State Rep. Dave Vella continues in grandfather’s footsteps
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[November 30, 2021]
By TAYLOR AVERY
For Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD – Behind a window with a “Save
the Byron Nuclear Plant” sign taped to the glass, Ricardo Montoya Picazo
listened to a father of three wonder aloud if he would still be able to
support his children in a few weeks.
“If I lose this, the only thing I know how to do, then that means I have
to relocate my family to find another job where they’re needing nuclear
power workers. But this is where I call home,” Picazo, chief of staff to
state Rep. Dave Vella, D-Loves Park, remembers the man telling him.
The man on the phone was an International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers union worker at the Byron Nuclear Generating Station that was
slated to close Sept. 13 if state legislators couldn’t approve sweeping
energy legislation providing the necessary funding to keep it open.
Aside from shoring up nuclear power plants and renewable energy with
subsidies, the energy regulation overhaul aims for Illinois to get 100
percent of its energy from carbon-free sources by 2050.
But the bill was contentious as labor unions, environmental groups and
lawmakers butted heads. At many points, it seemed to teeter dangerously
close to failure.
For Rockford and the surrounding areas, the Byron nuclear plant is a
monument and a point of pride for the community. But Vella was fighting
for more than a monument. Between 100 to 200 of his constituents would
lose their jobs if the plant closed, and energy bills would increase
too.
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The battle ended when the landmark bill cleared the Illinois General
Assembly Sept. 13 and was signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker two days later.
Vella, 50, is no stranger to a fight, and his first ever run in 2020 for
political office is proof.
The 68th District, which covers sections of northwest and east Rockford,
Loves Park, Machesney Park and Cherry Valley, had been Republican-held
since 1995. The incumbent, then Rep. John Cabello, had held the seat
since 2012 and was running again.
The cards were not in Vella’s favor, and some weren’t shy about telling
him that.
“There were a lot of people who said, you're gonna lose, but that's OK.
We'll give it a try,” Vella said.
He said he started knocking doors in June 2020. Vella estimates he
personally knocked on 10,000 doors, with another 20,000 knocked by
staffers.
He thought if he could turn out the Midwest moderates, both Democrats
and Republicans, he could win.
Picazo, who also serves as the Winnebago County Democrats minority
representative, watched the race with interest.
“Nerve-racking,” Picazo said while describing election night. “It was
the race that the state was looking at.”
Vella says he believed he had lost on election night when Cabello pulled
ahead.
On Nov. 17, after a recount of a quarter of the district’s precincts at
Cabello’s request, the results were posted.
Vella had won the unwinnable race by just 239 votes, 0.4 percent of the
votes cast.
“He walked every single neighborhood in his district. It may be one
time, but he walked it.” Picazo said. “He fought for it. He walked for
it. And I think that’s how he got elected.”
For Vella, it was walking the streets he grew up in, where he built his
career and raised his son and daughter.
It’s also where he met his wife, in a story that seems like something
fresh off a Netflix series drawing board — he was a public defender, she
was a prosecutor, meeting first at Northern Illinois University College
of Law and later crossing paths in a Winnebago County courtroom.
And it’s where his grandfather, Edolo J. "Zeke" Giorgi, made a name for
himself in the 1970s and ’80s as a state representative known for being
able to move bills with bipartisan support.
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![](../images/113021pics/news_a55.jpg)
State Rep. Dave Vella (Credit:
www.staterepdavevella.com)
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“He was a very big local figure here who is known for
getting people to work together and get stuff done,” Nathan Blevins,
a member of Vella’s district staff, said. “[Vella]’s trying to
follow in his grandfather's footsteps and follow that mission.”
Vella’s staff says he’s already followed his grandfather’s example.
“He's proven in his nine months in office so far that even if you
won't agree on everything, you can get a meeting together. We'll
listen. We'll talk it out. And if there's anything that we can do to
help, we will do it. Our office will do it,” Blevins said.
The first time Blevins met Vella, he was a little intimidated.
“I was a bit shy, a little bit timid,” Blevins said.
But Vella seemed like a down to earth guy, and mentioned the
district staff position was open. The next time Blevins saw Vella,
they were sitting across a table from each other for a job
interview.
Now he’s been with the representative’s office since July, and he’s
gotten to know Vella.
Blevins says Vella is a genuine guy—the guy being interviewed on TV
is the same guy in the car on the way to an event.
And that guy, outside of the office and Springfield, likes to read.
Poetry, political history and sometimes science fiction are his
favorites, Vella said.
He’s a fan of cooking, and he’s in the camp of people who took up
baking bread during the pandemic. He enjoys cooking Italian or
Mediterranean foods.
“It’s a way to kind of almost decompress from stuff,” he said.
And he said he’s getting really good at making Detroit style pizzas.
Vella isn’t a “Mr. Smith goes to Washington” type. But maybe a “Mr.
Smith goes to Springfield.”
“I have no desire to go to Washington, D.C.” Vella said.
“Springfield was my dream.”
And in Springfield, some of the smallest, seemingly inconsequential
bills can be incredibly impactful.
Vella was just one of the many sponsors in the House of a bill
lowering taxes on utility trailers, which are often used to
transport off road vehicles, from $118 to $36. The bill was signed
into law in August.
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“A lot of people have snowmobiles, or ATVs, or motorcycles. When
they get off work, that’s what they want to do to have fun,” Vella
said of his constituents.
It’s efforts like this that make people believe someone in
Springfield cares about them, Vella says.
“I got so many calls. It moved a lot of hearts, I think.” Vella
said. “I got a call from a woman who just thanked me like four times
and said, ‘You made our weekend.’ That’s important to me.”
Just as the shadow of the Byron plant’s smoke stacks still shades
the 68th district, so too does the legacy of Vella’s grandfather on
him.
“He wants to become his grandpa, an individual that wants to be
actually a public servant, and doesn't care about becoming a career
politician. He wants to be that individual that actually brings
positive change in services to the people, give them what they need,
help them if they have an issue, resolve that issue,” Picazo said.
“Dave is that person.”
This story was distributed by Capitol News Illinois
on behalf of the University of Illinois-Springfield’s Public Affairs
Reporting program. The story was written as part of the PAR
coursework. |