Al Hofeld is a candidate for the U.S. Senate, running against incumbent Alan Dixon and Recorder of Deeds Carol Moseley Braun. You have probably seen his ads on television by now. With little political experience, Hofeld is portraying himself as an outsider, an antipolitician. His critics accuse him of using his personal fortune to try to buy a seat in the Senate. The press has portrayed him as a candidate recruited by media adviser David Axelrod.
Hofeld has a big smile and a firm handshake. We spoke recently in his North Dearborn Street law office. The following is an edited transcript of our interview.
AH: Yes I did. That was a proud accomplishment. It may be technically still in existence, but it is not functioning any longer the way I thought it should function. My concept was to establish an Institute for Public Affairs that would identify certain social issues that would help people in this state. The concept was that we would have a governing board comprised of highly respected individuals which would identify the social issues, and we did. Cardinal Bernardin was on the board. Saul Bellow was on the board. The University of Illinois president, Stan Ikenberry, the head of the Tribune, an Illinois Supreme Court justice. The concept was that the Illinois state bar would get two young lawyers just out of law school and employ them working on these issues. The two issues we identified first were the nursing homes and the organ transplant. These young lawyers went to work on the issues. They came up with results, one written into law and the other reported to various authorities. That institute continued to function after I left, then I don’t know what happened. Maybe the successor presidents decided to put efforts elsewhere.
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JH: When you mention the ethics board I can’t let that pass without mentioning Gary O’Neill. Was he yours? [Gary O’Neill was named executive director of the Chicago Board of Ethics in late 1989. At the time, he was being sought on a battery complaint in Louisiana and had been accused of financial irregularities in a suit filed by that state’s ethics board. He left town and was arrested for drunken driving on the way back to New Orleans.]
AH: I’m a lifelong Democrat. I was president of the Young Democrats in Evanston when there weren’t very many, back in 1965 or ’66. I ran Paul Simon’s campaign in Evanston back in 1972 when he ran for governor against Dan Walker and lost. I have always supported Democratic candidates and causes my whole life. What was your question again?
JH: What’s your motivation in seeking the Senate seat?
AH: I favor the concept of term limitations. What bothers me a little bit about term limitations is that it cuts off some of the good people who are there. So therefore, my position is I would prefer to see campaign finance reform. If we can achieve campaign finance reform, and I’ll be happy to tell what I mean by that, then we are going to free ordinary citizens who can afford to run for public office. If somebody in the Senate or the Congress isn’t doing a good job, all of a sudden you’ll have four or six other candidates, and somebody’ll knock him off, and you won’t even need term limitations. If we can’t get finance reform, then I favor term limitations.
