Column: New Aurora mayor's inauguration matches his agenda, personality
A large – and yes, diverse – crowd of about 1,100 nearly filled the Paramount Theatre at the inauguration of Aurora's 60th mayor.
'I was surprised,' Laesch told me early Wednesday morning as he waited to go into his first meeting in his new job leading the state's second largest city.
The new mayor was humbled and grateful so many people showed up to celebrate his hard-fought win over two-term incumbent Mayor Richard Irvin.
But was he excited?
I put that question to Laesch for a reason: A week earlier he'd informed me 'I don't get excited' when asked about what he was feeling as he prepared to take on such a challenging role.
While the huge crowd 'invigorated me,' Laesch said he was upset by a political move at the City Council meeting earlier that day. And he told me his elation was also 'suppressed' by 'the enormity of what is ahead,' referring to slashing the budget to deal with the city's 'serious debt' that he admitted to the audience will already require raising property taxes.
All of which must be done, of course, while trying to maintain the momentum that has put this once crime-riddled city on the map as an entertainment destination.
It was the Debbie Downer part of his acceptance speech, for sure, but 'I want people to know what to expect,' in his quest to 'pull back the PR machine' and the flurry of ribbon-cuttings to figure out ways to make Aurora 'a more solvent place,' said Laesch.
Unlike Irvin, whose initial inauguration in 2016 – and pretty much every State of the City address that followed – was filled with pomp and circumstance and the energy level of an old-fashioned tent revival, Laesch went more low-key (and less expensive).
It was a mood matched by Aurora Director of Communications (and evening emcee) Clayton Muhammad who, as Laesch correctly pointed out, always does a 'masterful' job of quickly reading the audience and matching the mood of the moment, which in this case was certainly celebratory but had the 'authenticity' and 'matter of factness' the new mayor deemed necessary.
That being said, the evening was certainly entertaining, with musical performances by Ballet Folklorico Quetzalcoati and Paramount School of the Arts. And it had moments of high energy, not to mention stirring words that did indeed focus on unity and diversity, starting with Laesch's father Jim, a one-time missionary who, before giving the invocation, spoke about his family's experience working in a village in Liberia, where John Laesch was born and raised until 13, and where the emphasis was on all voices being heard for the good of the community.
Then there was Ald. Dan Barreiro, 1st Ward, who used a significant chunk of his acceptance speech to praise the opponents who ran against him; new Ald. Jonathan Nunez, 4th Ward, who focused on the words 'pride' and 'responsibility' when recalling the legacy of his Hispanic family, who arrived in Aurora in 1917; new Ald. Javier Banuelos, 7th Ward, who ran for public office as a way of 'giving back' to those who were 'here for me' when his daughter died of cancer two years ago; new Ald. Keith Larson, at-large, who moved to Aurora from Geneva because of the city's diversity and did what more should do – instead of complaining about how things are run, get involved to make a difference.
And I have to mention Abigail M. Dior, an Auroran who represented the Liberian Embassy, and had the timing of a stand-up comedian as she described how she first heard about a 'man named John' from Liberia who was running for mayor of the state's second largest city, and her subsequent grilling of him to make sure he truly was from that tiny West African nation.
Like I said, there was plenty of diversity on display, much of it on stage when members of Laesch's large volunteer campaign team surrounded him as he took the oath of office and then delivered his inauguration speech that focused on the positives going forward as well as the negatives.
While the new mayor may come across as cool and calm, he got plenty emotional when he stood at the podium to thank Aurora for putting him in this tough but important job. And included in his many thanks were words of praise for former mayors, including Irvin, for all the work they did in 'bringing downtown back to life.'
There's no question plenty of angst still remains, at City Hall and in the neighborhoods, about the next four years under a mayor with a different personality and a different agenda.
But Laesch, who says his number one priority is to get the city's financial house in order, insists he's ready to listen.
And so, I just had to ask: If 'excited' doesn't describe Aurora's new mayor as he takes office, what words fit?
'Calm,' he replied. 'And ready.'
