Attorney General Candidates Spar At Chicago Sun-Times Forum

CHICAGO, IL — Candidates for Illinois attorney general squared off directly for the first time Monday during an endorsement session before the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board. Republican nominee Erika Harold, an Urbana attorney and Democratic State Sen. Kwame Raoul of Chicago offered one another pointed questions while being interviewed by panel, which also invited and Libertarian nominee Bubba Harsy. All three candidate have sought to portray their opponents as beholden to shadowy forces.

Dueling television ads from both major party candidates have been panned as fallacious, Raoul has sought to depict Harold as a homophobic extremist in ads the Republican called "defamatory." Harold's ads suggest Raoul, a 14-year veteran of the Senate, has engaged in a corrupt "scheme" with House Speaker Mike Madigan to raise property taxes in and profit from their appeal in what Raoul described as "innuendo."

Following the interview, the newspaper said it remained unconvinced of the truthfulness of campaign ads on heavy broadcast rotation from both campaigns – ads that fact-checkers have been rated "false" and "mostly false." Neither would pass the "smell test" with a jury, according to the editorial board.

With significant funding from unions and Democratic Party political committees, Raoul has almost $3 million in the bank compared to less than $2 million for Harold, the Sun-Times reported, whose campaign last month received a $1.3 million donation from Gov. Bruce Rauner.

In addition to the television ads from the major party candidates, topics of discussion included state firearm and marijuana law, ethics regulations, and to what extent the candidates planned to sue the Trump administration.

Watch the full attorney general endorsement session from the Chicago Sun-Times:

The Sun-Times also invited Libertarian candidate and Du Quote attorney Bubba Harsy.

"We have Mr. Raoul who is very much supported by the Democrat Party. We have Ms. Harold who is strongly backed by Governor Rauner and the Republican Party," Harsy, a Du Quoin attorney who also works with his family asbestos removal company, told WGN-TV after the forum. "So as a voter, I’m concerned maybe they won’t look out for the interest of the people of Illinois in their entirety and might just focus on their own political interest."

Monday's encounter between attorney general contenders came three days after the Chicago Tribune editorial board held its own endorsement session in the race for governor. Democratic candidate JB Pritzker, who has spent more than $125 million of his own money on the race and leads in pre-election polling, declined to participate in the meeting. Gov. Bruce Rauner appeared beside an empty chair.