HOMER GLEN, IL — Will County Board Member Steve Balich held a news conference on Tuesday, claiming that Will County Board Member Jacqueline Traynere hacked his email.
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Balich, who is the Republican leader on the Board, called for Traynere, who is the Democrat leader of the Board, to be held accountable for, he claims, illegally logging into Board Chair Judy Ogalla’s email and forwarding an exchange between Ogalla and Balich to County Executive Jennier Bertino-Tarrant.
Balich said he filed complaints with the police when the incident happened in March.
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He said his news conference on Tuesday was to ask publicly why nothing is happening.
“I hope the authorities will do something,” he told Patch Wednesday, adding that he has not been contacted in four months since filing the report.
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“As the Democrat Leader of the Will County Board, it’s important to ensure [Traynere] no longer acts as if she’s above the law and is held accountable for her actions,” Balich said during the news conference on Tuesday. “No County Board Member should have to worry about their private communications being hacked by elected officials, and I seriously question how long this has been going on.”
When contacted on Thursday about Balich’s claims, Traynere told Patch that, “To be clear, all government email is available to anyone that requests it through FOIA. There should be no expectation of privacy on government email, elected or hired employee accounts.”
She said that she did discover that all board members were given the same password, when doing an investigation “that had nothing to do with Mr. Balich’s email account.”
“Mr. Balich is attempting to wave a shiny object so that people don’t pay attention to some of his own actions, like his misuse of Township property and taxpayer funds,” she added.
According to the County Board website, Traynere has been a member of the Board since 2008. She is a Bolingbrook resident.
Balich was elected to the Board in 2012, and is a resident of Orland Park.
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