quote:

A rate freeze - but not for suburbs

Rare move strips ComEd from Senate bill

BY NATE HOEKSTRA AND JOHN PATTERSON
Daily Herald Staff Writers
Posted Saturday, April 21, 2007


SPRINGFIELD - In a high-stakes game of political trickery with millions of suburban power bills hanging in the balance, Illinois Senate Democrats on Friday pulled the rug out from underneath ComEd customers on a proposed rate freeze.

One moment, the Senate had voted to roll back soaring electric rates statewide to 2006 levels and freeze them for a year. Then, suddenly, the action was wiped out through an obscure parliamentary move orchestrated by Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and his leadership team.

The end result: The Senate left ComEd customers out of the mix and voted to roll back electric rates only for downstate Ameren customers.

"Don't you think this is a little ridiculous?" said state Sen. Gary Forby, a southern Illinois Democrat who'd sponsored the proposed law. He accused Chicago-area Democrats of using him to pressure ComEd, which doesn't have any downstate customers, then cutting their own deals with the utility company and leaving him twisting in the wind on the Senate floor.

...

Jones, however, a Chicago Democrat and longtime ComEd corporate ally, has long opposed freezing how much utility companies can charge, saying it won't provide long-term relief and could financially cripple the companies that provide power to millions of Illinoisans.

"We must quit giving people false hope," Jones said during debate.

...

The proposed law, without ComEd, now moves to the state House, where a spokesman for Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, said the ComEd provision would be added back.

But if the House makes those changes, the plan would have to then go back to the Senate, where Jones could easily bury it in a committee, resulting in no relief for anyone.

The political wrangling stunned and angered many lawmakers.

"It's a sad day," said Senate Republican leader Frank Watson of downstate Greenville. "And who loses ultimately when this kind of charade goes on? The people."