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The third-generation farmer operates Owyhee Produce, which grows one in every 20 onions consumed in America. Myers, 45, is also TikTok influencer with 692,000 followers and posts videos about his farm and the intricacies of agriculture. But lately the Republican farmer has been highlighting his mostly foreign-born laborers – from Mexico, Central America, Peru and Colombia – who he says are critical. The majority of his workers, which can number 350 during harvests, are here on H-2A visas. While such workers represent about 13% of the nation's farmworkers, the number of certified H-2A workers grew by 64.7% between 2017 and 2022. Meanwhile, the share of unauthorized workers has dropped to about 42% from from 55% in 2001. But it's also a bureaucratic and expensive program, he said. Farmers have to prove no domestic workers are available or willing to do the job. They provide housing and adhere to wage-premiums meant to keep the program from pushing down wages of U.S. residents who do similar jobs, and must follow rules such as overtime that differ among states. And it's time-limited. Immigrant Workers Are Essential. #foryou #fyp #foryoupage #farmlife #farm #farming Labor groups also criticize the H-2A visa program, saying it often requires workers to stick with one employer which makes them vulnerable to wage theft or poor housing. Myers said that's not the case at his farm. He grew up and went to school in the area with undocumented families. And today his children do, too. 'We lose from every angle. The right-wingers come at us … 'You won't give jobs to Americans,' Myers said. 'And then the left wing side of the discussion is, well, all you do is bring H-2A workers and they work for you like slaves.' He, too, wants a more flexible worker program and creating a path to legal status for undocumented workers here for 10 years and longer. He said the deportations have proved a problem both ethically for farm families and economically for the industry. 'Let's find a solution,' he said on one video. Earlier this month, Trump suggested in Iowa – a leading corn and pork producer that relies heavily on migrant workers – that his administration would seek to permit some migrants without legal status to stay on farms, the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. "If a farmer's willing to vouch for these people, in some way, Kristi, I think we're going to have to just say that's going to be good, right?" he said, referencing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem who was with him on the Iowa trip. "You know, we're going to be good with it. Because we don't want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms. We want the farms to do great like they're doing right now." U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins cited plans to make the H-2A program 'cheaper, more efficient and more effective for those farmers.' The United Farm Workers favors paths to legal status for those already here over simply expanding the guestworker program for new arrivals, who they say would still be more prone to labor abuses. In Congress, Republican U.S. Reps. María Elvira Salazar of Florida, and Veronica Escobar of Texas introduced the DIGNITY Act. Among its many provisions is a seven-year earned legal status program allowing undocumented immigrants to live and work legally, with renewable status based on good conduct and restitution. "We have 10 million people or more working in construction, hospitality, agriculture, dairy, fisheries, slaughterhouses who are undocumented but are not criminals," Salazar said at a news conference. But House Speaker Mike Johnson told the Wall Street Journal that immigration overhauls would face an uphill battle. Rollins has also suggested that the country could fill jobs with Americans who will face Medicaid work requirements, something farmers immediately shot down. Farming groups call for realism Cunha, head of Nisei Farmers League, was among those very blunt about that idea: 'That's just not going to work,' he said. He knows firsthand. In 1998, during President Bill Clinton's Welfare-to-Work push, Cunha helped launch an effort in 10 California counties to recruit welfare recipients and unemployed workers to help fill tens of thousands of farmworker jobs. People would be aided with child care, transportation and training. Just 500 people applied. And only three took jobs. None of them lasted more than two days, he said. Crops were lost. 'It was a total disaster,' he said. A similar result took place in North Carolina, according to a 2013 report by the Partnership for a New American Economy and the Center for Global Development. When North Carolina had more than 489,000 unemployed residents, a growers association offered 6,500 jobs. Of 245 domestic workers hired, only seven lasted the entire season. It's not likely he contended that higher wages alone would have Americans flocking to the jobs, he argued. Not only can the work be physically grueling or dangerous, Cunha said it is not the unskilled work that many people assume. It takes experience and skill to prune a fruit tree or know which fruits to pick now and which to return for later. At a recent farm training in California that included topics like heat illness, Cunha said workers instead were full of questions about avoiding run-ins with ICE. Should they drive different routes or not wear hats and bandanas? One asked if he should shave his beard to look less like a farmworker. For now, he said, as the area's remaining harvests are closing in, it's stressful for both farmers and farmworkers. 'Labor is tight, but it's holding. And as long as – we pray every day – they stay out of the valley, then we'll make it through this season,' he said. 'But we do need to deal with it. We should not have to go through this type of tension. And workers should not have to worry about shaving their beard.'
