A new angle to ComEd’s charitable giving
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Dave McKinney at WBEZ…
State law says utility companies like Commonwealth Edison cannot make their customers pay for the cost of their lobbying expenses.
Yet, ComEd’s nearly 4 million ratepayers in Chicago and northern Illinois are on the hook for nearly $9 million in grants the company awarded this past year to an array of nonprofit organizations.
What some of those investments also have yielded for ComEd is a de facto, ratepayer-underwritten lobbying force in Springfield that has aimed to help nudge some of the company’s most prized legislative initiatives during the past decade.
A WBEZ analysis of legislative records shows a distinct pattern in which the same grant recipients getting ComEd charity that ratepayers subsidize are wearing dueling hats as utility company advocates before the General Assembly. The same is true for a long list of ComEd contractors who have advocated on behalf of the company.
WBEZ documented nearly $350,000 in ComEd grants since 2017 to a dozen nonprofit groups that formally — and, in some cases, repeatedly — lobbied for company-backed legislation in Springfield. Some charitable groups are overseen by board members who also happened to be ComEd executives. […]
“We do not direct businesses or charities we support to submit witness slips,” ComEd spokesman Paul Elsberg said in a statement, referring to the paperwork that individuals and organizations file with the legislature to signify their opposition or support for a particular bill.
“However, we naturally reach out to businesses and community leaders about energy legislation that could affect our customers and our business,” he said. “In fact, we have an obligation to do so because it affects them, too, and we fully support their, and anyone’s, right to voice their support or opposition to legislation based on what’s important to them.”
Darnit, we have an obligation to inform fortunate recipients of our heartfelt, ratepayer-funded charitable giving that we have an amendment up for a vote in House Public Utilities next Tuesday at 3 o’clock and send them a link to the witness slip filing page.
- Homebody - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 9:44 am:
== “We do not direct businesses or charities we support to submit witness slips,” ==
We just have our own executives on the boards of those charities. We are completely surprised that they happened to do the same thing that we would prefer they do.
This is just as infuriating as the SCOTUS case that gutted the ability to pursue public corruption in the absence of explicit quid pro quo. Everyone knows what is going on, everyone can see it. But for some reason those who enforce and interpret the laws in these areas seem to willfully be looking for ways to not see it themselves.
- Jo Jo Monkeyboy - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 9:46 am:
a leopard never changes its spots
- sulla - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 9:54 am:
If ComEd at this point were to name Martin Skrelli to a board role, would anyone be surprised?
- PublicServant - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 9:54 am:
=== …we fully support their, and anyone’s, right to voice their support or opposition to legislation based on what’s important to them. ===
Yeah, if they don’t want out selfless charity, we support their right to ignore our thinly-veiled quid quo pro
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 9:55 am:
That’s how astroturf is grown.
- Senator Clay Davis - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 9:59 am:
Let’s recap: ComEd is under federal investigation for corruption while also asking lawmakers for another couple billion in subsidies, yet their flack goes on the radio and basically admits they buy off non-profits and co-opt them for lobbying purposes. Wow.
- Socially DIstant watcher - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 10:00 am:
@47th: burying seeds under mountains of BS?
- Buck to the Future - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 10:05 am:
Good thing we have Team Pritzker’s Illinois Commerce Commission to protect us from ComEd taking advantage of us.
- Amalia - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 10:08 am:
makes me so angry. especially after a power loss last night that appears to have affected an appliance, yes, even attached to a surge protector.
- Nobody Sent - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 10:14 am:
–the ICC protecting us from being taken advantage of– HA! That’s a good one! That place was gutted under Rauner and Pritzker has done nothing to rebuild it. For an organization that affects nearly everyone in Illinois, you would hope the pols would take it more seriously.
- Annonin' - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 10:15 am:
Shocking…. Corporate giving impacting opinion and action on public policy…Wait til it is revealed utilities sat on media company boards and that it started some time ago.
- Yerminator - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 10:17 am:
@Anoonin - still waiting for BEZ to clean up why they waited so long to disclose ComEd was a donor
- Southern Skeptic - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 10:42 am:
This is the plan. It’s all part of the plan.
Campaign contributions + nonprofit donations to influence organizations + funding phony foundations to buy off watchdogs + hiring dozens and dozens of lobbyists both through ComEd and Exelon including legislators and former foes = obscene levels of ILGA influence. Amazing that that wasn’t good enough and they needed to also resort to bribery.
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 11:32 am:
- Corporate giving impacting opinion and action on public policy -
You’re pretty much the only person defending this these days, I wonder why?
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 12:36 pm:
Meanwhile, in Ohio…
https://apnews.com/article/ohio-government-and-politics-business-584bfeefeda8f8ad8496f3f776246f26
- Annonin' - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 2:06 pm:
Maybe some are not as gullible as others?
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 26, 21 @ 2:34 pm:
(Snark on)
At least ComEd isn’t writing what folks would say as witnesses… right… I mean it’s just stacking names… so… see, nothing… stacking names, cashing checks…
(Snark off)