Robert Fioretti: 2022 candidate for Cook County Board President

Bio

Party: Republican

Office sought: Cook County Board President

City: Chicago

Age: 69

Occupation: Attorney

Previous offices held: Alderman 2nd Ward

Q&A

Q: What is the county board's role in addressing rising crime rates and what specific policies, programs or initiatives might you support toward reducing violence in Cook County?

A: As Alderman, I fought for mental health resources and as a civil rights attorney, I have advocated for violence prevention efforts. We need to put the safety of our residents above political ideology. Toni Preckwinkle campaigned on the idea of "emptying the Cook County Jail." In fact, she has accomplished a good portion of that plan and demolished several cell block buildings. In conjunction with her hand-picked candidate, now Cook County State's Attorney, Kim Foxx's progressive program of reducing felony charges, these personal political ideologies have contributed to the current crime wave. I will commission a study on replacing the demolished cell blocks at the jail, and I will work directly with Sheriff Tom Dart on the staffing, technology, and effectiveness of the Electronic Monitoring program to ensure the highest efficacy possible. All of these agencies receive their funding from the Cook County Board and must be held accountable.

Q: Where do you see the greatest need for transportation enhancements in Cook County and how would you address that on the county board?

A: Job one is to ensure the public that our transportation systems are safe. The County is not directly responsible for any of the public transportation systems however, good governance includes inter agency cooperation and coordination. I intend to be an active participant in safety plans for the CTA, METRA and other systems.

I also think we need to look at ways to improve public transportation services and focus especially on enhancing routes to healthcare facilities. With so many healthcare facilities shutting down, residents are having to go farther and farther away from their homes to get access to healthcare. We need to make sure residents who depend on public transportation can get to their medical appointments more quickly.

Q: Should the county board enact a fuel or sales tax holiday to assist residents struggling with rising costs of gas, groceries and other needs? Why or why not?

A: Temporary tax breaks are not realistic solutions. They provide very little in terms of actual tax relief and take a tremendous hit on the County's budget. What we need to do is look at reducing spending so that we can lower taxes in a meaningful way for Cook County residents.

The issues of inflation and commodity pricing are national and global issues, rightly belonging in Washington D.C., not the local County Board. As we have seen with the Mayor's new proposal on permanent real estate tax increases, guessing at inflationary issues can quickly backfire and cause you to reverse your decisions. The role of the County is rightly focused on the health and safety of its people through local programs.

Q: What is one county service that is not adequately provided or could be improved in your district, and how would you address that?

A: As a candidate for Cook County Board President, I will listen to the concerns of all of the commissioners and look for solutions to the problems in their districts. My focus, though, will be on making County government more accountable to taxpayers. We must reduce spending and stop raising taxes on Cook County residents. We need to carefully weigh how we spend taxpayer dollars and make sure we are making fiscally responsible decisions. As I mentioned previously, we must also hold other agencies who receive their funding through the County, accountable on their results. The Jail, the Courts, the States Attorney and the Health System make up the major components of our tax spending. How they spend our hard-earned money needs to be reviewed, negotiated and monitored.

Q: Do you see the Cook County government serving the city of Chicago too much and not paying enough attention to the needs in the suburbs?

A: As suburban Mayors have recently stated publicly, their crime issues are often an outgrowth of city crime and committed by city residents. Our failed policies in the City of Chicago have a direct effect on safety throughout the County.

We need to focus on reducing crime in these communities so that businesses are more likely to locate there. I think we need to look at the County's revolving loan program and develop some incentives through that program for businesses locating in the Southland. We also need to lower taxes for residents and small business owners. The Southland Development Authority was created with good intention to grow the economy of the south suburbs. I think there are opportunities for collaboration that would drive meaningful growth with the right support. The framework is there, but they need help. As County Board President, I look forward to working with them.

Q: What's your view of the Chicago Bears' possible move to Arlington Heights? Do you think that would put a strain on Cook County government, such as with sheriff's patrols, other services, or infrastructure needs? Or do you think it would help other Cook County businesses and tax revenue?

A: We have experienced these negotiations with the Bears organization before, which lead to the unfortunately shortsighted renovation and re-rennovations to Soldier's Field. Surely, we knew years in advance of the need to negotiate a new lease with them. It is not clear to me why the process was not anticipated and begun earlier to avoid a surprise announcement. Clearly when billions of dollars are in discussion the process will necessary take a long time and should begin years in advance.

Q: Do you support efforts to further restrict guns sales or access to guns otherwise in light of the Highland Park mass shooting, and/or in light of continuing gun violence overall?

A: We don't need more laws. We need better enforcement of the laws we have. Illinois already has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. This demonstrates laws in and of themselves do not serve as a deterrent. Therefore, more laws will not solve the problem. We need Kim Foxx to do her job and throw the book at anyone who uses a gun to commit a crime. More laws are not going to solve the problem. Better enforcement will.

Q: How could Cook County benefit from recently passed federal spending measures, such as on infrastructure, health care and climate change?

A: Much of the recent federal windfall was a 'one time' benefit of emergency federal spending. We must be careful to allocate these funds both where they were intended as well as intelligently as a one-time opportunity. It will be disastrous if we fall into the trap of spending these funds to fill annual shortfalls in general revenue spending. The funds will likely not come again so what will we do next year? Good stewardship and long-range planning have been lacking for a long time. I intend to do better.

Another way we can improve life in Cook County is to secure as many car charging grants as we can. Commercial chargers still take 20-30 minutes to fully charge a car. That means people are patronizing our businesses and supporting our economy while they wait for their cars to charge. There is a lot of federal money to build the car charging infrastructure. We should be working with local businesses such as hotels and restaurants to capture that federal money here in Cook County.