By Jason Crane
An Aurora mayoral candidate forum Monday, March 1 through the Zoom video conference platform, allowed viewers to learn more about the three candidates seeking the job as mayor of Aurora for the next four years.
An election will be Tuesday, April 6.
League of Women Voters Aurora Area Mayoral Candidate Forum was on the League’s Facebook page.
The candidates are Aurora mayor Richard Irvin, Judd Lofchie, and John Laesch.
Moderator was Barbara Young from the LaGrange Area League of Women Voters.
The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization founded in 1920 that encourages informed and active participation by citizens in government.
It does not support, or oppose, any candidate, or any office. The League sponsors such events, so voters are informed on issues.
Here is the fourth and final set of questions and answers by the candidates after the first set was in the March 4 issue, second set was in the March 11 issue, and third set was in the March 18 issue of The Voice:
• What is your vision for being our City leader and how will you advocate for Aurora with State and Federal agencies and over-arching governing bodies?
• John Laesch: “This is an important question.
“Aurora has been a manufacturing town.
“After NAFTA passed and a lot of American jobs went overseas, City managers did a reasonable job making us an entertainment district built around the casino, we’ve got RiverEdge Park, and there’s been some positive movement in downtown.
“What we need is a strong middle class economy and that’s what I’m pushing for and that’s what separates me from the other candidates.
“At the same time we have to address the climate crisis at every level of government.
“I want us to be a green new deal city, where we put poor people to work making homes more energy efficient, installing more solar panels.
“We’re not the only city to be pursuing this. L.A. has started it.
“L. A. had a template four years ago and it created 35,000 jobs and they are leading the Country as far as cities in having the most solar panels.
“If you’re a mayor on the East Coast, you’re talking about building concrete walls to keep the water out of your streets.
“In the Midwest, we don’t have to react that way and we don’t have the sun that L. A. does, but we can have an aggressive, green-building, program that brings those components, the window and door companies, the HVAC companies, all here because we’ve created a market for them.
“I want to see Aurora become the epicenter of the green building movement.
“I want to see it bring better-paying jobs so our whole community is doing well and thriving so that everyone has access to a good-paying job that wants one. Thank you.”
• Judd Lofchie: “Everyone has their own leadership style. Mine is more inclusive!
“I manage 10 people now between my law firm and my real estate company and I like to have a meeting.
“We have a meeting every Wednesday and we talk about goals, and we hold each other accountable. So I would do that.
“Under the previous mayor, (Tom) Weisner, they had these goals.
“I talked to people in the Water Department, out on the streets, and they said, ‘yeah, I love these wildly important goals!’ I’m not sure I’d call it that, but I would have goals for people. I think it’s important. Something to work to!
“I would focus on the job. I’m a hard worker. Anyone who has their phone on at 3:30 in the morning or 4 o’clock, you better make sure you turn it off if we’re friends because I send E-mails and texts at that time. I’m an early-guy and I love it.
“I would make sure that we bid out things. We would get three bids for everything!
“Like I said before, we need to be sure we are getting the best bang for our taxpayers.
“I would be a good steward for tax-payer money.
“I would probably beef up purchasing so we could do that to save more money.
“I would ask the staff to come up with ways to save money.
“I was a Wall Street lawyer for McDonalds for a little while. Do you know the Big-Mac was invented by a franchisee in Pittsburgh?
“So, I think we could throw it to the staff, our 1,200 employees and say, ‘come up with some good ideas.’ Challenge them, push them, motivate them. Have them grow.
“That’s the kind of leader I would be! Thank you.”
• Richard Irvin: “I’m going to be the kind of leader that is a leader in good times and in bad.
“I’m going to be the kind of leader that in good times, you know we added 1.9 million square feet of manufacturing, which means over three thousand jobs for our working class here in the city of Aurora. We did that during the Irvin administration.
“I’m going to be the kind of leader that visits over one hundred and fifty businesses, just to see how they’re doing.
