THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Fears stoked over Chinese-tied EV battery plant...CO2 pipeline scrapped (for now)...Weiss gets 5 1/2 years
October 12, 2023
Good morning, Illinois.
I’m planning a Q&A for next week. Shoot me your questions at patrick@theillinoize.com. We don’t identify you publicly.
Governor Pritzker launches DoIT’s Information Technology Trainee Program downtown at 11:45 and receives 2023 Impact Award and deliver remarks at Greenlight Family Services Gala tonight.
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YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL
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Manteno EV battery plant promises 2,600 jobs. But far-right legislators are stoking fears over Chinese influence. (Chicago Tribune)
On a recent weekday afternoon, Kevin Fregeau sat at the bar inside the Back Forty Saloon on Main Street, pondering what’s ahead as plans move forward on the state’s largest-ever investment in electric vehicle battery production, a plant that could create 2,600 jobs in the village.
Will there be enough housing for all those workers in a town of about 9,000 people, 40 miles south of Chicago? Would the area be equipped to safely handle the hazardous materials required for lithium battery production?
And then he raised one more question: What about the plant’s ownership ties to China?
“If you’re letting a hostile nation into your country purchasing your soil, that’s asinine,” said Fregeau, 59, who lives just outside town.
Since Gov. J.B. Pritzker last month trumpeted his success in luring Gotion to build a $2 billion plant in Manteno with $536 million in state incentives, along with the potential for federal incentives, many residents have expressed anger over the lack of information they’ve been given.
That has provided an opening for far-right Republicans, struggling for relevancy in a blue state, to fill the void by using the specter of communist infiltration fueled by state tax dollars to stoke fears about the project. Those fears have gained traction among some residents.
“I really feel that all of you that think it is OK to have a Communist Chinese company here did not do your homework,” Manteno resident Amelia Cahill said at a recent village board meeting. “You are willing to jeopardize the health of everybody in Manteno and also surrounding areas.
“It stokes at a lot of people’s fears. It’s got the Chinese factor. It’s got the factor of chemicals. If you want to get people (rounded) up, you scare them. And I think that’s what’s been done,” Manteno Mayor Timothy Nugent, a supporter of the project, said in an interview.
Earlier this month, dozens of people gathered outside of Manteno’s village hall during a pep-rally-like news conference hosted by the Illinois Freedom Caucus, a contingent of the most conservative Republican lawmakers in the Illinois House, to oppose the Gotion project.
State Rep. Chris Miller of Hindsboro, who heads the caucus, tried to joke that a Republican House member from the Manteno area, state Rep. Jackie Haas, was not at the rally because she was on vacation. “She’s in China,” Miller said, only to be admonished by state Rep. Dan Caulkins of Decatur who said “That’s not fair” and noted Haas was on a “family vacation.”
Haas, who is not a member of the Freedom Caucus, has not expressed opposition to the Gotion project. But in a statement, the Republican from Bourbonnais sought to appease both sides of the issue.
Of course, these guys can’t help but attack their fellow Republican who is at risk of losing her seat next year. But, that’s par for the course.
Further, critics are missing the message here. They’re trying to sell some narrative that the Chinese are going to steal state secrets at the Manteno Monical’s Pizza restaurant. Instead, the real issue here is that the Governor gave away $500 million in tax incentives to a Chinese company.
But, what do I know?
Related: Manteno residents hire law firm to fight Gotion (Kankakee Daily Journal)
Controversial carbon dioxide pipeline paused following regulatory setbacks (Capitol News Illinois)
The company behind a controversial carbon dioxide pipeline that would have spanned more than 1,300 miles across five states is walking back its permit application in Illinois.
Navigator CO2 on Tuesday voluntarily withdrew its permit application for the Heartland Greenway pipeline project that was pending before state regulators at the Illinois Commerce Commission. The company said it plans to “reassess the route” of the planned pipeline and its application with the state.
The pipeline’s purpose to capture carbon dioxide from industrial sources in South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska and transport it to Illinois for sequestration underground.
“Being cognizant of ICC resources, Navigator will withdraw its current application with the intent to reinitiate Illinois permitting, if appropriate, when Navigator’s full evaluation is complete,” the company said in a statement.
