Shenanigans decried *** Updated x1 ***
Monday, Apr 23, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The analyses and the editorials have begun on Friday’s Senate craziness. Kevin McDermott…
Illinois Sen. Gary Forby last week got the kind of political lesson they don’t teach in social studies classes.
The lesson came courtesy of some procedural sleight of hand in the Senate that could leave thousands of outraged electricity customers without the rate relief they have been demanding since prices soared just after the first of the year.
* Doug Finke…
At one point in the debate, Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, said, “The problem isn’t Senator Emil Jones, the problem is Speaker Mike Madigan.”
He’s only partly right. The problem is Madigan and Jones. You can add Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the mix, too, since he hasn’t exactly been Mr. Leadership on electric rates. They don’t talk to each other. There’s no compromise. There’s only maneuvering for political advantage.
* Daily Herald…
(T)he reality of Illinois state politics dictates that the utilities be treated equally if the goals of offering short-term relief and devising long-range answers are to be reached. Moves such as the one Jones made on Friday simply delay needed work and push those goals further from reach.
* Yesterday’s Sun-Times editorial doesn’t mention the ComEd shenanigans, but it does pore over some bad press that Senate President Emil Jones has received lately…
In the case of Jones, his son was recently hired for a $57,360-a-year job as manager of real estate development at the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. His wife was named head of the mental health division at the Department of Human Services in 2005, getting a salary boost of nearly $80,000 to $186,000 a year.
Critics might wonder if there’s a quid pro quo between Jones and Blagojevich, especially since Jones has emerged as the chief advocate for the governor’s gross receipts tax. No, we don’t think so. Jones has always been a key Blagojevich ally and a strong supporter of funding for education, one of the goals of the governor’s proposed tax. We don’t believe the job for his son or promotion for his wife — or a no-bid contract for his stepson — changed his behavior.
But there are curious aspects to both moves. For instance, his son’s job opening wasn’t advertised. It doesn’t require a college degree and he doesn’t have one, but it’s not a big leap to ask whether someone more qualified might have applied had they known about the position. And the state rescinded its rule that the top mental health chief be a medical doctor to clear the way for the hiring of Lorrie Jones, who is not an M.D. but is a long-practicing psychologist.
* And we’re all still waiting for any meaningful coverage or editorializing from the Chicago Tribune.
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** From Dave over at Illinoize…
ICPR has posted a spreadsheet… listing each Senator, how they voted on the Forby amendment, if they were targeted in 2006, when their seat is next on the ballot, and how much they received in 2005-2006 from electric companies (and, if 2006 targets, from leadership.). No one explanation likely covers all 59 Senators. But the answers to most of the votes can likely be found in these factors.
The spreadsheet can be found here. [link is now fixed]
- VanillaMan - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 9:26 am:
Call it what it is, and report it as it is.
Eliot Spitzer was elected in November and passed government reform two months ago. Jodi Rell was elected in November and passed government reform two months ago.
Blagojevich was elected in November 2002 to end “business as usual”, but has instead decided he liked business as usual - it paid better.
- Concerned Voter - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 9:30 am:
I guess Emil isn’t hurt as much by these electric rate increases, seeing that his wife got that nice hefty pay increase. I hope when the unions start negotiating the next round of contracts with the state, and the state starts crying that they have no money, they remind them of things like this,
- Pat Hickey - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 9:58 am:
Emil Jones is trying to do stick-up work on Mike Madigan over the Education Funding boondoggle - more crumbs for crumbs - Jones’ parliamentary dexterity - leggerdemain - is merely three card-monte showmanship. Wait until EJ is looking for his wallet at end-game. Hold phone, Senate Prez! The sound you hear is the buzz saw removing the last good footing your feet will feel for a long time. This is going to be good!
Not good for consumers in the short term. The Beverly Arts Center which was built with electric heat is being bled bone dry in my neighborhood. EK and Frank ‘The Mailroom Guy’ Clark did some nice stick-up work - they’re already caught.
Now, watch a real magic show form Maestro Madigan!
Step out of that hole Emil - it’s going right over your head.
- Old Elephant - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 10:44 am:
The spreadsheet link doesn’t seem to work.
