Will Cook County News

By Nuha Abdessalam and edited by Claude Martinez. Updated 7/19/24 at 11:06 P.M.

Will County Board Democratic Leader Jacqueline Traynere sets the record straight on the alleged cybercrime email infringement by Will County Republican Board Leader Steve Balich. 

Earlier this month, Balich called for a press conference on the cybercrime involving Traynere. The incident allegedly involved Traynere tampering with his and Judy Ogalla’s email accounts. 

In setting the record straight, Traynere reiterated, “I have NEVER, EVER, hacked or logged into Steve Balich’s email. I don’t know what he is alleging.” In response to Balich’s statement on Traynere confessing to hacking and infringing on county board member emails, Traynere learned earlier, in March, of a circulating rumor of all 22 county board members sharing the same password, putting it to the test, she said, “I proved the rumor to be true…” with a board member email (Judy Ogalla) “it was wrong we had the same password, I couldn’t believe it, I informed Judy and county executives and the IT department immediately.” 

She recounted, “When I reported the shared password to our IT department, the IT department told us that we had to share the same email password, supposedly to aid elected officials with technical issues.” Traynere added, “This is an insane policy. The fact that this order came from staff managed by Judy makes me wonder how often Judy and Steve have been looking at my email?” Traynere emphasized, “Here’s the part Balich keeps forgetting to mention: all of our (Board Members) emails are available for the public to ask; it’s called the Freedom of Information Act. We don’t do anything private on email.” 

Traynere, who has not been contacted by any law enforcement agencies, expressed her disbelief at the situation. She said, “It’s a political ploy. He’s trying to draw attention from his problems, and he should not use the township website to make allegations against me. That is a misuse of township funds; it’s slander.”

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