Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2006

Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department

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The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) wants to overrule the experts at the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), who have determined that competition is best for consumers.

In 1997, the legislature passed a law resulting in a 20% residential rate cut and freeze. Illinois consumers now pay rates 30-35% less than the average rate in the 10 largest US cities.

After that freeze expires in December, Illinois utilities must purchase electricity on the open market. The ICC unanimously voted for a competitive bidding system, the Illinois Auction, as the best way for utilities to buy energy. The approved plan also includes many consumer protections.

Instead of welcoming competition, CUB advocates increasing government interference and jeopardizing electric reliability by extending the current rate freeze. This would require utilities to pay more to buy power than they could charge consumers.

When California utilities were prohibited from recovering their costs, consumers paid the price. There were massive blackouts and taxpayers spent billions of dollars to fix the mess.

Experts believe Illinois could experience a California-style energy crisis if the ICC is not allowed to set sound policies to ensure low-cost, reliable electricity.

Hopefully the General Assembly will see the wisdom in defeating this dangerous proposal.

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Guv wants 10 debates

Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

From a press release:

Chicago — Governor Rod Blagojevich challenged opponent Judy Baar Topinka today to a series of ten public debates to compare their records and discuss the important issues facing the people of Illinois. Governor Blagojevich wrote to Topinka today to extend the invitation.

â€œThe voters of Illinois would benefit from a series of debates where they can hear our positions on important issues. The people of Illinois should see for themselves where we stand, what weâ€™ve done and where we want to lead our state,â€ Blagojevich wrote.

Governor Blagojevich emphasized that he wants to begin the exchange of views early in the general election campaign.

â€œToday I propose to you that we have 10 public debates, beginning in April, with approximately one per month to start and with greater frequency as the election draws near. I see no reason to crowd these important debates into September or October. The voters will benefit from an exchange of views and the sooner the better,â€ Blagojevich wrote.

Governor Blagojevichâ€™s campaign will contact Topinkaâ€™s campaign to discuss the details of the series of debates. The Governor hopes that Topinka will agree to the ambitious debate schedule and that they begin in April.

â€œFrom providing access to preschool for every child in Illinois to raising the minimum wage, Judy Baar Topinka and I disagree on issues that matter to working families. I believe people in every part of Illinois should hear us debate the key issues and the conversation should begin soon,â€ Governor Blagojevich said.

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How did I miss this?

Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Cornelia Grumman had a great column the other day.

Many Illinois citizens will enter the voting booth today only to confront a raft of candidates they’ve never heard of, particularly as they travel south down the ballot, where they’ll find the races for state representatives, county commissioners and judges.

They’ll feel clueless.

I have the opposite problem. I know too much.

I coordinate the Tribune’s political endorsements for the editorial board. I’m the one who sends detailed questionnaires to the candidates. Nearly 80 percent of the 275 candidates on various ballots in the six-county Chicago-area responded. Together with my colleagues on the board, we read through their answers. We do some reporting on each of them and background checks on many. Since February, we’ve interviewed more than 110 candidates.

Then she went on to list some handy pointers for candidates. Buried way down was this.

Sex sells–sometimes. In 2004, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. faced Libertarian Stephanie Sailor in the general election. Sailor released a campaign photo of herself brandishing a handgun while wearing a skin-tight T-shirt and high-heeled boots. Surprisingly, she lost.

Either I’ve completely erased that candidate’s memory from my mind, or I never heard about this photo.

Whatever the case, if you ever plan to run for office you need to read Grumman’s column.

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Massive Rate Increases Lead New Jersey to Rethink Controversial Electric Auction

Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department

(The following is a paid advertisement)

Hereâ€™s the latest on the New Jersey auction that Exelon/ComEd and Ameren want to bring to Illinois:

State reviews auction of electric power
Friday, March 17, 2006
BY TOM JOHNSON
Star-Ledger Staff

Worried about rising electricity bills, the state yesterday decided to re-examine how New Jersey’s utilities purchase the electrical power they sell to light the homes and businesses of more than 3 million customers.

