"Hi fans.........We routinely check everyone whose name comes up in the media.
This had nothing to do with Obama.....(tee hee)"
Posted on 11/13/2008 2:47:34 PM PST by Mount Athos
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has no records to support the assertion of its now-suspended director that computer checks often are run on people "thrust quickly into the public spotlight."
In response to a public-records request, the state agency said today that it had no records involving prior checks of the type that Director Helen Jones-Kelley authorized on "Joe the Plumber."
Ohio's inspector general is investigating the legality of inquiries in agency computer systems for personal information on Toledo-area resident Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who was popularized by Republican John McCain.
Gov. Ted Strickland placed Jones-Kelley on paid leave Friday after e-mails requested by The Dispatch revealed that she had used her state e-mail account to help raise campaign funds for President-Elect Barack Obama.
The Dispatch uncovered that Jones-Kelley ran a check on Wurzelbacher through her agency's child-support computer system. She later said that checks also were run in public assistance and unemployment-compensation tax databases.
Jones-Kelley, a Democrat appointee who contributed $5,000 to Obama campaign funds, said there were no political motives behind the checks run the day after the Oct. 15 presidential debate featuring "Joe the Plumber."
She wrote later that "consistent with past departmental practice," the agency checked if Wurzelbacher was receiving public aid or owed taxes or child-support because he indicated he had the money to buy a plumbing business.
Republicans denounced the reason for the checks as flimsy. The state agency has no policy addressing computer checks on the newly rich or famous. County officials, and the state employee who ran the child-support check on "Joe," said they were unfamiliar with the practice.
The agency does not keep records on whose confidential records are accessed, said Brian Harter, spokesman for the Department of Job and Family Services.
As an example of checking on someone who may have come into money, Jones-Kelley cited a case where a lottery winner was found to owe child support. State law requires checks on those who win more than $600 in the lottery to determine if they owe support.
The Dispatch requested Jones-Kelley's recent telephone records on Oct. 29, but they have not been provided. Agency officials said they are working with the state vendor to obtain her October phone records.
Inspector General Thomas P. Charles, who also is digging into the use of state resources to benefit a political campaign, says his investigation "remains a work in progress." He would not estimate when it may be finished.
Sue her #$$, Joe!!
What a lying beeyotch!
She’ll probably get a job in the Obama Administration.
Just fire the liar.
She needs to go to jail.
Wow, what a plot twist! Who could have predicted that somebody unethical enough to use government computers in a partisan effort to spy on a private citizen would lie and try to cover up the crime?
“Paid leave.” Now, there is a disincentive to bad behavior!
They oughta grab her home computer too!
IIRC, Joe is suing their collective @sses.
Nope. It has to done nice and proper with full evidence, otherwise it will only take one judge to feel sorry for her had force the state to rehire her with all back pay and benefits. Sure, she could find a real moonbat would force her to be hired even if she killed someone on national TV, but making sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed will reduce that chance greatly.
He never said he had the money to nuy the business- he just hoped some day he would.
Maybe she will be drafted into an Obama administration mandatory language arts camp.
"Hi fans.........We routinely check everyone whose name comes up in the media.
This had nothing to do with Obama.....(tee hee)"
Nice paid leave=paid vacation. Maybe she'll use her free time to raise more $ for Barry.
I hope that Jone-Kelley's acting director routinely checks her....
She needs to get fined, fired, then sent to jail.
Goto Jail: Don’t pass GO and don’t collect $200.
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