Government last week gave us an example of something both painfully overdue and perfectly timed.
As the General Assembly’s lame duck session concluded, according to the Chicago Tribune, state Rep. Joyce Mason, D-Gurnee, and state Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, D-Libertyville, worked to clarify language in the 2021 Climate and Equitable Jobs Act regarding property tax abatement linked to the closure of the Zion nuclear plant.
Commonwealth Edison opened that plant in the early 1970s and began the decommissioning process in the late 1990s. Examining the history of the process and its impact on the local economy would be suitable for graduate research, but here it’s enough to point out the plant ceased operating during my senior year of high school, I’ve already had my 25th class reunion and even though CEJA set aside $330 million for property tax relief it still took the better part of four years to clarify who gets what money.
The average Zion homeowner will see property taxes drop by $2,000 a year while local governments can spend millions on infrastructure and development. That arrangement is spread out over 21 years, meaning the tail extends more than half a century past the initial shutdown. Zion will celebrate its sesquicentennial in 2051 and this issue will factor in eight decades of the community’s history.
Neither ComEd nor state lawmakers have done right by Zion, and this recent development cannot compensate for opportunities lost and promises unrealized over the decades. It’s no comfort to those people that their town will serve as a cautionary tale to others whose economic interests are so deeply tied to a vital utility.
But for the purposes of journalistic serendipity, there is benefit in realizing the lame duck work in Springfield was largely concurrent with the ongoing federal bribery trial of Michael Madigan in Chicago, the vast majority of which centers on the former speaker’s influence in specific connection with advancing ComEd’s legislative priorities.
“When people asked me for help, if possible, I tried to help them,” Madigan said last week, surprisingly testifying in his own defense.
Zion, and other communities, could have benefited from the 2011 Energy Infrastructure and Modernization Act or the 2016 Future Energy Jobs Act, both of which factor in prosecutors’ allegations against Madigan. Those bills helped ComEd, the feds claim, and Madigan strengthened his political empire through access to internships, jobs, contracts and board positions for people loyal to the speaker.
Political games have winners and losers. While these particulars aren’t as unambiguous as a convenient columnist’s narrative, it’s impossible to ignore the contrast of low-profile lawmakers still trying to clean historical messes while the ultimate power broker improbably seeks to propagate a legacy of supposedly looking out for everyday citizens.
• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.
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