ROCKFORD (AP) — An email shows that the utility giant ComEd wrote a column for state Rep. Charles Jefferson to submit to a local newspaper under his own name.

The Rockford Register-Star (http://bit.ly/ODiNyJ ) reported Wednesday that Jefferson sent in a 420-word column urging state regulators to reverse a rate cut that he says would impede ComEd's efforts to modernize its power grid.

An email accidentally forwarded to the newspaper showed ComEd had written the column. The company asked Jefferson to submit it "at your earliest possible convenience" if he agreed with the content.