By: Mark Glennon*
Illinois columnist Rich Miller wrote Saturday in the Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere mocking critics of Gotion’s electric vehicle lithium battery plant recently proposed for Manteno, Illinois. Gotion is a Chinese company closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) set to receive around $8 billion from taxpayers to build the $2 billion plant.
The column is wrong on key facts, reckless and irresponsible.
First, about companies from foreign adversaries like China, Miller says safeguards are a federal responsibility. “Yeah,” Miller wrote, “it’s the Chinese government. They have to be watched, for sure. But that’s not the state’s responsibility. That’s on the federal government.”
That flatly contradicts multiple, direct, tough warnings from the Biden Administration itself, including warnings from its Director of National Intelligence (DNI) expressly directed to state and local governments. Among its warnings are this bulletin titled Protecting Government and Business Leaders at the State and Local Level from Peoples Republic of China (PRC) Influence Operations.
“In partnering with any foreign entity, the DNI bulletin says, U.S. state and local leaders should exercise vigilance, conduct due diligence, and ensure transparency, integrity, and accountability are built into the partnership to guard against potential foreign government exploitation.”
Miller and the papers that publish him should be helping spread those warnings, not countermanding them.
They should be asking why the State of Illinois has shown no sign whatsoever of any the vigilance, due diligence, transparency, integrity or accountability as the DNI wants. Gov. JB Pritzker has expressly refused to answer questions about those things, responding only with insults about “xenophobes” and “MAGA Republicans.”
Miller’s column ridicules Gotion critics as “elements of the far right” who “have essentially claimed that Communists are using taxpayer funds to build some sort of spy base, or use it to promote CCP activities, or something. It’s not totally clear…. Man, what I wouldn’t give to see Chinese commies try to organize a cell in Manteno. That would be a hoot,” Miller wrote.
What’s “not clear” to Miller?
It’s “100%” guarantied that some of the people who come from China to work for Gotion will spy for the CCP. That’s according to Congressional testimony by William Evanina, who served as the director DNI’s National Counterintelligence and Security Center, initially under President Obama. He was testifying about a nearly identical Gotion project in Michigan. Know-how on battery production will go straight to the Chinese military, which is reported to have a joint venture with Gotion.
Chinese spying in the U.S. has become so widespread that the FBI is launching an average of two counterintelligence investigations a day to counter the onslaught, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray. Read the rest of Wray’s alarming comments about Chinese spying here. “This one blew me away,” he said about the sheer scope of the spying, “and I’m not the kind of guy that uses words like ‘blown away’ easily,” he said.
Is Miller unaware that it’s top national Democrats, not the “far right,” who have been most hawkish about cracking down on China? They include the following, linked to some of their comments:
- National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken
- Biden Administration’s former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
- Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines
- Congressman Raja Krishamouthi (D-IL)
And it was the Biden Administration itself that announced last year a “sea change” in U.S. efforts to limit China’s technological development. China previously was left to invest billions here, but after “decades of U.S. efforts to engage China with the prospect of greater development through trade, the era of cooperation is coming to a screeching halt,” as Politico reported it. Yet Miller wrote, “Look, the Chinese are already here.” Is he unaware of the “sea change” in China policy intended to reverse that?
Miller says the U.S. Departments of Defense, Justice and State have not expressed any qualms about the project that anyone knows of.
But it’s at the federal level that the major problem may lie. It’s actually the Treasury Department that potentially has primary responsibility to review these things, but it’s unclear what, if anything, they’ve done. That’s why the Chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP this month implored that department to look into Gotion and answer questions about what it has done on Gotion. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio sent a similar letter to Treasury this month, joined by a number of other Congressmen, including Illinois’ Mike Bost.
What we do know is that nobody at the federal or state level has even requested Gotion to complete a full disclosure statement that would allow for a proper review, known as a form 800. That’s what Gotion critics in Michigan have been demanding.
A township in Michigan where Gotion was considering putting its plant smartly requested that disclosure as part of its review. Unsurprisingly, Gotion then dropped that township from consideration. Why haven’t Illinois or any local government units that include Manteno demanded the disclosure?
Finally, Miller suggests it’s just partisan electioneering behind Gotion critics. “[A] cynic, Miller wrote, “could point to the fact that Democratic Sen. Patrick Joyce is up for reelection next year. The Manteno plant is in his district, and he is an enthusiastic supporter.”
Tell that to Manteno residents who spoke up unanimously against the project at the most recent village board meeting.
We will hear more from residents and other opponents Monday. They are lining up to oppose the project at a press conference and rally of sorts. Speakers opposed to the project will include former U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra, who served 18 years in Congress and chaired the House Intelligence Committee; Joseph Cella, also a former U.S. ambassador; Illinois lawmakers in its Freedom Caucus; and the Coalition for a Prosperous America.
All are welcome to attend on Monday. It’s at 5PM at 211 N. Main Street, Manteno, IL, preceding a 6PM Village Board meeting.
