THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

But Fioretti, a member of the council's progressive caucus that has frequently been critical of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and their fellow council members, hopes he'll be heading for the fifth floor of City Hall anyway. He's running for mayor against Emanuel next month, on a platform he says will be more progressive and equitable for Chicagoans.

Windy City Times sat down with Fioretti to discuss his campaign and the issues at the forefront of the election. Answers have been edited for clarity and length. A full video of the interview is at bit.ly/14nITyV.

Windy City Times: Beyond what happened with the ward redistricting, what prompted you to throw your hat in the ring and run?

Robert Fioretti: First of all, the ward redistricting was not the ultimate reason that I ran for mayor. But it's unfortunate what I saw with the redistricting—that aldermen and the mayor … were all the same. It was his remap. Aldermen did not see the remap until the time that they voted on it, minutes before they voted on it. Then they looked at where their wards were after they voted on it. It just shows that they were more concerned with their own pensions, their own pocketbooks, rather than the people they represent.

I'm running for mayor because I love this city. I was born in this city. I grew up up in this city. It gave me values for who I am. My first job was bussing tables at a restaurant, then washing trucks. I'm a product of its schools and its parks, and I just love this city.

I considered running four years ago and I had a serious bout with tonsil cancer, a very rare one. I'm a cancer survivor now. But a lot of the things that I heard then have been amplified tenfold under four years of this administration. Wherever I go people say, "We need somebody who's going to fight for us. Somebody who will lead us. Somebody who will represent us." At the same same time they say that, they say, "You're the person. You've stood up in our City Council for the right reasons, and we want you to be mayor." I've considered those encouragements along the way. Each and every one of them had a valid concern. … I said, "Maybe it's time to go again." … I looked at what this mayor has done, and he's failed us on the most important issues … on crime, economic development, our educational system is in disarray, and all that is what has led me to to a decision to run for mayor of our city.

WCT: Going back to your time on the City Council, how do you think that will influence how you would govern. You're part of a progressive caucus and have butted heads with the mayor and other council members.

ROBERT FIORETTI: I want to see a very proactive City Council, not a City Council where you hit their heads and they say, "Yes, Mr. Mayor." One that's in their neighborhoods, one that represents neighborhoods. I am very concerned about what's happened on the City Council, but the quality of what's happened in our neighborhoods—people have presided over their neighborhoods for so many years, and they've just gone downhill. They've never raised a peep about some of the infrastructure issues. They've never raised an issue about how the banks have really taken advantage of our communities, and led to all the foreclosures. About the growing income inequality that has happened in our neighborhoods. It's time that we are a very progressive, responsible type of a City Council that represents our neighborhoods.

WCT: Were you to win, you'd be contending with one of the city's greatest financial challenges, when the mandated contributions to the firefighters and police funds jump. What steps would the mayor need to take to protect the city's balance sheet?

ROBERT FIORETTI: First of all, we need a very comprehensive audit. Two or three of us who sit on City Council have been calling for that. We need to look at what types of contracts we have, and how money has been going out to the wrong sources. How we may have to pull a lot of things back in and do a lot of items in-house. I think we need to find new sources of revenue. I've talked about a commuter tax [and] a LaSalle Street financial transaction tax. There are ways in which we can balance this budget, and bring it in line, and pay for the commitments that we made to our firefighters and police without stripping their benefits or pensions that we have promised them.

WCT: How would a commuter tax work? The idea has come up in the past and hasn't seemed to go far. What are your ideas on how that should work?

ROBERT FIORETTI: A small tax on those that are commuters that live in suburbs—wherever that suburb may be, whether it's Evanston or Gary, Indiana, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin—there's about 660,000 people that work in the city that live elsewhere, they do not live in the city. A one-percent tax, which they can take off from their own federal income tax, would probably generate about $350 million, and collectively those people who work here but live elsewhere make about $30 billion a year. When they come to the city, what do they want? They want safe streets. They want clean streets. If they have a medical emergency, they want immediate attention and help. It's a small ask of people who come here and benefit from the economic structure and spend their money elsewhere.

