THE ILLINOIZE...Pritzker/Union energy feud...Another COVID crisis brewing...Gov signs FOID bill...More on Secretary of State job description questions...Edgar Fellows
August 3, 2021
Good morning.
I just want to clear something up for the record. There are plenty of media outlets out there who covered a disgraced former Illinois governor’s press conference.
It is going to be the policy of this newsletter and organization not to cover that individual unless something official happens (through courts, elections, etc.) It is not our job to give free PR to someone who went on “Celebrity Apprentice.”
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Let’s get to it.
ENERGY BILL TALKS “AT IMPASSE,” PRITZKER WANTS DECARBONIZATION
There were more twists, turns and political posturing on the held up energy bill yesterday than on a typical day in Washington.
Well, maybe not. The posturing is pretty comical in DC most days.
The Climate Jobs Illinois coalition, led mostly by union folks, sent a letter to Governor JB Pritzker yesterday claiming “we are no longer confident that a deal can be reached this summer.”
More from the letter:
We sadly write to inform you today that as a result of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition’s failure to negotiate in good faith, we have reached what we believe is an impasse in reaching an agreed-upon clean energy bill due to seemingly intractable differences on the issues of decarbonization and prevailing wage standards.
We do not take this action without exhaustive deliberation and consideration, but in assessing our counterparts’ track record over the last several weeks of negotiations following the spring session, it appears they do not share our goal of finding common ground. Rather, they seem intent on running out the clock in order to force events that actually detract from the state’s ability to generate more clean and reliable energy.
Pritzker, who has sided closely with environmentalists like the “Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition,” shot back his own letter:
I will reiterate what I have said previously: any decarbonization framework must move Illinois aggressively beyond the status quo. That means good faith attempts at meaningful decarbonization are necessary to move our discussions forward. It is my understanding that the proposed draft language from Climate Jobs Illinois, sent to the Clean Jobs Coalition in June, would allow dirty power plants to stay open in perpetuity, threatening the health and wellbeing of the very communities that Climate Jobs Illinois’ letter states it wants to protect. Moreover, despite efforts to prop up coal plants, the market is forcing closures, outpacing our attempts to help impacted communities. We saw this with the recent Waukegan and Romeoville closure announcements. The bottom line is that pointing fingers at the Clean Jobs Coalition, whose members have already made significant compromises on decarbonization and equity provisions, is unproductive, especially after Climate Jobs Illinois has refused to send an additional written proposal that was promised to them for weeks.
Again, considering the timeline of events is important. Climate Jobs Illinois sent a letter to my office in the waning hours of May session, pleading with the Governor’s Office to make a deal with Exelon to save the nuclear fleet. We were able to do so. Then, at the 11th hour, we were informed that the fate of the Prairie State Energy Campus – the 7th largest emitter of greenhouse gas in the country, with voluminous amounts of co-pollutants that endanger the health and safety of Illinois’ residents—many of them black and brown—was now the new critical issue.
Bottom line is this: unions aren’t budging on attempting to stop plant closures and job losses. Progressives aren’t budging on their demand to close the coal plants and move the entire electric grid to nuclear, wind, and solar. (More on nukes in a moment.) Wind and solar, unfortunately, are more expensive to produce than coal and there isn’t enough infrastructure to meet demands. So, many people, some who even side with the Governor, know that closing coal plants mean we’re probably shipping in energy from Kentucky and Missouri…which is produced from coal anyway.
What’s being left out of much of the discussion is the precarious situation facing four Exelon nuclear plants in the northern half of the state. Exelon, the parent company of Commonwealth Edison, has begun the process of shutting down the sites without a $700 million bailout from the state.
It appears, though, that the federal infrastructure bill, to get a vote in the Senate this week, includes $6 billion for unprofitable nuclear plants. But, according to Crain’s, Exelon says that won’t be enough to keep the Illinois plants operational.
“While we remain encouraged by growing support in Congress to preserve nuclear energy to help combat climate change, the provisions currently under consideration in the Senate infrastructure bill do not provide the policy and funding certainty we need and could take months or even years to come to fruition, if at all,” the company said in a statement. “Meanwhile, our Byron and Dresden nuclear plants must be refueled this fall—Byron in September and Dresden in November. If we refuel both stations to delay their retirement, we will be committed to running the plants for up to an additional two years, during which we could face revenue shortfalls in the hundreds of millions of dollars. We can’t risk taking those losses with no guarantee of a legislative solution.”
Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris), Sen. Brian Stewart (R-Freeport), Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon), and Rep. David Welter (R-Morris) issued a joint statement yesterday calling for action. The four represent the communities with potential closures, in Byron and Dresden in Grundy County.
I’m hearing the Senate likely has the votes for the nuclear bailout and keeping the coal plants open, but Governor JB Pritzker has indicated he’ll veto that bill. House Speaker Chris Welch has said he won’t call a bill Pritzker would veto, so we may still be in a non-starter situation.
ARE WE IN ANOTHER COVID CRISIS?
