Southwestern Illinois lawmakers question Madison County chairman’s ability to lead
State lawmakers are questioning Madison County Chairman Kurt Prenzler’s ability to lead after they say two “political cronies” in his administration were accused of “hacking” into confidential emails for campaign purposes.
Three state senators and four state representatives from the metro-east issued a joint statement Wednesday calling for steps to prevent “such egregious breaches of privacy and corruption regardless of party or level of government,” and said the men were accused of “hacking into the e-mails of other county offices for political gain.”
No charges were issued after a criminal investigation that lasted two and a half years.
State Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, said it’s “extremely troubling” that top aides in Prenzler’s administration had access to private information in emails regarding crime victims and personal health data.
There’s no indication health data was accessed in the breach, but it would have been possible, Hoffman said.
“I’m happy the county board did what Prenzler wouldn’t do and fired two of those individuals,” he added.
The county board voted 26-1 to fire former County Administrator Doug Hulme and Information Technology Director Rob Dorman last week after after they were investigated by the Illinois Attorney General for accusations they spied on political opponents by reading their emails and offered a county job in exchange for a political endorsement. The vote was bipartisan.
Prenzler, a Republican from Edwardsville, said he was not aware of “the scope” of the problem. The chairman also said he has stood up to corruption, as evidenced by his 2013 revelation that the county treasurer at the time was rigging delinquent tax sales to favor political allies.
State Rep. Monica Bristow, D-Alton, said the men’s actions were “shocking and kind of unthinkable.” She questioned Prenzler’s ability to manage his administration.
“If you’ve got a team, you trust your team. They keep you informed as to what they’re doing and you keep them informed on what you expect,” Bristow said. “He’s either not a good leader or he’s not telling the truth.”
Hoffman said he couldn’t call on Pritzker to resign because he’s a legislator, not an investigator, but like Bristow, he questioned Prenzler’s qualifications as a leader.
“If the people who report directly to you use your office for political gain, at the very least you’re certainly not doing a good job,” Hoffman said.
Bristow was more direct. Asked if she thinks Prenzler should resign, she said, “That would be awesome.”
Data security in Madison County
The breach has only increased calls from lawmakers for enhanced security in counties statewide.
Hoffman said his staff is studying how counties in other states secure their data and create firewalls — a network security system that prevents unauthorized access — between offices within the county government.
“The bureaucratic portion of the county government has nothing to do with the judiciary, nothing to do with the state’s attorney’s office and crime victim’s information,” Hoffman said. “If there’s a firewall that can be built to ensure that data remains private, then we need legislation mandating those firewalls.”
Prenzler said his administration implemented a software solution to the problem shortly after police raided the county’s administrative offices in January 2018.
The software, Intradyn, allows the county government to archive emails and limit access. Prior to the fix, the county kept all emails in “one big archive,” Prenzler said.
Madison County began using the software in April 2018, Prenzler said, though they started exploring options in fall 2017.
Here is the full statement from Hoffman, Bristow, state Sens. Rachelle Crowe, D-Glen Carbon, and Christopher Belt, D-Cahokia, and state Reps. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, and LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis:
“Investigation reports uncovered numerous examples of Kurt Prenzler’s administration hacking into the e-mails of other county offices for political gain, including the Public Defender’s Office, the State’s Attorney’s Office, and the County Auditor’s Office. These political cronies, not all of whom were even county employees at the time, granted themselves full access to e-mails of employees not under the authority of the County Board Chairman.
“They had access to e-mails with confidential attorney-client communications, as well as confidential information of citizens, crime victims and children. Did they have access to Public Health emails and information? Now more than ever, we need to make certain personal health information remains private and that Public Health officials are free to do their job and not have to worry that someone is using their information for political gain. As elected lawmakers, it is our job to stop and prevent such egregious breaches of privacy and corruption regardless of party or level of government.
“In light of Prenzler’s cronies’ blatant, unethical abuse of power, it is clear that action must be taken in order to prevent any county official from gaining wrongful access to private and confidential information, such as public health records and ongoing criminal investigation reports. We must hold those accountable who betray the public’s trust for their own political gain, and we intend to make it clear that this unethical behavior will not be tolerated at any level of government.”
Reporter Kavahn Mansouri contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
