A Vote For Daley, Preckwinkle, Mendoza, Chico Is A Vote For Rahm

There are plenty of reasons you’d be an idiot to vote for Toni Preckwinkle, Bill Daley, Gery Chico or Susana Mendoza. But the No. 1 reason remains Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Each one of those clout candidates gave their de-facto endorsement of Chicago’s failed mayor by remaining on the sidelines until Ol’ Rahm realized that it was better to walk away than to get run out of town.

Let's face it, Rahm pampered the rich part of town and pandered to the rest. Gaining power always seemed more important to Rahm than helping people living in neighborhoods disregarded by City Hall for generations. He proved that almost every day of his tenure.

If you don’t agree consider the title of his forthcoming book, “The Nation City: Why Mayors Rule The World." It's billed as non-fiction book, but sounds more like a revisionist memoir about an egomaniac’s eight years in office building his personal brand and the fancy part of town while letting down struggling Chicagoans.

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Emanuel should be remembered for his failures: That stupid plan to give away precious lakefront land to honor Star Wars director George Lucas, offering the world in a failed attempt to court Amazon and covering up video of the murder of Laquan McDonald long enough to win re-election, to name a few.

And that’s the kind of city Daley, Mendoza, Chico and Preckwinkle — and the wealthy benefactors, political power brokers and union bosses that back them — apparently had no problem with before Emanuel ducked out of getting clobbered on Election Day.

Tuesday remains a referendum on Rahm Emanuel, the corrupt political culture that got him elected and allowed him to operate like a boss despite a legacy of failures. He'll limp out of office a political pariah whose endorsement might as well be a curse.

Daley, Preckwinkle, Chico and Mendoza didn't challenge Rahm – and never would have —because they all are cogs in the same corrupt political machine.

What worries me is that voters favoring those clout candidates outnumber Chicagoans who want change but have been beaten into submission by the Democratic Party’s status quo that’s responsible for making Chicago the country’s most corrupt city, starkly divided by class and race.

If that’s you, get out and vote for an outsider on Tuesday.

I don’t care which one. You’ve got plenty of choices.

Over the last couple months, I’ve talked to all of them.

Here’s what I learned: Willie Wilson can’t be bought.

Law-and-order candidate Garry McCarthy can’t be intimidated.

A lot of Southwest Siders like Jerry Joyce for his folksy, neighborhood sensibilities.

Buddy Guy says Chicago is ready for Bob Fioretti.

Chance the Rapper and Kanye West have energized young voters behind Millennial activist Amara Enyia.

Even long shots State Rep. LaShawn Ford, John Kozlar and Neal Sales-Griffin make compelling arguments for voting out the Democratic Party’s status quo.

Paul Vallas is the tallest candidate on the ballot.

He’s also head-and-shoulders above ballot rivals when it comes to telling voters how he would fix Chicago’s troubles — whether it’s rebuilding crumbling infrastructure, turning-around troubled schools, rebuilding forgotten business districts and creating affordable housing, and more.

Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, has bashed the “Burke 4” more than any other candidate on the ballot.

“Cockroaches” — that’s what she called them when they all scattered in attempt to avoid the federal spotlight being shined on corrupt corners of City Hall.

Every attempt Preckwinkle made to distance herself from the shakedown that connected her to the federal corruption charges against Ald. Ed Burke — removing Burke as the head of judicial slating, returning tainted campaign contributions and calling for Burke’s removal as city council finance chairman — were first demanded of her by Lightfoot.

In the waning days of the campaign, Lightfoot, at 5-foot-1, has proven that she isn’t too short to be mayor.

When Preckwinkle’s political henchman towered over her and tried to shout her down at a press conference, Lightfoot chewed him up and spit him out.

With intelligence and grace, she impressively handled Preckwinkle’s campaign adviser and chief internet troll who compared her on Twitter to Nazis.

Why has Lightfoot been the target of loudmouth white men backing the Democratic Party’s status-quo?

It must be because she’s a threat to the code of silence that plagues every part of city government.

As a prosecutor, she helped put corrupt aldermen in jail.

She spoke out against Emanuel’s phony police reform measures while she was working for him, and then quit to run against him.

The “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” — that’s what Lightfoot calls Daley, Preckwinkle, Mendoza and Chico — would never stand up to Rahm.

And they won’t stand up for you.

Don’t be an idiot.

See Also:

• 'Empire' Actor Doesn't Fib As Well As Chicago's Clout Candidates
• Is Chicago Crazy Enough To Elect Bill Daley, The Rahm Candidate?
• Don't Believe CTU Hype: Undecideds Could Shock Mayoral Status Quo
• Mendoza Rapid-Fire Tweets Sling Mud On Clout Candidates, Herself
• Chicago Mayoral Race Is Absurd And Nightmare If You Don't Wake Up
• Did Rahm's Failure, Solis' FBI Wire Make Chicago GOP Relevant?
• Mayoral Candidate Susana Mendoza Can't Be Taken Seriously Anymore
• Facts About Pay-To-Play Preckwinkle Help To Voters To Form Opinion
• Chicago Needs To Elect Bunch Of Snitches To Kill Code Of Silence
• Rahm's Podcast Isn't Practice For TV Gig; He Stinks On TV (VIDEO)
• Are You For 'Cockroaches' Or Reformers In Chicago Mayoral Race?
• Cash Connects 'Independent' Preckwinkle To 'Good Ol' Boys Club'
• Hmm, Mayor Candidate Bill Daley Doesn't Want To Dis Rahm Anymore

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting and Emmy-nominated producer, was a producer, writer and narrator for the Chicagoland series on CNN.