My interview with Bradley Laborman, candidate for mayor of Chicago

Bradley Laborman

This morning I interviewed Bradley Laborman, an actor and realtor who lives in Rogers Park on the Far North Side. He is running for mayor of Chicago. This is his first attempt at public office.

Like longtime Chicago radio host Steve Dahl, Laborman has a love of Hawaiian shirts as well as a gregarious nature, but he lacks the causticness of Dahl. On the latter, that's a good thing. The incumbent, Lori Lightfoot, has an acidic personality.

Disclosure: My daughter, Cynthia, heretofore on this blog referred to as "Little Marathon Pundit," is a volunteer for the Laborman campaign.

Despite my daughter's connection with the campaign, I tried to catch Laborman off guard by moving ahead to May of 2023, when Chicago's mayor will be inaugurated. And if it's Laborman who is being sworn in, I queried, "How would you have gotten there?" 

He replied, "I think I would have gotten there by listening to the people of Chicago," adding "I respond to what they have to say."

That's an understandable response. But who is not a good listener? Well in my opinion Lightfoot isn't. And what does Laborman think? He says that he has met people who worked on her 2019 campaign. "And the moment she got in [City Hall]," Laborman said, "they felt like they were abandoned, that they were let down." He continued, "I don't think Lori likes to listen, I think Lori likes to talk." And when Lightfoot receives criticism, which in my opinion is usually well-deserved, Laborman said, "She counteracts with a scenario of 'oh, this person doesn't agree with me because they are racist, they are sexist, or they are homophobic.'" 

I brought up to Laborman my last ride on Chicago's el train, where I was harassed by a creep who entered the car I was riding on, after he and a friend smashed bottles on the waiting platform. When the hooligan entered the car, half of the passengers on it, because they probably had witnessed such a scene on the CTA before, immediately left. I stayed because I am not a coward. I snapped a pic of the offender, who then purposely sat next to me to to ensure that I "behave." 

Laborman's response to CTA mayhem, which has included deadly violence, is to "put more police on the trains." The candidate is an Iowa native but he used to live in New York, where he noticed a regular police presence on the city's el and subway trains--as I did when I visited NYC. Moving on, Laborman mentioned that Chicago might be better served with more police districts. He noted that criminals are quite cognizant of where cops might be--and might not be--and the perps of course gravitate to places, such as CTA, where there is little or no police protection for law-abiding Chicagoans.

Laborman continued by decrying "the various alderpersons who are anti-police." 

What about--and these are my words, not Laborman's--Cook County's state's attorney Kim Foxx, the "catch-and-release" prosecutor? "I want to hold her accountable, [other] people are not holding her accountable," he replied. 

Economically speaking, the heart of Chicago is the Loop, that is, downtown, and excluding Lake Michigan of course, the five mile radius surrounding it. The two rounds of riots in 2020 struck that area hard. Many businesses from that area have closed their doors for good. Yes, some of it is COVID-19 related. "Business owners are leaving," Laborman opined, "because business owners don't feel respected." Of course they don't--the riots were devastating for commerce. "We let these riots happen two years ago," Laborman explained. Then he added, "Peaceful protest I understand, but the right to protest does not mean the right to vandalize- it does not mean the right to steal."

Laborman favors incentives to bring new businesses to Chicago, but wants to ensure there is a payback for taxpayers, such as new jobs, more tourism, and the like. Foreign investment is welcome, but Laborman wants some of that money to remain in Chicago.

We then ventured into Chicago's homeless problem, which we agreed that to a large extent is part of a larger mental health crisis. Laborman works in real estate so he speaks with particular authority here. The candidate denounced the long waits to transform tax delinquent properties, ones "ghosted," is the term Laborman used, back into the private marketplace quickly. "In a normal city," Laborman explained, "it would take 90 days to process one of these--in the city of Chicago it takes two-to-four years to process one of these properties." He favors setting aside some of these parcels for low-income housing. 

My conversation with Laborman was an enjoyable one--he gives an engaging and entertaining interview. 

What advice do I have for him? Well, while fashion is not my long suit by any means, I recommend that he buy some Chicago-themed Hawaiian shirts. Finding such shirts featuring Chicago's sports teams should be quite easy.

Paul Simon, a longtime US Senator from Illinois, made the bow-tie his trademark. Laborman has his Hawaiian shirts. 

To learn more about Bradley Laborman, visit his website, his Instagram page, his YouTube channel, or you can follow him on Twitter.