Wirepoints will be there, too.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
Read up on the Gotion project here, where we’ve collected all our columns on it. The story continues to grow as major environmental issues are emerging, which have already led to a lawsuit against the Michigan plant.
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Its costing US $3 million per job. put a fork in this thing
Mark, I have two points to add to your story that have not been covered: If you want to read some entertaining commentary, scrape the CommunistFax site for Foxconn. All the comments will say the same thing, that it was a complete waste of taxpayer dollars by WI. The great irony is the so called government subsidies for Foxconn were mostly tax credits based on meeting employment targets. You should write a story about the political-journalist complex; political reporters only get access to politicians and their staffers if they write favorable stories about them. Rich Miller is nothing more than… Read more »
Giving tax money and our land and resources is of more concern to me than spying. Hell, if anything the US needs to spy on the Chinese as they are a decade or more ahead of us in this area.
Who do you think does more spying , the 6,000 Chinese students at the University of Illinois , or this Gotion company ?
Environmental contamination, water rights, and getting out of a terrible deal are a higher priority than spying for me. Politicians can enrich lots of cronies with 8 Billion shuffled around and there’s no accountability or transparency.
Not an either/or. Accomplish all of the above by canceling this atrocious and dastardly deal.
The website you linked tells me you are climate extremist and globalist. Here is the first few sentences: The world faces three critical challenges: the climate emergency, nature loss and mounting inequality. The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated that these challenges are interconnected, and that our systems are ill-prepared for shocks. As global risks continue to build, business leaders are rallying behind a bold and urgent transformation agenda developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a CEO-led organization of over 200 leading companies. There is no utopia Dave. No money to pay for your big environmental wish list.… Read more »
Buddy, somebody asked what 2050 was, and I linked to it. I’m proud of the protesters for standing against it! I’m against it too and proud that the protesters have educated themselves on the dangers we’re facing. Nice try.
Pal, Rah Rah sis com bah, Illinois is coming back Rah Rah sis com bah. Yay Illinois it’s all turning around! We need more cheerleaders! It’s well on the way to a complete turnaround! After being run poorly for 50 years I am supposed to believe this nonsense? What are you smoking? Could it be Hopium? 🤣🤣📣👏📣👏.
Not that I am in favor of Gotion, but just what company is going to create jobs for the locals?
Like it or not, Illinois is a bad place to start a business, so you have to whatever you can get.
Get use to the idea that you have to pay companies to come to Illinois.
Downstate some of the warehouse outfits settled for free buildings and edge credits to come to town. How did things get so “enormously” high up there?
Geeze…if we only had 8 billion to fix our pension problem rather than give it away to the Chinese
8 billion wouldn’t fix the pension problem, but it would be a start!
These fat face jackasses all look alike on some manner 🤔
I try not to fat shame, though this smiley bloke here is the antithesis of health.
If you think that’s an effective way to convince somebody of something you are mistaken.
8 billion for a $2 billion project. China is our self proclaimed opponent in the world theater. They have stated they will conquer us from within as that great philosopher, Charlie Brown would have said,” good grief”!!
This is not a surprise from Rich Miller. Ever since the Madigan crew got dethroned– and Rich lost all his House Dem sources like Tim Mapes– he has had to rely on the Pritzker folks to get any intelligence at all re what is going on in Springfield. The Repubs don’t talk to him. The Dem caucuses in both housed are usually not in the know about what is going on until the last minute. So the Pritzker folks are the hands that feed him. It is surprising though that Rich missed all the federal warnings, press coverage, congressional testimony,… Read more »
Is anyone an expert on deals like this? The Solandra mess shafted the taxpayers big time. Tesla was also subsidized by the government at high risk garbage rates. Elon Musk got venture capital rates of return, 18%+ on his investment, and the government got shafted with a 3% to 4% rate for putting up 80%? of the initial investment. This is how politicians and insiders profit from deals like this: their initial investments start out as a loan to recover 100% of their investment and prioritize their positions, but convert to equity if it takes off and shaft everyone else.… Read more »
Slate is far left propaganda that has no credibility. Tesla trades at over $250 a share. Solyndra and Proterra are examples of politicians stealing and getting in and out just to enrich themselves. This is crony capitalism at its finest as both are bankrupt. To believe the article is to live in a different reality then the present world.
Don’t link to left wing rags, they are unreliable.
