Wednesday, March 7, 2007 10:18 PM CST
Blagojevich calls on lawmakers to deal with rising electric rates
By MIKE RIOPELL, JG/T-C Springfield Bureau
mike.riopell@lee.net
SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday called on lawmakers to deal with rising electric bills, but he didn’t say exactly what he wanted them to do.
Lawmakers have sparred for months -- often shouting in debates from the House floor -- over the 2007 rate hikes. But the issue garnered only a passing mention in Blagojevich’s 34-minute annual budget address Wednesday.
“I know you’ve been working on plans to reduce the impact of these rates,” he said. “I’m eager to work with you and sign legislation, just as soon as you send it to me, that protects families and businesses from crippling rate hikes.”
Blagojevich earlier backed a rate freeze for customers of Ameren and ComEd. But his comments Wednesday were less clear.
In the past weeks, Republicans have hammered Blagojevich for not showing more leadership on the issue, even though he has said he supports a rollback for customers.
“On this issue, he has absolutely not led,” said state Rep. Bill Mitchell, a Forsyth Republican. “He missed a good opportunity today.”
That could further muddy lawmakers’ negotiations of electric cost relief. The House has twice approved a plan to roll back rates. But the Senate has declined to follow suit, saying less money for the utilities could lead to unreliable power service.
Senate President Emil Jones said Wednesday that he hasn’t recently talked to the governor about the electric rate issue. But he didn’t budge in opposing a new rate freeze.
“A freeze only delays the inevitable,” the Chicago Democrat said.
State Sen. Gary Forby, a Benton Democrat, agrees. But his plan to roll back rates for Ameren customers to 2006 levels for six months was approved by a Senate committee Wednesday.
“The freeze is not going to work because it’s not going to go away,” he said.
Forby hopes that a different idea to lower costs will surface in the next six months, but leading House lawmakers frowned on the short-term plan last week.
And Jones, who can control legislative priorities, said the issue should be left to the Illinois Commerce Commission, whose members opened an investigation last week.
“The legislature really wasn’t supposed to be involved in this,” Jones said. “Once the legislature gets involved, then you have nothing but politics involved.”
A spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, said he hopes those politics don’t throw another complication into the already formidable budget negotiation process.
“I hope it doesn’t stall out anything,” said spokesman Steve Brown. “I don’t think it will.”
On Wednesday, Ameren asked the commerce commission to adopt a plan to provide $20-million in relief mostly for electric-heat customers.
And three Republican state senators -- John Jones of Mount Vernon, Dale Risinger of Peoria and Bill Brady of Bloomington -- collected high electric bills and presented them to the governor’s office.
Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said the bills would be treated as constituent mail.
Mike Riopell can be reached at mike.riopell@lee.net or (217) 789-0865.
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Tara wrote on Apr 13, 2007 7:46 PM: