4 Pols Shaming Chicago: Pritzker, Rahm, Blago and Kim Foxx

CHICAGO — Over the last week, our felonious former governor, fresh out of prison thanks to his former reality show executive producer turned president, has become the hottest political talk show guest in America.

Our former mayor appeared on ABC's "The View" pimping his revisionist history book that forwards a flawed premise that people like him rule the world.

Cook County's top prosecutor is cloaked in the shame over allegations political favors lead to dropping charges against alleged hate-crime faker, actor Jussie Smollett.

And Illinois' current governor, who might be the biggest phony of them all, is on the local news dodging questions about his past life as a campaign benefactor shopping for a top political appointment on a federal wiretap.

Those are just the top four reasons — this month — that Chicago is the most shameful political city in America.

Three of those Chicago Democrats get friendly treatment from stenographer journalists and TV talk show hosts who report the half-truths, non-answer answers and blatant lies that spill from their mouths without so much as a follow-up question.

Nobody at ABC — neither George Stephanopoulos nor the ladies on "The View" — asked Rahm Emanuel, the fabulist author of a new genre of mayoral non-non-fiction, why anybody should buy the argument that mayors rule the world when the former Chicago boss was such an abysmal failure that he quit rather than face the embarrassment of getting kicked out of office by voters on Election Day.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx keeps telling the same lie that a lack of transparency was the only sin committed when her office dropped charges against Smollett. She defends herself by touting the endorsements of a newspaper owned by folks who donated $750,000 to her re-election campaign, and Democratic presidential candidates courting the African-American vote.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has the audacity to dismiss questions about his wiretapped dealings with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich as old news, and argues that Illinois has bigger problems to worry than whether he's the kind of guy who once was in the market to buy a political appointment.

And while each of these four use unchecked spin on TV to sell books, campaign for re-election and pretend to be a reformer, respectively, you know who keeps getting screwed over?

The same voiceless people who for generations suffered the neglect of Chicago mayors.

The folks who don't have clout to get Smollett-like plea deals from state’s attorneys.

The taxpayers reliant on state services and grant money controlled by deal-making governors acting in their own political interest.

Meanwhile, Blagojevich is the guy who gets dressed down by Anderson Cooper. Why? Because an unrepentant ex-con is an easier politician to call on his B.S. — which is what CNN's silver fox did Friday — than, say, a sitting governor who contributed $100,000 to Blago's campaign and followed up with a call asking to get appointed to replace President Obama in the U.S. Senate.

President Trump's decision to let Blagojevich out of federal prison early is particularly bad timing for Pritzker, whose state budget and political future hinge on winning voter support for his proposed graduated income tax on the November ballot.

Pritzker has pumped millions into marketing and will rely on the influence of powerful labor unions to court "Yes" votes for the so-called "fair tax" proposal, a radical change to Illinois income tax that the billionaire needs to elevate himself from a jolly weed legalizer into viable U.S. presidential candidate, which everybody knows is his goal.

The last thing Pritzker needs is pesky reporters to keep pressing him about the days he was just another billionaire writing checks that scored him access to a governor conducting political business in the corrupt local custom known as the "Chicago Way."

Blagojevich never would have been accused of trying to sell a senate seat if there wasn't an apparent potential buyer, a fat cat like Pritzker, on those FBI tapes. He sure sounds like a guy who has plenty of experience negotiating backroom political deals.

Since Pritzker took office his biggest accomplishments — legalizing marijuana and sports betting — transferred the profits of vice from street corner dealers and neighborhood bookies to wealthy white-owned companies.

The first-term governor also accomplished what a long list of his predecessors couldn't do. He negotiated a deal that allows Chicago to build a casino that got approved with the blessing of House Speaker Michael Madigan, whose closest confidants have been raided by the FBI as part of a wide-ranging corruption probe.

Pritzker's arrogant unwillingness to talk about his FBI-recorded dealings can only mean one thing — the political eco-system that nurtured corruption in Springfield back then remains.

Every reporter who lets that B.S. continue should be ashamed.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting and Emmy-nominated producer, was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docu-series on CNN. He was a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary, "16 Shots."

More Chicago Stories from Mark Konkol:

• Pritzker Follows Up Phony Blago Outrage By Dodging Questions
• When Blago Gets Home Let's Talk About Calls He Got From Pritzker
• Mayor Releases Koschman, Markham Investigative Reports: EXCLUSIVE
• Lightfoot Administration May Add Ex-Con Pols To Hiring Blacklist
• City Hall 'Do Not Rehire' List Omits Chicago Hall of Shamers
• Don't Quit, Kim! Let Voters Express Facebook Outrage Election Day
• 750,000 Reasons Sun-Times' Kim Foxx Endorsement Shouldn't Shock
• Chicago Police Don't Arrest As Many Murderers As You Might Think
• Mancow Hosts On-Air Debate On State's Attorney Race Conspiracy
• Fired Top Cop Deserves Jussie Smollett Treatment, Send Him A Bill
• Could Raging Political Feud Derail Economic Revival In Pullman?