WCT: We spoke with Amara Enyia before she dropped out of the race. She has endorsed you. One of her ideas was a public bank. Is that an idea that you've entertained?

ROBERT FIORETTI: I'm looking at that. We can model it after the other state that does have that—we should take a look at that and what we need to do. We need to then invest our monies into our community. I'm very concerned with some of the structures that we have set up here and how we pay off our municipal deposits anyway. They are enormous—we have over a billion dollars in our TIF program right now that can fund any type of a banking structure. Then we have to use it to micro-target our neighborhoods. Help our neighborhoods. Re-invest in them and have them grow.

WCT: Are you able to speak about any kinds of service cuts?

ROBERT FIORETTI: I'm always in favor of streamlining. I've talked about streamlining our city government from day one—since I've been in there. There are areas that we could still keep doing that. We have to take a look at that. I know we have created pockets of patronage, [for example] up at the airports, otherwise, are there ways we can deal with this and where we can do it? Again, a comprehensive overall audit will reveal that.

WCT: Speak a little bit about your position on minimum wage. Was the increase that just went through enough for Chicagoans?

ROBERT FIORETTI: I've been in the "fight for fifteen" since it came around. I've been a strong proponent of $15 an hour, especially companies that are making over $50 million in revenue. … McDonald's—a billion dollars in profits. Wal-Mart—$4 billion in profits, and they can't pay a sustainable living wage for their employees. Something's wrong. They're more concerned with profits than the people that they have. Who ends up paying for it? … We, the taxpayers. They would have to go to County [Hospital] or otherwise. It's incumbent on us government to help forge the right kind of life for all of our citizens, where they live, even dealing with the amount of minimum wage paid here in the city.

WCT: Along those same lines, what can a mayor do to stimulate job growth in the city?

ROBERT FIORETTI: There's a tremendous amount of areas that we can do. Especially when the city gives tax breaks, TIF funds, zoning changes. All those should require community benefit agreements. I've been a proponent. When Rush Hospital came in, it was even before I was sworn in and after I was elected in '07. There was a lot of community opposition to it. The alderman I replaced, and the alderman in the 27th Ward, who is still there, was against Rush Hospital. I said, "We should have jobs and economic growth. We had 500 jobs for our community created. People went to a six-week training at Dawson, and then they were employed by Rush at a livable wage. When I brought in Target, when we brought in Costco, all of the groups had local hiring requirements. That's what we need to push.

WCT: What are your thoughts on income disparities in Chicago?

ROBERT FIORETTI: Until we realize that the problems of crime, and the problems of our schools, are poverty, then we're lost. We need to realize that that is a major concern. Eighteen thousand, minimum, homeless kids in our system. Poverty ranks as No. 1. So he have to redirect our resources, so we can have wraparound and health services for our kids and schools, making sure that they have proper meals and good after-school programs, whether they're learning, library, sports, all of those are necessary.

I found that to be true in 2008 when Ruben Ivy was killed. He was a young man at Crane High School. Shortly thereafter there was a big drop in attendance, following his death. What we did was, we got parents, police and pastors together. I personally knocked on 162 doors talking to parents and telling them that we needed their kid back in school. What I saw then was people wanting to do the right thing, but they didn't know how to do the right thing. When we created Operation Safe Passage, it was people who did it for passion, [for] their children, not their pocketbooks, which I see so often out there now. There are a lot of different ways we can address the issues.

WCT: You said that you support the idea of an elected school board. Why do you think that is important?

ROBERT FIORETTI: I think that we need a school board that doesn't represent the limited economic interests of our mayor. We need a school board that reflects the diversity of this city. I'm looking at it very closely. I've been in a couple meetings recently. I've been listening to the concerns of parents, educators, community leaders and regular citizens, on making sure that we have a comprehensive, diverse elected school board. I say this because I've been in favor of it since Day One, when I first took office in '07, I thought it was important that we get behind it. … I'm not worried about the flow of money into an election, because if we do it the right way, people understand. … We need one. It would be good for our city, and we're the only school board in the state that doesn't have one, so we'll put together the right kind of measures to make it a model for the country, for how we get an elected school board.