- anon #1 - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 10:49 am:
I have worked for the state for over 20 years and it is absolutely DISGUSTING to see the shenanigans that are going on in this administration. When is the investigation going to start with the Emil Jones situation? Emil’s son also got a job and his step son got a ‘no-bid’ contract – reminds me of the ‘salt dome washing; contract. I got an email at work stating that the mandatory ethics exam will be starting April 25th. We were told to take the appropriate time to complete the exam. What a joke. Why are we (the peons) the ones taking the exam? Illinois motto should be “just say no to ethicsâ€
- one of the 35 - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 11:12 am:
I always thought the spirit of parliamentary rule was to insure that the will of the majority prevailed while simultaneously protecting the rights of the minority. In Illinois, this has been perverted to insure that the donations of the big hitters facilitate their agenda and does them no harm. If I were among the 33 Senators who voted for that amendment, I would be fighting mad.
- Cassandra - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 11:37 am:
Since Blago came on board, the Dems, despite their claims to ethical perfection, have pushed the envelope on patronage hiring and cronyism.
For the most part, what they have done is legal, permitted by us, the taxpayers, who haven’t exactly expressed major outrage. Emil is only one of the culprits.
But getting jobs and big bucks for his relatives is a completely separate issue, as are his (legal) contributions from Com Ed.
The question is, should there be government price controls on utility prices in Illinois. With or without Emil’s shenanigans, I still say no. In an increasingly competitive global energy and water market, there is going to be less energy to buy.
We might as well get used to it what is likely to be an increasingly expensive energy market in our liftimes and into the forseeable future.
- If It Walks Like a Duck... - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 12:14 pm:
Dear Sen. Forby,
Here’s a word that we taxpayers have learned over the past couple of years that may explain your problem of “having a fast one pulled on you.”
kak·is·toc·ra·cy (kăk’Ä-stÅk’rÉ™-sÄ“, kä’kÄ-) pronunciation
n., pl. -cies.
Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.
[Greek kakistos, worst, superlative of kakos, bad; see caco– + –CRACY.]
- Carl Nyberg - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 2:35 pm:
I haven’t even looked at the spreadsheet, but it seems clear that Dem Senators that cross EJ on the electric rates issue are going to be retaliated against. So, ComEd doesn’t have to pay-off each one of the Senators. It just needs to buy sufficient loyalty from EJ, which probably means greasing EJ’s loyalists.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 4:56 pm:
Rich, you forgot to mention this weekend’s front cover story in the Sun-Times, which really put Jones in a bad light, accusing him of “gutting” protections for millions of Com-Ed customers.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 5:05 pm:
YDD, I already did that.
- Papa Legba - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 5:53 pm:
Emil and Rod. This is a case where 1+1= a big fat ZERO for the people of Illinois. Since these clowns keep getting elected, do the people really care? I don’t think the average resident pays any attention and then whines when taxes go up.
- Just a Citizen - Monday, Apr 23, 07 @ 7:29 pm:
First of all, let me disclose that I don’t live in a Com Ed or an Ameren area so I am not directly affected by this rate increase. But I believe the kind of behavior exhibited by Jones and his cohorts is absolutely outrageous and is allowed. Is that democracy? Is that government of the people, by the people and for the people? I hope this blog and the rest of the press will keep the pressure on so that the people will at least have some voice.
- Cassandra - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 1:02 am:
Just a Citizen–
Yes, it is allowed. It’s legal. If the people want a voice, they have to put pressure on their own elected represenatives, and the guv, by actually communicating with them. Writing a letter. Sending an e-mail. Making a visit. And so on. Yet I would guess a majority of Illinois citizens couldn’t even name both their state senator and state rep.
I am currently in Europe, where our rented house has a tiny washer and dryer as do most houses in the area. Gas is $6 a gallon. Energy conservation is a major deal here and the US is going to have to get there eventually. Emil aside, rate rollbacks aren’t going to help that. The US has to start getting used to using less energy.
- Just a Citizen - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 8:21 am:
Cassandra
Just for the record–I and tens of thousands of other citizens of the state have communicated with their elected represenatives on this issue as well as many other issues. The point I was trying to make is that the reps may respond to their constituents as Forby did in this case but in the end it is the leaders of both houses that actually run the show. The only institution that seems to get the leaders attention is the press when it shines the light on their shortcomings and failings.
As far as energy conservation, I’m with you totally on that issue but it is much, much larger and more complex than raising some citizens’ electric rates.