The move came two weeks after regulators in South Dakota rejected the company’s application to build a portion of the pipeline in that state. Among other reasons, officials at that state’s Public Utilities Commission said the company failed to demonstrate that the project was safe, and that it could negatively impact the region’s development.
Last week, the company also asked the Iowa Utilities Board to pause the project’s permitting process there as well, mirroring the action it took Tuesday in Illinois.
This is the second time the company has withdrawn its permit application in Illinois. In January, it withdrew its first set of regulatory filings only to reapply the following month.
Navigator’s most recent route plans would have run through 14 Illinois counties, with sequestration sites in Montgomery and Christian counties, where the CO2 would be pumped into underground geologic formations for storage.
Related: Navigator drops CO2 pipeline for second time this year, plans to refile (State Journal-Register)
Businessman James T. Weiss gets 5 1/2 years in prison for bribing 2 state lawmakers, lying to the FBI (Chicago Sun-Times)
Politically connected businessman James T. Weiss was sentenced to 51⁄2 years in prison Wednesday for bribing two Illinois lawmakers in a corrupt attempt to change the state’s laws in his favor and then trying to lie his way out of it when the FBI confronted him.
“Mr. Weiss, you added another star to Chicago’s walk of shame on the sidewalk of corruption,” U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger said before handing down the sentence. “Chicago has a hard-earned, but well-earned, well-deserved reputation for public corruption.”
A jury convicted Weiss in June of honest services wire and mail fraud, bribery, and lying to the FBI. His trial stretched over seven days and featured 15 witnesses, including four who have held elected office.
The bribery scheme involved former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, who is now in prison, and former state Sen. Terry Link, who cooperated with the FBI but still faces sentencing for his own tax crimes.
Seeger told Weiss the scheme was “just gross. Honestly, it’s just gross. We, the people, deserve better. ... You tried to corrupt the state of Illinois and its legal system so you could profit, personally, at the expense of everybody else.
“Some of the arguments that I have heard have suggested to me that you just don’t get it,” the judge said. “In your bones, you don’t get it.”
James Weiss hails from a politically connected family. He is the husband of former state Rep. Toni Berrios and son-in-law of former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios. He is also one of seven people who have been convicted at trial this year as a result of the feds’ public corruption investigations here. He is the second of that group to face sentencing.
Related: ‘You added another star to Chicago’s Walk of Shame’: Berrios son-in-law gets 5 1/2 years in prison in bribery case involving two state legislators (Chicago Tribune)
SO FAR THIS WEEK ON THEILLINOIZE.COM
Pritzker Downplays Additional State Funding for Migrant Crisis
Man Accused of Throwing Rocks at Pritzker Home Had Been There At Least Three Times
DeSantis First Presidential Candidate to Release Most of Delegate Slate
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
Johnson proposes $16.6 billion Chicago budget without major tax hikes (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Johnson's budget allocates $50M less to migrant response than earlier estimate (Crain’s Chicago Business)
City settlement deal demands silence from whistleblowers fired by Chicago Treasurer Conyears-Ervin (Chicago Tribune)
With cash bail eliminated in Illinois, the Cook County Jail population shrinks (WBEZ)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker says Israel should know ‘Illinois unequivocally stands with them’ (Chicago Tribune)
Nurses unions push for mandatory staff-to-patient ratios (Capitol News Illinois)
New budget, new fares, new zones on tap for Metra riders (Daily Herald)
Revenue at Hard Rock Casino Rockford on pace to surpass 2022 total (Rockford Register Star)
NASCAR, city still negotiating second street race deal (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Hunting with drones? Illinois DNR says no. Plus, try trout season, pheasant hunts, more (Peoria Journal Star)
Unlocking the Universe’s Secrets at FermiLab (Chicago Magazine)
Retired Rockford judge, Milan farmer to run in GOP primary for the 17th District (Shaw Media)
Editorial: No need for mayor to visit the border to understand migrant crisis (Chicago Sun-Times)
Editorial: Latest numbers reflect the emerging realities of legalized gambling (Daily Herald)
Opinion: Stop blaming Mayor Johnson for the asylum-seeker crisis (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Vallas: The sanctuary city program threatens Chicago’s future (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: All things considered, Illinois economy is doing all right (Champaign News-Gazette)
Opinion: Illinois DCFS needs transformational change to end harmful family separations (Chicago Tribune)
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