Attorney general candidates Harold, Raoul & Harsy square off in first forum

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Sparks flew Tuesday in the race for attorney general as the candidates squared off in their first forum before the November election.

Kwame Raoul and Erika Harold have been attacking one another in TV and digital ads for the past month and today those ads had both candidates on the defensive.

Raoul, Harold and libertarian candidate Bubba Harsy went before Sun-Times editorial board Tuesday morning. It didn't take long before things got heated between the two major party candidates.

"I want him to account for why that's on the air still when it has been rated as false," said Harold, Republican candidate for attorney general.

At issue, ads by Raoul that have attacked Harold for comments she reportedly made during a Miss America pageant years ago where she opposed adoption or foster parenting by same sex couples.

Harold said earlier this year her position has evolved and she no longer holds that belief.

"Where is your evidence for saying that I do not support same sex couples being able to adopt or be foster parents?" Harold asked Raoul.

"The family structure that most same sex couples would adopt in is marriage. If you're not in support of marriage but for a Supreme Court opinion I don't believe that your position's changed," said Raoul, Democratic candidate for attorney general.

Harold's ad attacking Raoul and linking him to Mike Madigan and a bill they co-sponsored that would have allowed Chicago to raise property taxes was also called into question after it was fact checked as mostly false. The property tax provision was stripped out before the bill passed.

"It's undisputed that the original bill as introduced would in fact have allowed for a property tax increase. The fact that they failed to accomplish that doesn't change the fact that's what it was designed to do," Harold said.

"I've never worked on a property tax appeals case in my life, I've never been at a firm that did any such work, but the insinuation in these commercials is that I've engaged in that type of activity," Raoul said.

Both candidates stood by their ads, and there was no indication they won't keep running them, which just points out the nature of political ads and what we can expect this political season.