That was the crowd last night at Allstate Arena in Rosemont for a WWE professional wrestling show. They claimed it was “sold out,” which would put about 14,000-15,000 in the building. I caught a couple of minutes on TV and only saw a handful of people wearing masks.
That comes immediately after Lollapalooza over the weekend which organizers boasted an attendance of 100,000 per day at Grant Park. Obviously, it was outdoors, but there wasn’t a ton of space in between plenty of unmasked attendees.
Governor Pritzker was scheduled to attend Lolla (as the kids call it), but cancelled at the last minute. He said yesterday there was “no mixed message” in his actions.
“I think those [safety measures] were reasonable things to do,” Pritzker said yesterday. “It was also reasonable for people like me who got up to near the date and decided, ‘You know what? I’d rather not go, just out of an abundance of caution.’ So that was — there’s no mixed message.”
The state is following the CDC’s guidance that suggest wearing a mask indoors in most of the state, and Pritzker has indicated he won’t hesitate to reinstitute mitigations again, though he didn’t seem interested in those actions when speaking to media yesterday.
As of yesterday, the statewide test positivity was at 4.9%. The positivity rate varies around the state. Cook County is still around 3%, but some rural counties are pushing 20% positivity.
I know there are some vaccine skeptics that read this newsletter and I know this news likely makes you even less confident in the vaccine. But know almost every single case where a fully vaccinated individual contracts the Delta variant, it’s hardly more than a common cold. Nearly every COVID-19 hospitalization and death is among the unvaccinated population.
We locked down for a year waiting for the vaccine. Please get it.
GOV SIGNS FOID BILL
Governor JB Pritzker signed a compromise Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) bill into law yesterday in Aurora.
The new law requires universal background checks, even on private transfers (though, you don’t necessarily have to go to a licensed firearm dealer to do it). It requires the state police to remove guns from people who have had their FOID card revoked and haven’t voluntarily surrendered their weapons.
It also makes fingerprinting optional for a FOID card (like with the current concealed carry licenses).
Obviously, some liberals didn’t think the bill went far enough and there are some Republicans who want to eliminate FOID completely and allow pretty much anyone to carry a concealed weapon anywhere.
As long as there’s an Illinois, there will be a cultural divide about guns. I grew up on a farm and grew up around them and how to safely operate them. Obviously, guns are a totally different situation in the city of Chicago.
CLEARING UP SOME SECRETARY OF STATE CONFUSION
Last week, I told you about a tweet from Democratic Secretary of State candidate Alexi Giannoulias promising he would be the keeper of Democratic ideals in monitoring elections. Except, the Secretary of State has no role overseeing elections in Illinois.
Our friend Hannah Meisel of NPR Illinois (who you should absolutely follow on Twitter) pointed out the same thing and was slapped around a little bit for pointing out the same thing we did.
Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago) endorsed Chicago Alderwoman Pat Dowell last week promising they would “protect voter rights.”
Peters said the Secretary of State is “key to implementing” the Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) program in the state. But, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office says all the office does is take voter applications and turn them over to the Illinois State Board of Elections.
So, yeah. Clearly they’re just playing to Democratic voters who aren’t paying attention or don’t know any different.
EDGAR FELLOWS, VOLUME 9
Governor Jim Edgar’s annual Edgar Fellows class is meeting this week in Champaign. It’s the 9th version of Edgar’s bipartisan effort to increase leadership and governing skills.
This year’s group includes at least 15 members of the General Assembly, Mayors, Chicago Aldermen, and numerous others in all realms of government.
Speakers include former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, Mark Denzler of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, Bob Reiter of the Chicago Federation of Labor, Laurence Msall of the Civic Federation, and the great Tom Skilling of WGN-TV.
I asked some of the Edgar Fellows alumni what they got out of the program.
“It was a great learning opportunity to understand the mechanisms of government and the pressing issues facing Illinois. It was also a unique opportunity to forge relationships among leaders across the state who might not otherwise come in contact with each other.” -Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas (D-Chicago)
“It’s a message that is totally lost on our body politic currently; you are the leaders of today and tomorrow, and you need to know each other and work together for the common good.” -Fmr. Rep. Chad Hays
“I learned quote a bit about policy and the sessions reinforced the need to work cordially across the state and across the political spectrum to get things accomplished.” -Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park)
I know Governor Edgar’s status is sort of diminished among some of the GOP hardliners in recent years because of his Rauner and Trump reticence, but Edgar’s GOP that knows how to win elections and govern effectively is one the modern GOP could take some lessons from.
HAPPY BIRTHDAYS
Today: former US Senator Roland Burris
Tomorrow: former State Senator James Meeks (65), Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, former State Senator Barack Obama (60)…I wonder what ever happened to him?
Thursday: Sen. Melinda Bush and former Piatt Co. Board Chair Randy Keith
Friday: Former State Rep. Kathy Ryg
Saturday: Auditor General Frank Mautino and my dog Theo (5)
Sunday: Former Sen. Bill Haine
Monday: Former White House Chief of Staff (and Illinoize reader) Bill Daley and Sen. Sue Rezin
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