ABC7 and Univision investigating possible debate leak

CHICAGO (WLS) -- ABC7 and Univision are investigating how an email related to our upcoming mayoral debate was apparently leaked to one of the campaigns.

The email chain was a discussion of potential issues to be raised in the debate Thursday night. There were four ABC7 employees on that email chain and two employees of Univision Chicago.

On Tuesday, ABC7 was informed by the campaign of Jesus "Chuy" Garcia that they had received a copy of the email. The campaign said they received the email anonymously and that it was not seen by the candidate or their debate preparation team.

However, after verifying the authenticity of the document, the debate partners released identical copies to each of the five mayoral campaigns, to ensure fairness in the debate.

Wednesday, the debate partners... ABC7, Univision Chicago and the League of Women Voters released the following statement:

"Our goal is to provide a fair and unbiased forum for the candidates to outline their positions on the issues. We have taken steps to ensure the fairness of the debate and we look forward to serving the voters with this important dialogue."

In addition, Mary Schaafsma, the Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of Illinois released the following statement: "The League of Women Voters, a non-partisan organization, has partnered with ABC 7 for more than a decade to ensure the integrity, fairness and openness of all debates broadcast on the station. We have every confidence that the mayoral debate held in conjunction with our partners, ABC 7 and Univision, will be a fair and impartial opportunity for candidates to address issues of concern to Chicago voters."

The debate is Thursday night at 7pm at ABC7. All five candidates for mayor are scheduled to participate. The debate can be seen LIVE on abc7chicago.com and our digital Channel 7.2 at 7pm.

It will be re-broadcast on our main Channel 7.1, Thursday night at 10:35pm.