Bill Hough thought you'd be interested in this ChicagoBusiness.com news story. When will this nonsense end? ************************************************************ To have your own, personal access to news stories like this one or to register for daily, weekly or custom news alerts from ChicagoBusiness.com and Crain's Chicago Business, go to: http://ChicagoBusiness.com/register ************************************************************ Bad blood flowing over O'Hare From the Crain's Chicago Business Newsroom December 15 05:37:00, 2001 By Paul Merrion ----- WASHINGTON—A standoff over the expansion of O'Hare International Airport has created an unusually public rift between Sen. Peter Fitzgerald and his Senate colleague, Sen. Richard Durbin—as well as the Chicago business community. Overnight, a surprisingly good relationship between the two ideologically opposite Illinois senators has become mired in recriminations and back-biting, further distancing Sen. Fitzgerald from the leadership of the Illinois delegation and raising questions about his future effectiveness and the state's clout on other issues that demand a united front. Chicago business leaders, who have rallied behind airport expansion as on no other issue in recent memory, are perplexed and frustrated by Sen. Fitzgerald's maneuverings earlier this month on the Senate floor and by their inability to close the hard-fought deal reached by Gov. George Ryan and Mayor Richard M. Daley. In an interview, Sen. Fitzgerald said he is motivated by the state's overall economic interests, unlike the CEOs of some of the largest firms in Illinois who pleaded with him to let the O'Hare deal come to a vote. "Most, but not all, of the businessmen who contacted me have a business relationship with the city or United Airlines," said Sen. Fitzgerald, "so I've taken it with a grain of salt. They tend to have a conflict of interest here. They don't have the obligation I do to the entire state." "That is absolutely not true," said Lester Crown, the Chicago industrialist who has orchestrated Chicago business pressure for an airport deal. "That's as disingenuous as him saying, 'I wasn't filibustering.' " 'First serious rift' Mr. Crown said that about a dozen CEOs contacted Sen. Fitzgerald, including Jamie Dimon of Bank One Corp., John Rowe of Commonwealth Edison Co. parent Exelon Corp. and William Osborn of Northern Trust Corp., who also chairs the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. "They had nothing to do with the airline industry," he added. There's now bad blood between Sen. Fitzgerald, an independent-minded conservative Republican and former state senator now midway through his first term in the U.S. Senate, and Sen. Durbin, a longtime Democratic congressman from Springfield facing his first re-election contest since he was elected to the Senate in 1996. While senators from the same state often disagree on national issues, it's extremely rare for them to publicly attack one another over a home-state interest. "This is the first serious rift we've had," said Sen. Durbin in an interview. "I don't know what happened." Stung by accusations that he misled his Illinois colleague into thinking that he wouldn't try to block a vote, Sen. Fitzgerald now says Sen. Durbin "misled me" on the number of votes he had for the airport legislation and is mischaracterizing their agreement on how the vote would proceed. Complete coverage of this story appears in the Dec. 17 issue of Crain's. For news headlines throughout the business day, go to: http://www.chicagobusiness.com ***********************SPECIAL OFFER****************************** GET 8 ISSUES FREE! Special Subscription offer for Crain's Chicago Business http://www.ChicagoBusiness.com/subscribe ***********************SPECIAL OFFER******************************