The union representing Chicago gas pipeline engineers is sending a message to voters and aldermen alike in an effort to finally quash a climate change-focused ordinance that would severely curtail gas fixtures in new buildings in the city.
A political mailer sent to Chicagoans in wards where aldermen are supporting the measure slammed them for backing the stricter emissions standards that would all but ban natural gas lines in favor of electrical stoves, heaters and other appliances in new construction.
The flyers that arrived in mailboxes recently are a rarity in that they targeted specific City Council members for a legislative stance they’ve taken, even though the next council election is years away. They came with no clear sender, but were backed by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, according to a union leader.
The letter was also endorsed by a “broader coalition,” said Marc Poulos, Local 150’s executive director of labor relations. Poulos declined to say which other groups helped pay for the mailer, but added that they support the ordinance’s big-picture goal of lowering Chicago’s carbon emissions.
“But we’re also a part of a coalition that thinks we should do it with a plan instead of haphazardly passing ordinances,” he added.
Peoples Gas and labor unions like the Gas Workers Union 18007 and Laborers’ International Union of North America have also opposed the so-called “Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance,” which was introduced to the council early this year. Campaign finance records show the company that sent out the mailer has been paid in recent months mostly by the Chicagoland Operators Joint Labor-Management PAC, run by Local 150 leaders.
“Tens of thousands” of the flyers were sent out, Poulos said, but he declined to say how much was spent on them. Versions praising aldermen opposed to the ordinance were also mailed out, Poulos said.
The attack mailer suggests an air of corruption behind the bid to lower carbon emissions. It features the faces of aldermen plastered onto the image of two suit-wearing people shaking hands and exchanging money. The letter accuses targeted aldermen of giving a monopoly to “greedy utilities,” potentially spiking heating bills and eliminating hundreds of union jobs.
The heavy political punches came even as the proposal sits in legislative limbo. Despite the initial backing of Mayor Brandon Johnson, the ordinance was sent to the council’s Rules Committee, where it has been stuck without the needed majority support to advance. In May, a group of 31 aldermen signed on to a Sun-Times op-ed opposing it.
There will be no effort to push the ordinance forward until next year, North Side Ald. Maria Hadden, who sponsored it, told the Tribune.
For its opponents, the ordinance’s struggles are only a reason to hit it harder. “When you’ve got the wind at your back, we typically double down,” Poulos said.
Hadden, 49th, initially blasted the letter as potentially illegal because nowhere does it identify its funding source.
But state Board of Elections spokesperson Matt Dietrich said such a disclaimer is not required by law since the aldermen targeted are not on the ballot in the next upcoming election.
Illegal or not, the mailer is “deeply irresponsible” and “muddying the waters” with vague information, said Hadden, chair of the City Council’s Environmental Committee. People deserve to know who is behind the political opinions sent to their doorsteps, she added.
“Mailers like this show a disrespect for the public and a disrespect for democracy,” she said. “Labor unions, elected officials, businesses, people with power and money need to act more prudently and have more respect for the public.”
The ordinance is a much needed step in limiting carbon emissions to fight climate change, Hadden said. Because the legislation only targets new buildings, it would not fully eliminate the use of natural gas across the city, paving the way for a “slow crawl” change in energy sources, she said.
“We have to do our part, and it’s our responsibility to have these difficult conversations about our energy futures,” she said. “Everyone is impacted by our lack of action, and everyone will benefit from forward action.”
Hadden said the ordinance, which has sat in Rules since January, will not be brought back up in the council this year. The legislation is currently stalled and is “not to a final version,” she said.
Another target of the mailer, Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, said the senders have a “special interest” in “staying stuck on fossil fuels.”
“We think it’s a good way to transition, we don’t think it’s doing too much,” Vasquez said. “It would be great to come to the table and figure out a solution, and a much better use of resources than sending attack mailers without anyone’s name on it.”
Poulos believes the ordinance will not achieve its intended effects and was rushed, he said. The regulatory change could erase a broad swath of jobs and give more business to electrical utility companies competing with gas utilities, he said.
“It’s literally going to put hundreds, if not thousands of people out of jobs for no good reason,” he said.
Labor representatives were not sufficiently included in the initial conversations to design the ordinance, Poulos said.
But Hadden countered that the groups have been brought into discussions over the slow-moving measure for years.
“They have been,” she said. “We just disagree.”
