Report Blasts "Joe The Plumber" Probe

Ohio Government Watchdog Says Campaign Figure's Privacy Violated Inappropriately

(AP)  An agency director improperly used state computers to find personal information on a McCain supporter who became known as "Joe the Plumber" during the presidential campaign, Ohio's government watchdog said in a report released Thursday.

There was no legitimate business purpose for the head of Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services, Helen Jones-Kelley, to order staff to look up the records, Inspector General Tom Charles said.

"All these searches were done in the midst of a national political campaign," the report said. "But we did not find any evidence that shows the data was accessed or information released in response to media requests in an effort to support any political activity or agenda."

Gov. Ted Strickland announced Thursday he was immediately placing Jones-Kelley on a one-month unpaid suspension after reviewing the findings.

Jones-Kelley said she accepts Charles' findings and should not have allowed the database searches.

"While there is a disagreement as to whether those searches were done for legitimate business purposes, my only intent was to fulfill my agency's fiduciary responsibilities to Ohio's families," she told the Dayton Daily News in a statement. "I am committed to implementing agency procedures which better protect confidential, personal information."

Strickland rejected a request from Senate President Bill Harris, a Republican, to fire Jones-Kelly for abusing her power.

Auditor Mary Taylor, the lone Republican holding a statewide office, also asked Strickland to fire Jones-Kelley or to ask for her resignation.

"We need to restore accountability and transparency in government and send a message to Ohioans that the misuse and abuse of personal information will not be tolerated," she said.

Strickland, a Democrat, earlier this month had placed Jones-Kelley on paid leave over separate allegations that a state computer or state e-mail account was used to assist in political fundraising.

The inspector general's report concluded that she used state e-mail to provide a list of names of potential contributors to Democrat Barack Obama's campaign.

Jones-Kelley, seen at left, told investigators she thought the e-mails sent on her personal BlackBerry were going through her personal e-mail account.

The report also looked into 18 background checks into Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, the Toledo-area man known as Joe the Plumber who became a household name in the final weeks of the presidential campaign after he asked Obama about his tax plan at a campaign stop near Toledo.

Eight of those checks were done without any legitimate business purpose, the report said. Charles recommended tighter policies on access to confidential information in state computer databases.

"The withering media attention that Wurzelbacher received does not provide justification for state officials and employees to have conducted the wide range of searches that were done on a private citizen," the report said.

The findings have been forwarded to the Franklin County prosecutor's office in Columbus.

Jones-Kelley has said the searches of Wurzelbacher's records were part of routine checks her agency conducts when someone suddenly emerges in the limelight.

She also said records were checked because Wurzelbacher had indicated he might buy a business and it was determined that he owed back taxes. She also said the department wanted to make sure appropriate actions were taken if he owed child support, received public assistance or owed unemployment compensation taxes.

Jones-Kelley's reasoning was at times contradictory, inconsistent and ambiguous, the inspector general's report said.

It also found no policies or procedures to support her claim that it was the agency's practice to look into someone thrust in the spotlight.

As Wurzelbacher's profile was elevated in Republican John McCain's campaign, criticism over the Ohio search rose to a fever pitch.

Republicans were furious that Wurzelbacher was targeted, saying that he was simply a private citizen who stood up and questioned the Democratic presidential candidate.

Wurzelbacher did not answer his phone Thursday, and his voicemail box was full.

[jamshied]

SO, REPUBLICANS WERE FURIOUS BECAUSE JOE WAS EXPOSED AND WAS PROVEN TO BE A FRAUDE AND FAKE. HE WAS NOT ACTUALLY A PLUMBERS, HE DID NOT HAVE A PL;UMBING BUSINES NOR HE WAS IN A POSITION TO BUY A BUSINESS THAT WILL GAKE 250G PER YEAR.

BUT ALL IN ALL, JOE THE-NO-PLUMBER BENEFITTED FROM THIS RATHER THAN BEING HURT; HE GOT TV SHOW APPEARANCES, INTERVIEWS, ETC. AND WITH HIS GOP FRIENDS, HE WANTS TO RUN FOR GONGRESS 1N 2010.(lol)

[ohioboomer]

Wah,wah, wah, Joe. You just want to keep your popularity (with whom I don''t know) going and hope to make some jack while doing it. Just like that sarah pain-lin. Will the bullcrap ever stop? The media needs to move on. We are much more interested in things other than the current prattle going on.......

[adeshpande]

Follow Joe the Plumber on Line Spout. http://www.linespout.com?q=joe+the plumber

[kansas1946]

yeah wanna see how obama is going to treat the middle class??? check out how they did ol joe the plumber....


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Posted by mommajommah at 03:58 PM : Nov 21, 2008
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LOL. Joe the plumber is a joke. He is a right-wing whacko, not a plumber, and was just placed to try and trip up Obama. He has had his fifteem minutes. Time ofr Joe the Plumber to be retired to the campaign trivia game section.

Joe is a Joke. McCain lame attempt to divert attention from Bush fail war in Iraq that he supported.

[wtcmedic911]

I am amazed by whay used to be the warm and fuzzy love, acceptance of the dem. party. where is it now? even if joe was a plant and it turns out he''s a handyman the Elitist snobbery of the new liberal party is sad. Dems used to the the party of the common man. now its the party of what they used to snear at..... as we rep. have learned pride goes before a fall. Step gently dems.....

[tigerrram9]

Joe the plumber brought this on himself, not Obama. President Elect Obama had nothing to do with Joe the plumber. I truly believe he was sent in by the McCain staff to ask the question, knowing he was lying. He didn''t even own a business or make 250G. He was a stooge sent in by the GOP and it backfired on McCain-Palin. Joe was the one rallying the Republicans at the rallies, so don''t say he was an innocent Joe who just asked a question. Tell the truth Joe, Who sent you in to ask the question? The truth will set you free. NO PALIN for 2012 or Joe the plumber either. America has spoken and spoken loud and clear, No Palin for 2012(check out the electoral vote count). No Palin 2012 that is the message in the number count, take that to the bank.

[farouk7]

yeah wanna see how obama is going to treat the middle class??? check out how they did ol joe the plumber....

Posted by mommajommah at 03:58 PM : Nov 21, 2008
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J0E THE DUMBER is not a part of the middle class! He has a lot of class - but it''s all LOW.

[mommajommah]

yeah wanna see how obama is going to treat the middle class??? check out how they did ol joe the plumber....

[farouk7]

The funny part of this whole phenomenon was that it seriously backfired for McCain, and it made Wurzelbacher look like an idiot.

Posted by raflin0010
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Isn''t that the way he always looked - what''s new?