Democrat candidate for Madison County board chairman Robert Daiber and Democrat county board members are calling for the firing of county administrator Doug Hulme, information technology director Rob Dorman and temporary coronavirus liaison Steve Adler over what they say are “shocking actions” alleged in a corruption probe.
“A criminal investigation by six law enforcement agencies has made it clear how extensive corruption and abuses of power are in the Prenzler administration,” Daiber stated in a press release. “Madison County must act now to restore public trust by immediately dismissing the Prenzler aides who have committed these truly shocking actions.”
Affidavits for search warrants pertaining to a high profile raid of county administration offices in January 2018 were unsealed last week, revealing the corruption investigation involved, among other things, improper surveillance of email communications and data breaches.
Hulme and Dorman were central figures in the investigation handled by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, whose office decided not to pursue the case any further in November 2019.
Republican county board Chairman Kurt Prenzler was not implicated in the investigation, and no charges have been brought against any member of his administration that had been investigated.
Prenzler responded to Daiber by saying that Hulme has been accused of accessing emails of other county employees, "in order to look for evidence of corruption."
"Even if that’s true, that’s allowed by the Madison County Personnel Policy Handbook (2015)," Prenzler stated. "I encourage anyone to read pages 43 through 46, specifically the section called 'Madison County’s Right to Monitor Use,' which basically says that any email “created, sent, received, or stored” on the county system may be read.
"Large corporations and other governmental units have similar policies. If the county board chooses to revise this policy, it can do so."
The race for chairmanship between Prenzler, elected in 2016, and Daiber, who served as a regional superintendent of schools in Madison County for 12 years until last year, has entered a new phase.
Unsurprisingly, Democrats wasted no time in amplifying details of the corruption probe, but more remarkable is the visible frustration that the GOP establishment has with the Prenzler administration.
The affidavits unsealed on April 6 revealed that Madison County treasurer Chris Slusser, Republican, testified against Hulme before a grand jury and wore a wire in conversation with Hulme in 2018, according to police affidavits that had been under seal.
Slusser said in a statement that he did not take lightly his decision to take his concerns to law enforcement.
“Corruption and unethical behavior at any level can not be tolerated, no matter the person or the party,” he stated.
And last Friday, State Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) called on Prenzler to address the accusations made against members of his administration.
"The information that was made public (last) week contains extremely concerning accusations," Plummer said in a press release. "I urge county board chairman Kurt Prenzler to publicly address the accusations made against members of his administration. The public deserves full transparency, and corruption - on any level - cannot and will not be tolerated."
In his response to Daiber's press release, Prenzler also stated:
"A highly-politicized investigation of these allegations has gone on for over two years, and everyone was exonerated when the Democrat Attorney General’s office decided not to file charges.
"I blew the whistle on former Democrat treasurer Fred Bathon, who went to federal prison in 2014 for criminal tax sales that cost taxpayers $4 million.
"Democrat county officials knew exactly what Bathon was doing, but remained silent. This includes Bob Daiber. I have always fought public corruption, and will continue to do the right thing."
Daiber’s press release categorized the alleged corruption by county administration officials, including:
- An attempt at pay-for-play in offering a county job to a congressional staff person in exchange for the appointment to a U.S. attorney position of their political accomplice Don Weber.
- Hacking into e-mails of the Madison County judiciary and offices of elected county officials for political purposes. In doing so, victim information was allegedly compromised and sensitive and legally privileged information regarding ongoing cases were released.
- Access was given to a non-employee to conduct searches of county e-mails for campaign purposes, breaching the security of the county’s network and putting personal data at risk by using personal computers to access and search county e-mails.
“The abuses of power by Kurt Prenzler ‘s administration are mind-boggling in their scope – reminiscent of the actions taken by the Nixon administration that led to the Watergate scandal and the resignation of the president,” Daiber stated.
County Board Members Mike Parkinson (D-Granite City) and Chris Hankins (D-Pontoon Beach) also called for the county to establish stronger data security protocols and evaluate the professionalization of the county information technology system by hiring an outside firm to manage it.
“In response to the recent unethical actions by Madison County officials under the appointment and control of Kurt Prenzler, there is a clear need for serious oversight protections to make certain that this public corruption ends and that the personal data of county employees and the general public are never again put at risk,” Parkinson stated in the release.
“When the IT department gave both employees and non-employees the ability to read e-mails, they opened the door to access social security numbers and confidential health and legal information that must be protected by law.”
In the release, Hankins also stated he was “deeply concerned about the access both county employees and non-employees received to confidential and legally protected data and whether their actions to breach basic security protocols have opened up our network to other cyber criminals.”
“We all have seen the damage caused to people when their personal data was stolen by cybercriminals who breached the firewalls of Target, Sony, Equifax, Marriott and so many more companies. We need to act quickly to protect the citizens of Madison County and not allow Kurt Prenzler and his aides to sweep this under the rug.”
Parkinson’s and Hankins’s plant for cybersecurity includes:
- Removing the power of the IT Department to access e-mails.
- Assigning a compliance officer from each department to manage FOIA requests and ensure the protection of confidential information.
- Using only software that can provide an audit trail of every search or request of the county’s network and provide a report on all such activities on a monthly basis to the county board.
- Requiring bids for all IT work in excess of $5,000 and require that all multi-year contracts require two-thirds consent of the county board.
- Hiring a security consultant to review the system and install firewalls to strictly limit access to county e-mails and seal off those requiring a higher level of confidentiality.