Three of Gov. JB Pritzker’s appointees to the Illinois
Commerce Commission have not yet been confirmed by the Illinois Senate,
including the chair, Doug Scott.
All three unconfirmed appointees have recently voted
against the stated interests of trade unions.
Senate President Don Harmon has assiduously courted trade
union support and has raised millions of campaign dollars from them.
So, right off the bat, the legislative math is pretty
clear, even though Harmon’s office opted not to comment for this story.
Operating Engineers Union Local 150 is one of the most
politically engaged trade unions in Illinois. The union blasted an ICC vote in
November which “paused” $265 million in natural gas pipeline replacement work
next year by Peoples Gas, calling it “a troubling example of political
overreach” by “unconfirmed appointees” who are “playing games with peoples’
jobs, heat and safety as we head toward the holidays and the cold of winter.”
“The war on gas stoves is here,” Local 150 exclaimed in
dramatic fashion.
Peoples Gas then asked the ICC to reconsider its decision
and restore half of the project money to pay for “critical safety and
reliability work,” including finishing up ongoing projects, but the commission
declined. Mark Poulos, Local 150’s top lobbyist, told me last week that the
ICC’s decision will cost his union members 1.5 million person-hours of work
next year, and he’s furiously warning that the ICC commissioners’ confirmation
hearings might not go so well in the Senate.
Poulos said the ICC’s rulings were part of its
“overzealous” quest for “decarbonization” and moving away from the use of
natural gas. “They are basically saying ‘F**k you, this system will be obsolete
in the next generation,’” Poulos claimed, while warning that the future may not
play out as the commissioners hope.
The Citizens Utility Board’s executive director Sarah
Moskowitz recently appeared with Poulos on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight program and
noted that the ICC had granted Peoples Gas a record rate hike after the company
reported record profits for six straight years and that existing state statutes
mandate that the utility continue emergency and safety maintenance projects.
“They're kicking and screaming about the fact that they just got a record rate
hike but it's not enough,” said Moskowitz. “When is enough enough?”
Even so, the president of the Chicago Federation of Labor
and the president of the Illinois AFL-CIO recently co-wrote an op-ed demanding
that the legislature consider restarting the pipeline program if the ICC
doesn’t reverse itself.
Other labor unions are not taking such a public approach.
For instance, Bill Niesman is the business manager of IBEW Local 9, which does
a lot of ComEd work, but he politely side-stepped questions about an ICC ruling
that rejected ComEd’s proposed rate hike and ordered it to return to the
commission within three months with a new plan.
The ICC explained its ruling via press release:
“Specifically, the Commission’s decisions found that both utilities failed to
sufficiently incorporate customer affordability into their proposals.” The vote
was 4-1, with former AFL-CIO President Mike Carrigan voting no.
Niesman said his union is taking a wait and see approach,
but said that the ICC’s low rate of return on equity for ComEd would mean less
money for building up the region’s electrical grid. Other union leaders
are saying privately that a big Senate confirmation process fight is indeed
brewing.
The union leaders aren’t alone. The president of the
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce co-wrote a recent op-ed with ComEd’s CEO about
the need for more electrical infrastructure spending, and the Illinois
Manufacturers Association supported ComEd’s ICC filing. They’re all worried
about insufficiencies with the region’s electrical grid.
Gov. Pat Quinn backed down from a fight after he tried to
appoint CUB’S then-executive director as the ICC chair, but you don’t get that
vibe when talking with Pritzker’s people these days. Just the opposite.
This is Doug Scott’s second stint as ICC chair. He worked
in the Pritzker administration to pass the massive Climate and Equitable Jobs
Act. His appointment to the ICC in June was seen as a continuation of that
mission. So, it’s doubtful that Pritzker will back down. If the Senate decides
to side with the unions on the appointments, Pritzker can play a cat and mouse
game by withdrawing the appointments before the Senate can act, and then
quickly reappointing them.
The bottom line is that organized labor and the business
community are demanding far more robust infrastructure spending, while the
governor’s people point to very real cost considerations for consumers. The
Pritzker folks believe they will win that political fight.
