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Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, resigned last night near the end of a monthlong, unpaid suspension for mining state computers for confidential information on "Joe the Plumber." Two senior managers suspended for their roles in the scandal that spiced this year's presidential campaign also are leaving, The Dispatch has learned. The administration fired Doug Thompson, deputy director of child support. Fred Williams, assistant agency director, resigned effective Jan. 31. The action came soon after the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved a measure cracking down on state workers who improperly conduct checks involving Ohioans' personal...

State official resigns over 'Joe the Plumber' affair Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:54 PM Updated: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 07:38 PM By Catherine Candisky THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Helen Jones-Kelley, the state official placed on unpaid leave for improperly accessing confidential information from state databases on "Joe the Plumber," has resigned. Two senior managers involved in the incident also are leaving, The Dispatch has learned.. Jones-Kelley was scheduled to return to work as director of the Department of Job and Family Services on Monday following a one-month suspension without pay. Today's action comes just hours after the Senate approved a measure...

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...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Police Cheif): If your intention in going inside the fire station is to trap her in a room and talk to her, that's not going to happen. JESSE WATTERS, "FACTOR" PRODUCER: I don't want to trap her. I just want to convey... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much clearer can I make it that she doesn't want to talk to you? Does she — do you have to make her talk to you? Is that your right to make her talk to you? WATTERS: What I'm saying is she's — her salary is paid for by the taxpayers. She maxed...

State employee says she was ordered to check out Joe the Plumber Friday, October 31, 2008 8:21 PM By Randy Ludlow The Columbus Dispatch Vanessa Niekamp said that when was asked to run a child-support check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16, she thought it routine. A supervisor told her the man had contacted the state agency about his case. Niekamp didn't know she just had checked on "Joe the Plumber," who was elevated the night before to presidential politics prominence as Republican John McCain's example in a debate of an average American. The senior manager would not learn...

Finally it comes out. One of the people that OK'd looking into Joe Wurzelbacher's official records was none other than a strong Obama supporter that "just happens" to work for the state of Ohio in a high position of authority. But of course she claims that it was merely a routine check with no political motivations. Uh huh. Inspector general investigating access to Joe the Plumber's personal information Ohio's inspector general is investigating why a state agency director approved checking the state child-support computer system for information on "Joe the Plumber." Helen Jones-Kelly, director of the Ohio Department of Job...

If Joe the Plumber were Jawad the Suspected Terrorist, civil-liberties activists would stampede the halls of Congress on his behalf. Liberal columnists would hyperventilate over the outrageous invasions of his privacy by Ohio state and local employees. The ACLU would demand the Big Brother snoopers’ heads. And Democratic leaders would convene immediate hearings and parade him around the Beltway as the new poster boy/victim of unlawful domestic spying. But because peaceful American citizen Joe Wurzelbacher is an outspoken enemy of socialism, rather than an enemy of America, the defenders of privacy have responded to his plight with an impenetrable cone...

A state agency has revealed that its checks of computer systems for potential information on "Joe the Plumber" were more extensive than it first acknowledged. Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, disclosed today that computer inquiries on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher were not restricted to a child-support system. The agency also checked Wurzelbacher in its computer systems to determine whether he was receiving welfare assistance or owed unemployment compensation taxes, she wrote. Jones-Kelley made the revelations in a letter to Ohio Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, who demanded answers on why state officials checked...

Ohio's Head of Job and Family Services Approved a Child-Support Search on Joe Wurzelbacher Immediately After Third Debate; Her Excuse? "Oh, We Always Do That" Confirmed: Max Donor to Obama Helen Jones-Kelley (two e's in Kelley) just happens to be a maximum $2300 contributor to Barack Obama.