Elections Students Zoom with Bob Fioretti

Cook County State’s Attorney Republican candidate Bob Fioretti recently Zoomed with Upper School students in Andy Bigelow’s Elections class.

This elective gives 12th grade students an opportunity to learn about elections at every level based on interactions with elected officials from around the city, state and country. Students reviewed the websites and political platforms of Fioretti and his opponent, Democrat Judge Eileen O’Neill Burke, before they gathered for a Zoom with the veteran attorney to learn more about his campaign and vision.

Fioretti began by celebrating his recent endorsement by Rev. Jesse Jackson and spoke abouts his extensive experience as an attorney in the Chicago community and his track record in advocating for those without a voice in more than 500 civil rights cases. Fioretti and O’Neill Burke are running for a seat that Republicans have held only three times in the last 90 years—most recently, 1996.

Students were ready with a wide range of questions for Fioretti, including his rationale for changing political parties during his career, the most formative role he has held in public office to date, his reasons for believing he is the most qualified candidate for State’s Attorney, his ideas for reducing inequity in sentencing if elected and ways he might simultaneously build trust within the same communities most affected by violence if elected.

Fioretti complimented the students on their good, and at times difficult to answer, questions, and students left this experience with a better understanding and appreciation of the role of State’s Attorney and the hard work required to get elected to that position.

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