The state Board of Public Utilities will review its annual auction in which the four electric utilities lock up long-term contracts worth about $7 billion to supply power to customers. The move comes one month after the latest auction saw a 55 percent jump in electricity prices.

The huge increase led to an outpouring of criticism from consumers and industry advocates who questioned whether the auction, a secretive process conducted among suppliers and utilities through an online purchasing system, is yielding competitive prices.

Letâ€™s not repeat the mistakes of New Jersey. Vote for HB 5766, the Electric Consumer Protection Act. When even Exelon CEO John Rowe admits that â€œmaking a market system that works here [in Illinois] is still a problemâ€ and New Jersey is rethinking the whole scheme, why should we move ahead with a flawed auction scheme? (Wall Street Journal, 2/28/2006

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Question of the day

Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

The AP has a list of winners and losers in this year’s primary campaign. That got me to wondering how you might view this topic.

Pick your winners and losers for the ‘06 primary.

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Protected: Subscribers only - Campaign roundups

Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

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The first shot

Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Expect more of this sort of thing. Blagojevich will make a politically popular but liberal proposal, and Topinka will be forced to say no.

Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich fired the first salvo of the general election campaign Wednesday by challenging Republican foe Judy Baar Topinka to back a $1-an-hour increase in the stateâ€™s minimum wage.

â€œMy opponent â€¦ didnâ€™t lift a finger, ducked the issue of whether she was for a minimum wage increase,â€ Blagojevich said at a campaign news conference on Chicagoâ€™s Northwest Side a few blocks from where he grew up.

Topinka offered a frank retort, offering a preview of what the next seven-plus months are going to be like.

â€œOh my goodness, I guess heâ€™s been polling again and weâ€™re going to do another giveaway program. He specializes in that,â€ she said while walking into a GOP unity breakfast Wednesday morning. â€œThings that canâ€™t be afforded or can be foisted onto someone else.â€

Topinka, however, said sheâ€™s not ready to support increasing the minimum wage to $7.50 an hour.

UPDATE: Greg Blankenship disagrees, and he has a good point.

I guess that I disagree with Rich that JBT will be forced to say no to these popular programs. She will have a choice. She can say no, that we can’t afford it. Or, she can say not only can we do it, we can do it more effectively and more efficiently. The difference is that our way enriches the individual and Rod’s way makes us poorer.

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Oberweis takes ball, goes home

Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Topinka and Oberweis aren’t making nice-nice.

Oberweis suggested Topinka would have to meet certain conditions to get his formal endorsement. The only condition he cited was calling for much-criticized lobbyist Robert Kjellander to resign his post on the Republican National Committee.

Topinka brushed off Oberweis.

“I don’t see that we’re going to talk about conditions, for heaven’s sake, we’re trying to bring a party together,” she said.

Her running mate, DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett, had harsher words.

“If he wants to have any future in Illinois politics he should wake up and smell the coffee,” Birkett said. “Judy won this race fair and square. He lost. He should embrace her.”

How long will it take her to pull her party together? Can she? Do you think a third-party conservative is a possibility?

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“Ballot madness”

Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

I am in almost total agreement with this Tribune editorial about the problems with the new voting equipment in Cook County and Chicago.

Machines were programmed incorrectly. Some were sent out with parts missing. Some had power cords that were too short to reach the nearest outlet. Election judges were expected to follow a complex, multipage manual of instructions for running and closing polls–but were given little or no preparation. Some had training for up to three hours. But some didn’t lay hands on the machines they were in charge of until primary day.

The worst problems began when polls closed. A cellular system to transmit results from more than 3,000 polling places to central counting centers had widespread failure. On the fly, officials ordered precincts to give up on the balky transmissions, pluck the data cartridges out of voting machines and send them to the central office for processing. Many were shipped by taxicab. […]

There’s no excuse for Tuesday’s failures. […]

This needs a lot of scrutiny. Why was this equipment used? How were the contracts let? Why was the preparation so shoddy?

The last part, about merging the county and city election systems, is less appealing to me, but I’m still open to the idea. We still don’t have complete results for several elections. What are your thoughts about Tuesday night’s problems?

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Maps

Thursday, Mar 23, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller

Click on each map for the full county-by-county results.