Change needed in Bensenville

Bensenville residents have a clear choice in this year's race for village president between incumbent John Geils and challenger Frank Soto and it has little to do with their stands on the proposed expansion of O'Hare International Airport. It has everything to do with whether residents want an administration that can at least offer a promise of openness, cooperation and two-way communication or to continue with a leader who is too adept at "managing" the electorate, painting those who question him as enemies, and who sometimes appears to prefer litigation to cooperation.

After six terms as president, Geils remains passionate about his community and his take-no-prisoners approach to protecting Bensenville from O'Hare expansion. But there are legitimate concerns his us-vs.-them approach has seeped into the day-to-day operations of the village - even into its dealings with other local governments - and contributes to a sharp divide in the community. Despite his passion for Bensenville, Geils also spends a large portion of his week overseeing the reconstruction of a family golf resort in Wisconsin that was severely damaged in a 2004 fire.

Soto, his challenger, is an attorney who unsuccessfully challenged Geils in 2001. He says the village needs to move beyond its "one-dimensional" approach to fighting O'Hare expansion to also focus on core elements, from infrastructure to taxes to controlling its substantial debt. He says he wants to make village government more open, more welcoming to residents and businesses, and more user-friendly with an eye toward bridging the divide with some of its residents and taxing bodies. He says the village needs a long-term strategic plan for dealing with O'Hare that goes beyond litigation and an independent audit to sort through its finances.

We believe reasonable people can disagree on how Bensenville should best approach its challenges with O'Hare. But we endorse Soto because we strongly believe he offers residents their best chance to reclaim an open voice in their village government.

It is for that reason that we also endorse the village board candidates running on Soto's slate - Martin O'Connell, Oronzo Peconio and Henry Wesseler - for 4-year terms over incumbents Henry Mandziara, Marianne Tralewski and John "Jeff" Williams.

For the one unexpired 2-year term we endorse Abdon Medina, a newcomer to the Geils slate, who is enthusiastic and bilingual and who can reach out to the village's growing Hispanic community to ensure it has a voice. His opponent is Morris Bartlett.

In the race for village clerk, we endorse challenger JoEllen Ridder, a member of Soto's slate. Her opponent is incumbent Carole Mantia.