic engine for a struggling area of the state.
Earlier this year, Gov. Rod Blagojevich threw his support behind Jackson’s plan. But the project has progressed slowly with some griping by state Democrats that the governor has not made the airport a priority.
“The Peotone airport is a top priority for the governor,” insisted a spokesman for the governor Thursday.
Still, the project is filled with political landmines for the Democrats who control state government, stemming in part from competing interest in controlling jobs and contracts on the project.
As Jackson explained to reporters following the meeting that the airport would create 15,000 jobs, a smiling Jones interrupted, saying “I get half the jobs.”
Although the two shared a laugh, Jones is not close politically to Jackson, who defeated him 10 years ago in a Democratic congressional primary. But in recent years the Senate president has forged an alliance with Blagojevich in Springfield. That political friendship could be tested, though, if the governor moves too far in supporting Jackson’s plans without including Jones in whatever compromise might be reached.
But perhaps most daunting to Jackson’s plan is the amendment that cleared the U.S. Senate on Wednesday as part of a massive military spending bill and awaits the president’s signature. U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) said his amendment–which was backed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Republican from nearby Plano–guarantees Will County a majority membership on any commission created to oversee the airport’s development.
At a news conference Thursday in Joliet, Weller, whose congressional district includes the proposed airport site, presented Will County Executive Larry Walsh, a Democrat, with a steering wheel that Weller said was a symbol of the county now being “in the driver’s seat” for the project.
Although insisting that he supports the concept of building a third airport, Weller said his amendment “will ensure that the communities which are going to be most affected by the airport’s development won’t be shut out of the process of building and controlling it.”
“Nor should the hundreds of millions of construction dollars be handed out in a smoke-filled backroom,” the Republican added. “Even those who are most vocal on the airport say they agree with those two points, and my amendment has simply put these protections into law.”
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Jackson called on Blagojevich to challenge the amendment in court.
“Weller’s stubborn determination to pass such a hostile amendment revealed the obvious: He is a fierce opponent of the airport,” Jackson said.
Meanwhile, Jackson said Madigan’s opinion last week that his airport commission did not abide by state bidding guidelines in choosing an airport developer has caused him to rework the makeup of the panel.
Madigan’s ruling said that because some of the commission’s current 33 municipal members come from non-home rule communities, which have limited powers under state law, the commission should have sought separate bids from developers for the design and construction of the airport instead of awarding a single contract for both functions. That deal went to a joint venture group made up of Canada-based SNC-Lavalin and New York-based LCOR Inc., two firms with a long history of developing airports.
To remedy the problem, Jackson plans on getting rid of the 18 non-home rule community representatives. He said he hopes a reconstituted commission could be ready by Feb. 1, at which time it would reaffirm the selection of the airport developers.
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