La Grange Official's Wife 'Disgusted' By Local Businesses

LA GRANGE, IL — The wife of a La Grange official this week minced few words in her opposition to a proposal for the village to forgive loans to the La Grange Theatre, calling it "corporate socialism."

Kristen Gale, wife of Trustee Lou Gale, also took aim at the local business community during Monday's Village Board meeting.

"I am actually kind of disgusted by how much I hear from the business community in La Grange, fearmongering and how it might leave La Grange, how they're suffering," Kristen Gale said during public comments. "We're not a charity to ensure that your business makes money. In fact, this whole past 18 months, a lot of people bent over backwards to keep these businesses in business during COVID."

She said the business community is constantly "droning on" that if the village doesn't do what it wants, businesses would have to shut down.

"I have also heard that many in our business community think our downtown is suffering. Anyone who tries to get parking most nights in downtown would disagree, including myself," she said. "Our community and our downtown are flourishing. If your business is not, perhaps you should look inward."

Kristen Gale thanked the village staff for its work, saying village employees "do not do what the businesses ask, what they want, when they want, how they want it for whatever the cost."

At the meeting, others disagreed with the idea that forgiving loans was corporate socialism. But no one appeared to answer her comments about the business community in general.