“A hundred and fifty schools to meet with the kids to talk about what they’re going to do when they grow up.
“I want to be that front line leader that I have been, and those are the good times.
“Let’s talk about the kind of leader I’ll be in bad times.
“I’m going to be the kind of leader that stands front and center when we have a mass-shooting where five of our workers here in the city of Aurora get killed and five of our police officers get shot and Aurora is thrust on the national stage and I had to stand strong with those police officers and the victims families and make sure that Aurora was still Aurora Strong.
“I’m going to be that kind of leader that during a pandemic the whole government shuts down and we still have to run the government from our houses, from our living rooms. I’m going to be that kind of leader!
“I’m going to be that kind of leader when we do have a protest that breaks bad and turns into looting and rioting, that I stand strong and protect our businesses and residents here in the city of Aurora and protect our downtown.
“I’m going to be that leader that I’ve been for the last four years!
“I hope nothing like this ever happens again, but if it does, all this stuff I just mentioned, I’ll be there standing strong, making sure Aurora is taken care of.”
Closing statements:
Candidates had one minute for closing statements.
• Judd Lofchie: “Thank you for having this great forum, League of Women Voters. We really appreciate it!
“Arriving in Aurora 25 years ago, I’ve established myself as an active member of the community.
“You will see me out and about at First Fridays, at ribbon-cuttings, at all kinds of events.
“I don’t only come out at campaign time or election time and I’ve served the last four years as your alderman for the Tenth Ward.
“I feel I’ve done a good job, my constituents tell me I have.
“I do a newsletter twice a year. I have things that they care about. I do things, I take the calls.
“When someone has a pot hole, I’ll call it in.
“When someone has a street light out, I’ll do it.
“When someone has a speeding issue or a dispute with a neighbor, I’m there for them, and that’s who I am!
“It’s all about community service! You need to look at who you’re going to elect for community service because this is public service!
“We serve the public, so out of the three candidates, think about it, who’s going to be the best one?
“Who has the record of helping?
“I’m doing Rotary, I’m doing StreetWise and helping the poorest of poor.
“I personally believe it’s me!
“I would focus on getting our fiscal house in order because Illinois was just rated the worst place in the Nation to retire and the second largest city in the State is Aurora!”
• Richard Irvin: “Don’t listen to what people say as much as see what people do!
“Over the last four years, you can see clearly what I’ve been able to do here in the city of Aurora as the City’s leader.
“I’m looking for you to vote for me for another four years so we can continue the great progress that we’ve made over the last four years.
“Economic development is booming with buildings that have sat empty for 25 years in the Copley Hospital, 40 in the Hobbs.
“Seventy years with no lights turned on in the Terminal Building and we have it back on the tax rolls!
“We have to focus on continuing the successes that we’ve seen during these last four years.
“In these last four years, my team that I pulled together and I have worked hard and busted our behinds to make sure that our residents were proud to be Aurorans!
“I can tell you that anyone I talk to says that they’re more proud today than they were four years ago to say they are residents of Aurora!
“We want them to show just as much pride over the next four years under an Irvin administration, so I’m looking for your vote. Thank you very much.”
• John Laesch: “Thanks to the League!
“I’m John Laesch, and I’m asking for your vote on April 6.
“Let’s look at the facts, crime is up, poverty is up, taxes are up, debt is up, corporate bail outs seem to have no end in sight.
“What we need right now is a bold new direction which I’ve talked about.
“I think we need a 20-year plan.
“I’ve laid it out how we can make Aurora a green city, how we can address the climate crisis, how we can create a stable, local economy, and create economic security for all of our residents.
“A lot of these jobs that have come with the downtown redevelopment haven’t been Aurora-based jobs.
“We can change that by targeting the training here.
“Scientists have given us 10 years before this becomes irreversible.
“We need a future, forward-thinking leader who’s ready to take us into the next century because the next generation does not deserve the burden that this will leave. Thank you!”
The Voice will have more campaign coverage next week.