In an indication of increasing interest by investigators, a federal grand jury in Chicago has subpoenaed a “very extensive” quantity of records from the Du Page Airport Authority, according to airport officials.
The subpoena, delivered late Monday to the West Chicago facility by federal investigators, seeks numerous categories of financial and operational records from both the authority and Planemaster Services, the charter, repair and refueling operation that it owns.
According to airport officials, the request asks for records from Jan. 1, 1985, to the present.
Officials said the details of how the large volume of documents requested would be delivered to federal investigators had not been yet been resolved.
George Varney, airport authority chairman, said the authority would “obviously cooperate” with the request for records, which must be gathered by Sept. 15.
Varney would not comment further, saying, “It’s obviously too sensitive to discuss at this point.”
Barbara Lazarus, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago, said she could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.
Du Page County Board Chairman Aldo Botti, who called for a grand jury investigation of the airport in May, said he was pleased that federal officials would be reviewing records.
“Maybe we’ll get to the bottom of this,” Botti said.
The subpoena is the first issued by federal officials in what is apparently a widening probe into allegations of wrongdoing at the airport.
In July, airport officials confirmed that federal investigators had joined Du Page state’s attorney officials in examining “certain operations” at the airport.
Though investigators have declined to discuss the scope of the probe, individuals who say they have been interviewed in recent weeks by investigators say there is apparent interest in allegations of misuse of the authority’s aircraft as well as a party that the airport held in January 1992 to celebrate the opening of two new runways.
State and federal officials are not alone in questioning operations at the airport.
In May, Botti charged that the airport was using its aircraft for non-airport business, saying that as many as 50 flights during a five-year period had been taken that did not involve airport concerns.
And though authority officials have denied any wrongdoing, Botti has taken his allegations into court.
A civil action filed Monday in Du Page County Circuit Court by Botti on behalf of members of the Citizens for Airport Reform group-which Botti helped found-seeks a court order mandating that passengers traveling on authority aircraft must be conducting airport-related business.
The airport had maintained what the authority calls a “standing invitation” to area officials and politicians to take authority flights to common destinations at no cost.
Until a formal resolution was passed in February, the authority did not keep detailed lists of passengers flying on its planes.
In requesting records from 1985, the interest of federal officials apparently predates the Du Page Airport Authority, which wasn’t created by the state legislature until 1987.
From 1974 to 1987, Du Page Airport was operated by the former Fox Valley Airport Authority.
After first seizing majority control of the airport from Kane County in 1985, Du Page politicians, with the help of then-Gov. James Thompson, engineered a complete takeover and name change.
It was immediately after the creation of the Du Page Airport Authority in January 1987 that an ambitious $165 million expansion plan for the airport began to advance.
Since becoming a municipal corporation, the authority has levied nearly $80 million in local property taxes.
Airport projects have included a $14 million golf course, a $10 million terminal building and new runways for $55 million, as well as the purchase of Planemaster Services for $2.1 million.
By their own admission, airport officials have struggled during the last seven years to reorganize the airport’s financial records.
The authority’s accounting system has been overhauled at least twice, and detailed records of passengers and flights are non-existent before 1990, according to airport officials.
Airport officials said, however, that they will supply whatever records federal agents request.
“I’m sure we’ll fully comply,” said J. Michael Fitzsimmons, an authority commissioner.