WCT: What were your thoughts of President Obama's executive order on immigration?

ROBERT FIORETTI: I'm glad that he did it, and hope that we overcome any legal challenges here. It's an important first step. We've done a lot of things in the state of Illinois and in the city to move toward that, so hopefully—I say it with some hesitancy, because the forces against it have already filed a lawsuit and other lawsuits, so we're going to have to see what they need as this comes about. I hope they get resolved shortly, the legal challenges, because of the impact of where we go as a country [is significant].

My dad came here from Italy; he was 7 years old. It was at a time when we embraced immigration. … Why was it he and his family came here? Because Chicago was a city of hope. A city of opportunity. We should be embracing people of all cultures. As I travel the city, Chicago is a melting pot, a mosaic. Each community is different. Each community has a different flavor of who and what we are. We should embrace all cultures to make this a global city.

WCT: What's your relationship been with the LGBT community in the past? How have you reached out to them for the campaign, and how would you do so when you became mayor?

ROBERT FIORETTI: First of all, I've dealt and been in contact with most of the groups. For a number of years, I lived at Addison and Lake Shore Drive. You don't have to be active in a community to support it. I was one of the first aldermen to come out for marriage equality, even before the other aldermen in the City Council are from the community up there. I've always been a strong supporter of civil unions and marriage equality. It goes back to friends I had in high school. It's how we promote against equality across the board. Nobody should be discriminated against, period. [The community is] all over the city. … Friends from high school and college have strong relationships with their partners. I'm proud to know them and I'm proud to be at their ceremonies, whether civil [union] or marriage. Across the board, I think my support for the community has been there from Day One.

WCT: Have you done any work with or had any action with the transgender community?

ROBERT FIORETTI: I have had some. Have I introduced any ordinances on it or anything along those lines? My answer is no. [But] It's a community that needs assistance, help and recognition here, and I think sometimes it's very troubling for [transgender youth] and so we need help in encouraging them across the board too.

WCT: Illinois and the city have strong anti-discrimination laws on the books, but actual enforcement of those laws can be difficult, what can the mayor do to see that those are adequately enforced?

ROBERT FIORETTI: I would hope that the mayor would be a frontrunner on that. I've said before, I want to be a different kind of mayor. I want to be out there listening to the community so I am going to have "ward nights" in the communities, and listen to the communities, and try to resolve issues. If there are concerns out there, then we need to deal with them.We should deal with them immediately. As mayor, I'd be proactive on resolving issues the people of the city have.

WCT: You mentioned before, the issue of homelessness among young people, and you said 18,000 CPS students are homeless. A disproportionate number of homeless youth are LGBT. How can the city address their needs?

ROBERT FIORETTI: We need to look at what we've done in terms of the closures of our schools and how we can assist those [students]. … Not only do they need some safe place to lay their head [they also need someplace safe] to learn … to help educate them, to train them for jobs and entries into the job market, and for them not to be worried or afraid about who they are or what they are. Or, [due to] the fact that they think at a young age that they might be a little bit different, we need to encourage them across the board.

WCT: What does the city need to do to curtail new HIV infection and see to it that those currently living with HIV/AIDS receive adequate support?

ROBERT FIORETTI: A lot. We need a hardcore educational program. We need a constant and consistent message getting into our community that says "We've got to control this," and, to those who are infected, "We will help you across the board today."

WCT: Mayor Emanuel has an enormous warchest to draw from and he just got a big infusion of cash. How are you ready to mount an effective campaign against him?

ROBERT FIORETTI: We're raising money. We're raising the right kind of money. You said "enormous." I think it's "obscene. It's absolutely obscene. He's going to keep right on raising money. He may hit $20 million before you know it. But he could use $2 million out of that campaign fund and reopen our mental health clinics that closed … and help those folks that need mental health [resources] in our city. He can help our police officers use it in their campaign to raise $4 million—he can give that, for their vests, for all the police officers. He should be running on his record, not on his money.

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