25th Ward: Ald. Solis flips on coal-fire plant ordinance
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH AND FRAN SPIELMAN Staff Reporters
' + first_letter + ' Mar 23, 2011 02:09AM
Danny Solis
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Critics of long-time Ald. Danny Solis (25th) berated him as a puppet of the coal-fire plants in his ward during the first round of aldermanic voting last month.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) spent $28,000 putting Solis’ face on a puff of smoke coming out of a plant in one of seven nasty anti-Solis mailers the union sent 25th Ward voters this year. The fliers say the smoke makes residents sick.
“After taking $50,000 from the [power] corporation, Danny Solis isn’t the alderman of our ward. He’s the alderman of the power plant — they own him,” the flyer said.
The fliers likely helped push Solis’s vote total down to 49 percent, forcing him into an April 5 run-off with community activist Cuahutemoc “Temoc” Morfin, who got 28 percent. This is the second time in four years the unions — who fought with Solis over Wal-Mart, kept him under 50 percent of the vote.
But as 50 environmental groups began planning a coordinated campaign against Solis on the power plant issue and printing up leaflets — all of which would have helped Morfin’s campaign — Solis announced he has experienced an epiphany since the first round of voting.
Solis and doctors affiliated with SEIU will appear together Wednesday morning to announce that Solis will support the Clean Power Ordinance that will force the Midwest Generation plants in Pilsen and Little Village to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and particulates released into the air. Instead of fighting Solis, SEIU will be backing the man they demonized just weeks ago, now that he’s gotten the message.
Did the polls of 25th Ward votes that Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel’s new political group conducted on Solis’ behalf convince him to flip-flop?
No — Solis said he changed his mind about the Clean Power Ordinance on election night in response to a barrage of complaints from his constituents.
“A lot of people who voted for me basically told me, `I’m gonna vote for you, but I wish you would change your mind on this.’ And a lot of people who voted against me would have voted for me [if not for] this issue. I’ve got to listen to my constituents,” the City Council Zoning Committee chairman said Tuesday.
“I had a meeting with SEIU, which was the strongest opposition in my campaign, and [Local 1 President] Tom Balanoff made a key point: Now that Congress is controlled by Republicans, it’s gonna be more difficult for the federal government to ... regulate these types of plants. ... We’re gonna let the courts decide what regulatory powers the city has. And if they decide against it, it will still be a very strong message we send to Congress that cities like Chicago are concerned about this.”
Morfin and environmentalists who have fought Solis on the issue over the years are skeptical about his conversion.
“He is 41 premature deaths a year too late; 2,800 cases of asthma too late; hundreds if not thousands of visits a year to the emergency room too late,” Morfin said.
“We are thrilled the alderman has reversed himself 180 degrees,” said Dorian Breuer of the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization. “But we are concerned about rumors and innuendos ... that this may literally be a political stunt to be re-elected, then reverse himself again 180 degrees on April 6. Over $50,000 worth of donations over 10 years has clearly bought a very sympathetic alderman for Midwest Generation.”
Midwest Generation spokesman Doug McFarlan said company officials have not written off Solis as they fight the ordinance they say would force them to close the plants that employ 200 people.
“We’re going to keep talking and providing information to Ald. Solis — we have regular communication with Ald. Solis,” McFarlan said. He said the plants meet ever-stricter federal and state pollution standards.
Solis denied that he had sold out in exchange for SEIU’s support. He noted that he and Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) co-sponsored an even stronger clean power ordinance in 2002, only to have it languish in committee.
They dropped the idea after Midwest Generation signed an agreement with the state that included a series of clean-up benchmarks, Solis said.
Morfin, a former juvenile probation officer and small business owner, said the plants are just of many reasons the 25th ward needs a change of leadership, including crime and education, issues on which he said Solis has not advocated for the ward. Morfin was endorsed Tuesday by City Clerk Miguel Del Valle and already has the endorsement of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Solis is a former director of the United Neighborhood Organization. A strong ally of outgoing Mayor Richard M. Daley. Solis serves as Mayor Pro Tem of the City Council. He chaired Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in Illinois. Solis has championed the use of Tax Increment Financing districts to reinvest money in projects in the 25th Ward.
With $30,579 in donations so far, Solis has been the biggest beneficiary of donations made by Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel’s new political action committee.
In 2007, Morfin took 22 percent of the vote to Solis’ 49 percent but did not get to face him in a run-off because the courts threw out votes cast for former Ald. Ambrosio Medrano because of his felony conviction. That boosted Solis’ total above 50 percent.
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Wednesday, March 23, 2011
25th Ward: Ald. Solis flips on coal-fire plant ordinance - Chicago Sun-Times
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