Is Emanuel Taking Too Much Credit For Shutting Down Coal Plants?

By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 26, 2014 6:45PM

The Fisk Generating Plant in Pilsen (pictured) has been dormant since Dec. 2012. (Image Credit: Kenneth Spencer)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s re-election campaign is in full swing. We thought he would kick off his quest for a second term with more vague promises of “Building a New Chicago” (atop the crumbling infrastructure of the current one), but as the ad below shows, Emanuel is offering concrete proof he’s getting the job done. Watch.

Emanuel, to his credit, put his clout behind the long-stalled Clean Air Ordinance and helped broker a deal with Midwest Generation to shut down the Fisk and Crawford coal-fired electric generation plants in 2012 but his involvement isn’t exactly the roll up the sleeves kind the ad makes it out to be as much as it is swooping in at the last minute to support legislation with overwhelming support among Chicagoans.

The Chicago Clean Power Coalition fought for the closing of the plants and the Clean Power Ordinance for over two years before Emanuel took office. Now some of those groups who fought for the closings of the plants are angry Emanuel is taking undue credit for their efforts.

Now it isn't unlike politicians to take more credit than they deserve for the positive things that happened during one's time in office and Emanuel is no exception. His press office routinely sends out releases crowing about the growing number of buffered and protected bike lanes, Divvy rental stations, companies that are relocating their corporate headquarters to Chicago (more often than not with the help of TIF funds or tax breaks) and new initiatives intended to better the quality of life for Chicagoans.

But Emanuel has also been very quick to pass the buck when it comes to some of the messes he inherited. The parking meter deal is a prime example. Another example: the pension mess that threatens to blow a crater in the city's budget. Whenever something negative is mentioned in the media Emanuel is quick to blame his predecessor, without explicitly naming Richard M. Daley by name.

If this is an example of how Emanuel is going to run his re-election campaign then it's imperative for his opponents and the media to remind voters of how he may have made the parking meter deal worse—despite what his press team says—or privatizing pre-K education or how his administration may be continuing the practice of dabbling in risky interest rate swaps.

And if that doesn't work, one candidate should take a selfie with a pothole and ask if Chicago deserves better than pockmarked streets.