Airport Lawsuit

This could get interesting:

• A judge today ordered Chicago Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino to testify in a pre-trial deposition in connection with a lawsuit United and American airlines filed against the city over financing the expansion of O’Hare International Airport.

  Cook County Circuit Judge Richard Billik denied a motion by the city’s attorneys saying that Andolino is too busy to testify and that other city aviation officials could fill in for her. A date for Andolino to give her deposition was not immediately set.

  The airlines are seeking to stop Chicago from selling about $1 billion in bonds, without airline approval, to start building the final phase of new O’Hare runways, at a projected cost of $3.4 billion. The airlines contend the city's borrowing plan to finance construction will cost the carriers $7.7 billion in debt service.

We had never heard of the "too busy to testify" defense until today. We'll have to try that on for size one day soon. but here's a woman, politically connected as all hell, attempting to saddle the city and airlines with a near insurmountable amount of debt just to keep connected construction firms in business.

We can see exactly why Shortshanks and his people don't want her testifying.