Rate freeze popular with voters - but it's not at top of the list

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SPRINGFIELD - A majority of Illinoisans support freezing the state's electric rates at their current levels, a new poll indicates, despite threats from the utility industry that it could go bankrupt if sharp rate increases aren't instituted starting next year. But in what may come as a relief to skittish state politicians who aren't sure how to handle the issue, the poll found the utility debate isn't anywhere near the top of voters' minds lately. The most important issues to them remain old standbys such as education funding and health care. Meanwhile, government corruption - a topic that inevitably saturates the state's airwaves during election seasons - apparently has got Illinois voters so numb that it ranks beneath &#8220avoiding tax increases'' as an important issue. The new Research 2000 poll for the Post-Dispatch and the Daily Chronicle asked respondents to rank nine state issues by order of importance. The top three were familiar: &#8220education funding,'' a perennial issue for voters everywhere; &#8220balancing the state budget,'' a special concern in a state where there is fevered disagreement about whether that's being done; and &#8220health care,'' a centerpiece of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's re-election campaign, which has been highlighted in his television commercials. Illinois legislators are pondering whether to extend for another three years the statewide electric rate freeze that has been in force in Illinois since 1997. The freeze was to expire in January, at which point St. Louis-based AmerenCILCO's 1.2 million downstate customers could see their electric bills climb by more than 50 percent, the company has said. Gov. Rod Blagojevich and other Democrats have talked publicly about calling a special legislative session before the Nov. 7 election to consider legislation to extend the rate-freeze, an idea that many Republicans have alleged is political pandering. A heated debate in Springfield, the issue of &#8220utility rates'' scored just 5 percent _ eighth on the list of nine, indicating that panicked politicians who have been holding special meetings this month have perhaps overestimated the depth of voter concern about it. However, when asked specifically about the proposed rate increases, poll respondents were overwhelmingly against them. Even when told that the electric companies have predicted they will go bankrupt under a continued freeze, more than half the respondents said they would extend the freeze anyway, while less than 30 percent said the planned rate increases should be allowed to go into effect. &#8220The power companies are going to need a hell of a PR campaign'' to win over the public to the rate hikes, predicted pollster Del Ali. &#8220It's not enough to threaten to go bankrupt, because people don't care.'' That was apparent in comments by poll respondents such as Cheri Akers of Hamilton. &#8220I would be more than happy to see it freeze,'' she said. &#8220I don't think they would go bankrupt. I think the companies are bluffing.'' Ali speculated that the modest ranking of &#8220corruption'' as an issue might be because Illinoisans - who this year have seen former Gov. George Ryan convicted of corruption and current Gov. Blagojevich facing questions about indicted associates - are used to it. &#8220No offense,'' Ali said, &#8220but it just might be a way of life with you guys.'' Kevin McDermott can be reached at kmcdermott@post-dispatch.com or (217) 782-4912.