Randall Woodfin: A Chat With(Possibly) Birmingham's Next Mayor

BIRMINGHAM, AL - No candidate received more votes for mayor of Birmingham on August 22 than Randall Woodfin. That is the good news for the Woodfin campaign. The bad news is that incumbent William Bell received enough of the vote to force a runoff Oct. 3, a position Bell has been in before. Bell won the runoff in 2009 against Patrick Cooper after Cooper received more than 40 percent of the vote in the general election. Woodfin, however, unlike Cooper in 2009, has received support from several of the candidates he ran against in August including support from third place finisher Chris Woods - which might bode well for the former Birmingham Board of Education president. Patch caught up with Woodfin to find out where his campaign stands now that the race for mayor is down to just two candidates.

You received more votes than any other candidate. I know you were hoping for a runoff, but was that kind of voter support surprising?

I was not surprised. I ran a progressive grassroots campaign that was inspired by the people and their belief that they deserved better. My campaign team knocked on over 40,000 doors and made 35,000 phone calls to Birmingham voters over the last year. I knew that Birmingham voters felt that William Bell failed to keep neighborhoods safe, create jobs, or commit to improving neighborhoods outside of downtown. Again, I was not surprised.

What about your platform do you feel speaks to Birmingham voters?

Many Birmingham voters were moved by my commitment to working collaboratively with the City Council and investing in the other 98 neighborhoods just as much as downtown. Almost every voter my campaign spoke with felt that the current administration has lost its way by placing too much focus on big ticket projects instead of delivering basic, quality services such as street paving and sidewalk repair, demolishing abandoned buildings, and cutting overgrown lots across the city. Listening, cooperation, and an assurance of quality services resonates most with Birmingham voters.

There was a poor turnout for this election, what can be done to make sure voters do not stay home during the runoff?

My campaign has a strong message and policy platform that resonates with Birmingham voters. Moreover, my dedicated team and volunteers and I must continue the hard work we have been doing over the last year – knocking on doors, making phone calls, hosting community events, and engaging voters through social media. We've seen a substantial uptick in volunteer interest on my campaign, and I fully intend to pick up the pace on all forms of voter engagement with the objective of improving turnout.

What do you feel distinguishes you most from Mayor Bell?

Everything. As former president of the school board, I listened and worked collaboratively with my colleagues to get our schools off of probation, raise additional revenue for more pre-K classes, prevent the spread of charter schools, and led the process of hiring a new superintendent. William Bell, on the other hand, has never had a positive working relationship with the city council, including an embarrassing altercation with Councilman Lundy that generated national headlines. As president of the school board, my colleagues and I embraced transparency, and were open and honest with parents and teachers. In stark contrast, William Bell has refused on a number of occasions to share information on his travel expenditures on the taxpayer's dime.

Additionally, my tenure leading the school board was scandal free. That cannot be said about Bell’s past seven years in the office. Here are just a few scandals that directly or indirectly implicated Bell over the past few years: Bell’s top ally in Montgomery took bribes from companies that polluted North Birmingham, Bell’s brother Michael alleged involvement in a pay-to-play scandal with the BCIA, and there is an ongoing federal investigation into Birmingham Water Works.

Finally, I have actually put forth a comprehensive plan for my vision for moving Birmingham forward; Mayor Bell has not. Mayor Bell can only tell voters what he's done, which can easily be boiled down to executing on Larry Langford's vision for downtown and a so-called "Green Wave" initiative to cut overgrown lots that only happened because he was running for reelection. The Mayor's Office should be an all-year round operation that is not just functional during an election year like William Bell has done.

How much do you feel the infighting between the mayor and city council has hurt Birmingham's growth?

The infighting between the Mayor Bell and the city council has hurt Birmingham tremendously. The Public Affairs Research Council's report was clear that Birmingham's unwillingness to cooperate regionally has hurt our growth. Cooperation starts at home between the mayor's office and the city council, and we do not currently have that with William Bell. Regional cooperation requires the Mayor and Council to have a clear, executable vision for investing in our workforce and attracting industry that is a part of a broader strategy that we should be executing with our partners regionally. Bell would rather bully and bicker rather than collaborate and building consensus.

Has your campaign strategy changed any now that it is a two man race?

No, I am running the same campaign that I have been running for the past year. This race is a referendum on William Bell's failed leadership, and my campaign will continue to make our case to voters that they deserve better. My vision for Birmingham reflects the concerns of Birmingham families and channels the frustrations of voters. This vision does not shift alter just because I am now in a two-candidate race

The feedback from the most recent mayoral debates had you as the "winner," so to speak. Do you think that played into your favorable results in the election?

Debates are just another opportunity to engage with voters and communicate concerns I heard from families during the campaign. Birmingham voters want a mayor that listens and can work with the council, create jobs, and keep our neighborhoods safe. They want someone as committed to their neighborhoods as they are -- whether they live in downtown or in North Birmingham. Debates are tremendously helpful for voters, and I look forward to debating William Bell.

Birmingham is recovering from the recession at a slower pace than many cities its size. What role does the mayor have in speeding up that recovery?

The Mayor plays a vital role in investing in our workforce, recruiting industry, and supporting small businesses. Economies recover when your workforce is up to the challenge and you are intentional in attracting industry that can put your residents to work. We have not done that under William Bell.

I would resolve this by implementing a real plan for small businesses that would reduce red tape, expand access to capital, promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and increase support of resources. My plan, modeled after Chicago’s Small Business Advisory Council, would also create incentives for shared work spaces near UAB to create a City Innovation Corridor.

And while minority and women-owned businesses are the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurs nationally, there is more Birmingham can do locally to support this trend. Bell has failed to leverage the city’s purchasing power to support minority and women-owned businesses. Sadly, groups like Birmingham Construction Industry Authority that were supposed to help minority contractors have instead become sources of cronyism and nepotism. Under my leadership, I would ensure city contracts are awarded to firms with active supplier diversity programs and issue an annual Diverse Spend Scorecard which will show how much the city spends with minority and women-owned businesses.

Candidates often make campaign promises they hope to keep, but never do. What would you say is your most realistic campaign promise?

My most realistic campaign promise involves my commitment to cooperate with the Council and introduce new transparency measures to the Mayor's Office. It does not take an ordinance to respect your colleagues, identify shared priorities between my office and their districts, and work together in good faith to try to resolve what our Councilors believe to be their district's most pressing challenges.

In my first 100 days, I plan on working to restore trust in the mayor's office by making my travel schedule and expenditures publicly available online. I will also make my meeting logs public so voters can see who I am convening with to shape our city’s policy. I will eliminate Bell's permanent security detail, seek changes to the city's ethics policy to ensure that no member of my family will have any impact on City contracts, and work with our state delegation to institute term limits so that no Mayor of Birmingham – including myself – can run for more than two consecutive four-year terms.

If you win, what is the first thing you are going to do?

After I win on October 3, 2017, I will begin the process of appointing transition teams for each city agency, commission, and board. I will personally meet with each newly elected member of the City Council individually to discuss district priorities and opportunities for my office to engage directly on our shared priorities. And given the damage that William Bell's tenure has done to the relationship between the Mayor's Office and the City Council, I think the first order of business for a Woodfin Administration must absolutely be finding common ground with each of our newly-elected City Councilors.