Mancow Hosts On-Air Debate On State's Attorney Race Conspiracy

CHICAGO — Whether it’s Jeffery Epstien’s “murder” or alien spaceships at Area 51, WLS AM 890 morning show host Mancow Muller loves a good conspiracy.

This week, Mancow’s show delved into a conspiracy theory that hits closer to home — wild rumors there’s a shill candidate running to split the anti-Kim Foxx vote in the Cook County State’s Attorney race.

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I first heard the rumor a few days ago, but didn’t take it seriously because the fellow hawking the theory, an otherwise respected lawyer, laid out the details like a guy talking about the time his neighbor’s cousin’s babysitter spotted Big Foot in the Dan Ryan Woods.

“Let me tell you, and I can’t prove it, but I believe Bob Fioretti was offered something to run for state’s attorney to dilute the vote against Kim Fox,” he said. “Fioretti denies it, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Voters probably know Fioretti, a lawyer and former Chicago alderman, as a regular on election day ballots. He unsuccessfully ran for Cook County board president and last year lost a mayoral bid.

In December, Fioretti jumped into the crowded state’s attorney race with only a few thousand dollars in a diminished “Friends of Fioretti” campaign fund that’s still carrying $105,000 of campaign debt dating back to 2015, according to state board of elections records.

On the Mancow show Wednesday, former Cook County and federal prosecutor Donna More, who’s also seeking to unseat Foxx, vouched for the widely speculative and totally unsubstantiated theory that Fioretti’s candidacy is a sham.

“Fioretti told me in August that he was going to run for judge. Now, all of the sudden, he enters the states’ attorney’s race. … Somebody put him up to take away votes. I’m not sure from who [but] somebody put him up to this,” More said on the air.

“When I’m state’s attorney I’m going to investigate who put him up, and who’s giving him money that he’s not reporting.”

That’s when the phone rang in the studio.

“Uh, he’s calling,” Mancow said.

More scoffed.

“If she’s on the line, that’s an outright lie,” Fioretti said.

“I’m sitting right here, Bob,” More clapped back.

She challenged Fioretti about their conversation about his intention to run for a judgeship.

“And then what happened?” More jabbed. “You heard voices.”

“You’re so snippy … Just calm down,” Fioretti said.

“You wanna see? I’ll show you everybody who has contributed to my campaign. I’m not bought and sold by the gaming industry like you are, or the marijuana industry or clients … I’m not going to debate you over the phone and listening on a radio show. What you just said was a damn lie.”

Mancow provided play-by-play and calmly fanned the flames like Jerry Springer goading somebody’s lying, cheating baby daddy to toss a chair across the stage.

“Bob, she said you’re bought and paid for,” Mancow said. “This is Donna More vs. Bob Fioretti, both friends of mine, I suppose.”

The feuding candidates yelled accusations at each other.

More asked who gave Fioretti information he used to challenge Kim Foxx’s petitions to get on the ballot.

Fioretti said More didn’t have the “courage” to challenge the Cook County Democratic Machine.

“Bob … she says if she if she gets the job, if she replaces Kim Fox, she’s going to investigate you,” Mancow said.

“I know. For what? I’ll give you everything I have,” Fioretti said. “My life has always been an open book.”

More and Fioretti’s debate on the unfounded conspiracy devolved into increasingly boring political banter, Mancow moved on by jabbing his guest co-host, the “hilarious Carlos Mencia” for miming comedy while on the radio.

“I don’t think I laughed harder than I did the last couple minutes. It was kind of a Marcel Marceau kind of thing [you were doing],” Mancow said. “If people would have seen it, very funny.”

Later, I called Mancow for his take on what Cook County voters should make of the strange on-air debate.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Nobody really denied anything. They were talking too much like lawyers.”

I asked Mancow how he ranked the Fioretti conspiracy theory compared to, say, the reported sighting of a pterodactyl-looking figure hovering in the sky near the Logan Square late night bar The Owl believed to be “Mothman.”

“Look, when it comes to Mothman, I think there’s something there. Whether it’s a cryptozoological creature or something else, it's big,” he said.

“But Bob Fioretti, there’s nothing to it.”

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."

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