State's Attorney debate takes a sharp tone

CHICAGO (WLS) -- It was a spirited one-hour State's Attorney debate Friday night in the ABC7 debate studio. The three candidates for State's Attorney had virtually nothing good to say about each other.

"Both my opponents should be under investigation for their wrong doing," said Donna More.

Candidate Donna More claimed the outsider's role as incumbent Anita Alvarez focused on the heavily-endorsed Kim Foxx, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's former Chief of Staff

"She's standing up here because Toni Preckwinkle has been trying to get somebody to run against me for the past three years," Alvarez said.

"My work on these issues pre-dates Ms. Preckwinkle and will continue on," Foxx retorted.

Alvarez repeatedly called Foxx a liar for allegedly exaggerating her trial experience and violating campaign finance laws.

"So what else is she lying about? Don't you think it's important for the citizens of Cook County to elect someone who's not a liar," said Alvarez.

"Why don't we elect a prosecutor that we can actually trust?" said More.

Foxx remained calm.

"The people of Cook County want to hear real answers and not name calling in debates," she said.

The Laquan McDonald case, and why Alvarez took months after seeing the video to charge a police officer with murder, was a dominating issue.

"I think we all know that Anita Alvarez was involved in a cover up," said More.

"You just can't look at the video. You need more than probable cause to bring charges," Alvarez replied.

"I would have filed the charges as soon as the evidence was sufficient to support the facts," said Foxx.

Alvarez also claimed that Foxx could not be trusted to investigate corruption should there be evidence of any in the Preckwinkle administration. Foxx said she can be trusted.