Richie, since you are obviously monitoring this blog, your comment “The governor has put an enormous amount of time and effort into getting this deal done” really piqued my morning thought process. I have to admit that providing millions more to an entity than it costs to build a plant is certainly “enormous” in my books; so enormous in fact I just wonder how far such an “enormous” amount of funds spread out. Tell us then Richie, since you apparently are quite knowledgeable about the situation, just how far has the funding spread? In other words, whose pockets are the enormous funds… Read more »
Another quick downvote on my post devoted to Richie. The cat is out of the bag now for sure. Tell me Richie doesn’t it burn your *** that you can’t delete my post and ban me like you can over at your blog?
doesn’t it burn your *** that you can’t delete my post and ban me like you can over at your blog? Classic comment
I don’t know Rich Miller. Never heard of him until today. After reading his article, is it possible he may be a member of the Communist Party? My thoughts are just based on his writings. Why would he think and say those things otherwise? Why would he put so much faith in Pritzker and the Federal Government given their past behavior and decisions?
I forgot where I saw this once but there was a spreadsheet out once that showed that a lot of the paid subscriptions to the Capitol Fax blog came from Illinois State offices. I think therein lies the answer. Miller simply runs an Illinois Democrat party cheerleading blog and to me this article by Miller sets a new low for him. My hope is that some of the syndicated fish wraps that print his column get enough negative feedback that they drop him.
Cap Fax has been around for 30 years or more — in the beginning it was literally a faxed newsletter with news/gossip that was helpful to legislators, lobbyists, management level state employees, and political junkies. Back in the days when Mike Madigan, inscrutable master of 12-dimensional political chess, was running the show it was THE source of inside info you couldn’t get from normal Statehouse reporting. This is why many state offices pay for subscriptions, and did so even back when there were still a lot of Republican-appointed state workers and officials. I used to read it regularly (the public… Read more »
Immigration is also “on the federal government.” Look how that’s turned out.
And the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Social Security trust fund, FEMA responses to disasters, Chinese hot air spy balloons, gas stoves, COVID lockdowns, CRT, healthcare.gov launch, election security . . .
Mr Miller appears to be a bloviating mouthpiece for Pritzker – absolutely no facts and data or discernment in his article. Wonder who gave Miller his talking points? JB?
Miller and Martire.
And JB calls WP ‘carnival barkers.’
I think you can throw Hinz on the list. He seems to have the official JB/machine inside scoop on EV’s
It’s interesting UAW remains silent in ultra union friendly blue Illinois? Apparently according to another JB/machine news insider, Hinz, The Gotion plant will provide EV batteries to non-union RIVAN and JB has future plans to attract additional EV battery plants to closed Belvidere/ Stellantis plant. I couldn’t imagine if EV plant opens in former Belvidere/ Stellantis plant they could get away with it being non-union?….all I’m saying is big plans are being made behind the scenes and assuming taxpayers in Illinois or nationally will pay for it. Currently, RIVAN is so unprofitable even with all the taxpayer subsidies it’s selling… Read more »
This may be about many things, but as a practical matter this re-zoning of retail to industrial is about water-mining rights, which are worth billions in fiat currency to winners.
Manteno locals have standing to litigate for enforcement of OMA
(Open Meetings Act).
Then, when properly noticed public hearings are conducted, Pritzker expert witnesses can present evidence, and so can opposing expert witnesses who aren’t biased by private-interest clients,
about impact of water-mining by this for-profit private business.
Your one quick downvote intrigues me. Can we assume that based upon the content of your post, the content of the article itself and the speed of the downvote that it is Miller himself that is monitoring the posts here?
Sign in front should say Agenda 2030, not 2050.
There are several of them. Agenda 2050 has more to do with cars and transportation. They’ve done their homework and I’m proud.
https://www.wbcsd.org/Overview/About-us/Vision-2050-Time-to-Transform
Does anybody actually believe anything Miller writes? The guy is laughable, but not in a funny way. It’s more of a pathetic, slapstick stooge sort of way. Based on that mugshot alone he obviously needs to see a doctor. What a pair he and JB make.
Miller is a mere typist — vomiting up whatever nonsense is the Democrat lie of the day. Whatever that fat greasy turd opines on is pure hoax and fraud.
Big thanks to Mark Glennon, WIREPOINTS and All helping us in this fight against Gotion.
See you in MantenoTown!
See you there.
Sitting the fence on attending as Joliet is having a meeting at the same time re the township’s sneaky deal to garner 8.6 Million in funds to house mayor Tupacs illegals. Pritzger got together with a “ progressive “ township official to cook it up, supposedly without the city’s knowledge. Said progressive is also soon due in court to address his third DUI case. So much corruption, so little time…
I suggest simplifying the message. It’s anti-competitive, the numbers don’t add up, it hasn’t been vetted, it’s an environmental hazard, and the Chinese aren’t playing fair.
Rich Miller is Pritzker’s loyal propaganda mouthpiece. Whatever his benefactor says, Miller spews as “journalism”. Just like Miller did with his former overlord, Mike Madigan. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.
A thumb down probably from the man to pig that appears to be a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.
Right on schedule. Miller uses his five Wirepoints accounts to thumbs down any dissent regarding his lack of journalistic neutrality and his source of income. It must frustrate Miller that on Wirepoints, unlike on his Crap Fax echo chamber, he can’t simply block and delete any comments that are distressing.