Miguel del Valle, Chicago City Clerk and former mayoral candidate, pauses, a wide grin running across his face when asked by eager DePaul students and faculty at a discussion panel Wednesday if he would consider running for office again.

“I thought you were going to ask that question at the end” del Valle said laughing. “You never rule anything out. I have a lot of experience and things to offer,” he said.

Del Valle visited a DePaul journalism class Wednesday evening at the request of Mike Conklin and Margaret Ramirez, the journalism instructors for Reporting Latino Communities in Chicago. Conklin said he invited del Valle because of his insights into Latino political participation in Chicago and as a valuable opportunity for students to interview a key Chicago figure.

Held on the eleventh floor of the Richard M. and Maggie C. Daley building, Del Valle, 59, was clear in stating that he is exploring a number of options for his next move and is not in a hurry to lock anything in.

Asked about options that he would consider, del Valle let out another laugh and grin. “I could see myself spending time in classrooms,” he said. While he was a state senator, del Valle put together a class at Roosevelt University on Latinos and public policy for a semester on Saturday mornings at 8 a.m.

Del Valle began his political career in 1982 by campaigning for Harold Washington and in 1986 joined the Illinois State Senate. In 2006, del Valle was appointed Chicago City Clerk and then elected to a four year term a few months later.

While del Valle admits he is not certain about what he will be doing in the future, he is certain about what he will not be doing.

“I know what I will not do. I will not work for the city of Chicago,” del Valle said. “I would consider other levels of government, but not in the city. I want to be in a position to continue to advocate on local issues. By accepting a job with the city of Chicago, it would tie my hands.”

Del Valle made it clear that he was sincere in stepping out of city politics the day after the election, when he was offered a position on the Emanuel transition team.

“Rahm called me the next day and asked me if I would be a culture of transition to him and I said no,” del Valle said. “I’ve been around long enough to know how transition teams work. He was asking me to implement his agenda, which I criticized during the campaign. It would be totally inconsistent and would have affected my credibility quite a bit. People would have perceived that as me setting the stage to get some kind of appointment and I made it very clear from the beginning that I would not do that.”

Del Valle resigned from his position as City Clerk, which he held since 2006 to run for mayor in 2011. Del Valle said his plan was always to leave city politics if he lost the mayoral election.

Del Valle said his involvement in various committees is currently his focus. He is the chairman of the P-20 Council, a statewide body that makes recommendations to all levels of education in Illinois.

Del Valle reflected on the outcome of the mayoral elections and on mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and his campaign.

“The main reason for Emanuel’s victory was his resources. The second reason was his contacts and his experience at the national level,” del Valle said.

“$12 million and two presidents, that’s what we were up against,” del Valle said, referring to Bill Clinton’s endorsement of Rahm Emanuel, Clinton’s former senior advisor, and President Obama’s public praise of Emanuel, which del Valle says could not have been any closer to an endorsement.

Del Valle, who ran on a grassroots campaign, said short of a grassroots movement that involved every citizen in the city, his campaign could not compete against the massive resources of Emanuel, or even Chico. Compared to Emanuel’s $12 million and Chico’s $2 million, del Valle raised just under $60,000.

One reason for the huge discrepancy between campaign funds is that Del Valle promised early on that he would reject contributions from contractors doing business with the city.

“When I said I’m not accepting campaign contributions, I said I’m drawing the line in order to regain the confidence of the people,” del Valle said. Del Valle says the 40 percent voter turnout in the mayoral election shows that citizens are cynical about politicians, something he hoped to combat by not accepting connected contributions. Del Valle says he is in favor of tighter campaign finance restrictions that would ensure those in business with the city are not contributing to city officials.

We can’t “allow for our democracy to deteriorate because only rich folks run for office and only rich folks who know rich folks can run for office and [then have] that money used to drown out opponents,” del Valle said.

Juan Manuel Rodriguez, a student who attended the discussion said, “To be honest, I saw del Valle as an underdog candidate during the mayoral elections. Now I see him as a public servant who is still willing to look out for his fellow man.”

A recurring point he made was the importance of improving neighborhood schools.

“While we’re creating more academic options for students and families in the city of Chicago, we need to improve our neighborhood schools.” Del Valle stressed that charter schools and neighborhood schools should not oppose each other.

Del Valle said, “That’s what I tried to say during the campaign, it’s in everyone’s best interest to have good neighborhood schools as well as those options [selective enrollment] for families.”

Del Valle said a key difference between his campaign and Emanuel’s in the education debate was that while del Valle was talking about the two tiered Chicago education system and stressing neighborhood school improvement, he was talking to a shrinking segment of the population and Emanuel was talking about charter schools to a growing segment of the population.

“But I knew that,” del Valle said. “And I just couldn’t have a campaign that ignored the most serious problems in the city of Chicago in the areas that needed the greatest help.”

Diana Hinojosa, a student who attended the discussion said, “What stuck to me the most was his emphasis on readjusting neighborhoods to have better education.” Hinojosa said she grew up in the Chicago Public School system and was fortunate enough to attend a selective enrollment high school, but also believes that neighborhood schools need to be improved so that a quality education is available for all students regardless of economic background.

In addition to addressing growing problems in neighborhood schools, del Valle said to what extent Emanuel will address issues of unemployment and immigration will determine how popular he becomes in the Latino community.

Del Valle said Emanuel has a history of blocking comprehensive immigration reform, but anticipates he will be responsive to immigration issues and will support Chicago as a ‘sanctuary city,’ meaning local law enforcement will not enforce federal immigration laws.

On immigration, del Valle said, “The real concern is how ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is going about enforcing law and how families are being broken up and people are being deported.” Del Valle continued, saying that many, including himself, feel the president can take action through executive order to change the procedures in the department of homeland security, but is not doing that.

“This country needs labor. There are needs. If we just close up, our economy will be hurt. If we say we’re going to cut off visas from other countries because we’re going to protect jobs for people that are here, well if those jobs aren’t filled by people here, business is effected and it effects our economy,” del Valle said.

Del Valle also addressed Chicago’s economic burdens.

“Economic development is a tough issue, but one that needs to be addressed because people feel that its a tale of two cities and that the gap between the have and have nots that is growing on a national level is also quickly growing in the city of Chicago,” del Valle said.

Del Valle ended the discussion talking about the student debt bubble, which he believes is becoming eerily similar to the housing bubble that burst in 2008.