DES MOINES, Iowa - Iowa lawmakers are considering their options after a security firm hired by the state broke into county courthouses after business hours.
The state Senate Government Oversight Committee is examining the planned break-ins of the Polk and Dallas county courthouses by the firm, which was testing the strength of their security systems.
Two of the firm's employees, Justin Wynn and Gary DeMercurio face burglary charges in Dallas County.
The committee held a hearing on the issue Friday. Ranking Democratic member Tony Bisignano wasn't happy with the covert nature of the break-in. "I think the secrecy is so unnecessary," said Bisignano. "Why can't people work in unison. They could have proceeded to try to break into the system with our knowledge. We weren't going to drop that."
The Iowa Judicial Branch, which contracted with the security firm, is taking heat partly because did so to test security at courthouses owned by counties, not the state.
Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady apologized for the mishaps before the senate committee, vowing to make sure those mistakes never happen again.
Oversight Committee Chair Amy Sinclair (R) said there are five people who work at the Judicial Branch who are not attorneys, and those five people were responsible for the contract drawn up with the security firm. She said the contract did not go through a legal review before being signed and implemented.
Also at the hearing, lawmakers learned that security had been tested at county courthouses in the state in 2015.
The Iowa Judicial Branch had a 2019 agreement with the security firm Coalfire, which employed Wynn and Demercurio.
The contract allowed Coalfire employees to attempt to physically gain access to the facilities and leave behind devices, such as thumb drives.
All testing was expected to be conducted during normal business hours during the week.
The agreement allowed for testing for happen outside of regular business hours but required special permission.
Committee chair Sinclair said Wynn and Demercurio were under the impression they were entering the buildings legally, but noted the state Judicial Branch contracting them did not have authority over county owned buildings.
Committee member Bisignano says the panel will wait until after the criminal cases involving Wynn and DeMercurio are resolved before making recommendations on what needs to be done next. "(It'll be) when we have a final conclusion of the report as to what really happened, because some of the law enforcement couldn't respond because of the ongoing criminal investigation," Bisignano said.
Sinclair said the committee could recommend a budget cut to the Judicial Branch as a penalty for the mishap. "I am not ruling out the possibility that budgetary impacts will take place because of the costs of all of this in the budgeting process come next session," said Sinclair.
Bisignano told WHO Radio News he would be against a budget cut to the Judicial Branch as a response to the courthouse break-ins. He noted Republicans and Democrats are sharply divided over how to handle the state's judicial system.