Circuit court clerk candidate says computer system is outdated

One thing the candidates for Lake County circuit court Clerk agree on is the need for an efficient computer system to make court documents easily accessible to the public.

Republican incumbent Sally D. Coffelt says that network is in place now. Her Democratic challenger, Cynthia Pruim Haran, says the system needs to be more accessible to those outside of the office through Internet access.

Haran, 37, an attorney in the Lake County public defender's office, said if elected, one of her top priorities will be to create online access to court records and documents.

"Look at the counties around us," she said. "Cook, DuPage, Kenosha, they all have Internet access. People can check their court dates and times and pay fees via the web. Lake County needs to do the same."

Coffelt, 60, not only disagrees with Haran, she cites the automation of her office as one of her best achievements during her 28 years as circuit court clerk.

"This is very excellent technology," she said. "It is used to collect and maintain a huge volume of data. It's adjustable, flexible and we maintain it on a daily basis."

Coffelt says she understands the power of the Internet, but wants to be careful about taking that next step.

"I want to be cautious about people's information," she said. "I want to be careful about identity theft."

She also noted the county would need permission from the Illinois Supreme Court before moving to a web-based system. "Just because you can put information online, doesn't mean you should," she said.

Haran says there are a multitude of safeguards that can be put into place, and doesn't think the danger of theft is much of a factor.

"We would never put people's information at risk," she said. "I haven't heard of any problems like that in the other counties."

On an unrelated matter, Coffelt also discounted recent news reports of her "announced retirement" after her next term, assuming a win. "I never made an official announcement to retire," Coffelt said. "All I said was that I'm not going to stay here until I'm 80. Though my mom wants me to stay at least until I'm 70."