AG Watch

For a decade it has been illegal to raise electricity rates in Illinois. When this freeze expired in January Illinois residents got to enjoy ten years of rate increases all at once. This was not very popular with the voters, naturally, so the legislature is considering making those rate hikes illegal too. The only problem with this scheme is that just when it began to look promising the Wall Street bond rating agencies downgraded Illinois electricity companies to junk bonds.

The response of the Illinois AG: Investigate the rating agencies.

AGs are not the only state officials who do not understand the principles of federalism-the New Mexico legislature has decided to dabble in interplanetary politics. This Tuesday they declared that Pluto is still a planet when passing over New Mexico. Terrestrial observers suspect that the fact that Pluto was discovered by a native of New Mexico may have influenced their thinking.