Lightfoot wants answers before renewing ComEd’s franchise agreement
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday she plans to call Commonwealth Edison on the carpet for the Springfield lobbying scandal — and ask the utility to join the city in ending shut-offs — before Chicago will even consider renewing its franchise agreement.
One focus of the burgeoning federal investigation that has spread from Chicago and the south suburbs to Springfield is the roster of ComEd lobbyists with close ties to Ilinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.
It includes Jay Doherty, who resigned last week as president of the City Club of Chicago.
WBEZ-FM has reported ComEd paid Doherty $3.1 million between 2011 and 2018 — nearly six times the amount he disclosed on his lobbyist filings with the city.
Doherty’s resignation came one month after he quit lobbying for ComEd and seven months after FBI agents raided City Club headquarters.
Against that backdrop, Chicago must decide whether to renew a 20-year franchise agreement with ComEd that expires at the end of 2020.
It represents a rare opportunity for Lightfoot.
“There’s a lot of questions ComEd is gonna have to answer before we’re gonna get comfortable in renewing the franchise,” the mayor said during a taping of the WLSAM Radio program “Connected to Chicago,” to be broadcast at 7 p.m. Sunday.
“We’re gonna call them for some kind of hearing and make them answer some questions . . . about what they were doing, how they were using their shareholders’ dollars and give us assurances that we can be comfortable doing business with them.”
Lightfoot has already ended water shut-offs, costing the city $20 million in water bill revenues.
The mayor plans to ask ComEd to get on board.
“All the utilities” should end shut-offs, she said. “People are suffering and they’re struggling,” Lightfoot added. “I certainly would hope, as a minimum, that the utilities would follow our lead. But that’s something that I’m willing to push them on as well.”
ComEd spokesman Paul Elsberg said the utility is “cooperating fully with all requests related to the investigation and is not able to comment further.”
As for Lightfoot’s demands, Elsberg noted the utility works closely with its “most vulnerable customers to provide options to keep [them] from falling behind” on electric bills.
That includes “direct financial assistance from ComEd, which is paid using shareholder — not customer — dollars,” he said.
ComEd also does not shut off service to customers during the winter months.
Details have slowly emerged in recent months about the broadening corruption probe that has included raids of several southwest suburban village halls and the Springfield office of state Sen. Martin Sandoval.
Sandoval announced last week he’ll give up his legislative seat in January. His daughter, Angie, listed herself online as a senior account manager in government affairs at ComEd.
Exelon Utilities CEO Anne Pramaggiore abruptly retired in October as questions swirled around ComEd lobbyists under her control.
The utility has acknowledged receiving two grand jury subpoenas about its lobbying activities in Illinois, where the company has enjoyed a long winning streak in the Legislature.