I'm proud of my fellow Ohioan, Joe the Plumber.
Posted on 11/15/2008 6:02:03 AM PST by GOP_Lady
Joe the Plumber case still dripping -- Half-dozen agencies access records of Ohio man
By Dennis J. Willard, Akron Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, Nov 14, 2008
The election is over, but the Joe the Plumber case is not.
Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles said his office is now looking at a half-dozen agencies that accessed state records on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher.
The Beacon Journal has learned that, in addition to the Department of Job and Family Services, two other state offices — the Ohio Department of Taxation and Ohio Attorney General Nancy Rogers — conducted database searches of Joe the Plumber.
Wurzelbacher became an instant celebrity after he asked Barack Obama a series of questions in his Toledo driveway about the Democrat's tax policies.
In the third debate between Obama and Republican John McCain on Oct. 15, the candidates referred to Joe the Plumber more than 20 times.
The next day, the taxation department conducted two separate searches of a database of liens for unpaid taxes that were certified to the Ohio Attorney General's Office for collection.
John Kohlstrand, a taxation department spokesman, said he is prohibited from talking about individual taxpayers, but he confirmed that the databases were checked.
The searches were done to determine whether a lien placed against the individual was appropriate and whether it remained unpaid or not, Kohlstrand said.
The department's first search of the day was unsuccessful because of incorrect information about the individual, Kohlstrand said. Ohio Attorney General Nancy Rogers' office then contacted taxation because it was having difficulty accessing the database, Kohlstrand said. After the two agencies talked, taxation completed a successful search.
Kohlstrand said that the AG's office wanted access to the records so they could turn over to the national media lien information that was a public record in Lucas County. He said the national media did not have reporters in Toledo, so the attorney general's office was helping them out with public records.
On the day following the two searches, the taxation department conducted a search of another in-house database that tracks cases and correspondence between taxpayers and the department before the liens being certified and turned over to the attorney general for collection.
Rick Anthony, deputy tax commissioner, said there are times when a payment can be in the pipeline so a lien appears unpaid when in fact the taxpayer or business has repaid the state.
Anthony said the database searches on both days were conducted to ensure that the information in Lucas County was being properly reported by the media.
''Wouldn't that have been a disaster if the lien had been paid,'' Kohlstrand said. ''The responsible thing for us to do would be to take prompt steps to make it right.''
''We are not aware of any inappropriate browsing of information by anyone in our department pertaining to Mr. Wurzelbacher,'' Kohlstrand said.
Jim Gravelle, a spokesman for Attorney General Rogers, said he could not comment on individual records because of privacy issues. He said he would not confirm or deny that the AG's office went to taxation or whether his office had been queried by the inspector general.
The day after the debate, media outlets began reporting that Joe the Plumber's real name was Samuel, he was not a licensed plumber and he owed close to $1,200 in back taxes and additional money to a hospital.
His home was besieged by media outlets, including television crews that camped on his lawn.
Wurzelbacher had questioned Obama's plan to raise taxes for anyone with an income exceeding $250,000 because he planned to purchase his own plumbing business.
His current income made him eligible for a tax break under Obama's plan.
Wurzelbacher later endorsed McCain at a campaign stop in Ohio and hired the Pathfinder Management group in Nashville to manage his career.
Kohlstrand would not comment on an investigation by the inspector general, but Charles confirmed Thursday that he is looking into the taxation department to determine whether their searches were appropriate.
Charles said he does not know at this point if anyone in any of the agencies did anything wrong.
The inspector general began investigating after news reports surfaced that Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, ordered her agency to conduct background checks on Joe the Plumber.
Jones-Kelley maintains that her agency routinely checks on people who are thrust into the spotlight to determine whether they have unpaid child support bills, are receiving public support from her department or owe unemployment taxes.
After the election, Gov. Ted Strickland placed Jones-Kelley on paid leave. The governor said the suspension was for a matter unrelated to the background checks on Joe the Plumber.
I'm proud of my fellow Ohioan, Joe the Plumber.
Notheast Ohio PING, please. :-)
Half a dozen?! Holy cats.
Boy, I hope OH voters get darn mad about this.
And I hope Joe gets a lawyer and takes the people and agencies involved to the cleaners.
Note to OH taxpayers: Don't wanna get hosed again? Make sure your agencies clean up their act.
Hey, ho, way to go, Ohio rat dems.
If B/S was a rocket, this one would exploded on the pad.
Term limits should apply to all government employees.
How many times can this woman abuse power and get away with it? At the minimum she needs to be fired. And Nancy Rogers should resign.
” The Beacon Journal has learned that, in addition to the Department of Job and Family Services, two other state offices — the Ohio Department of Taxation and Ohio Attorney General Nancy Rogers — conducted database searches of Joe the Plumber. “
Remember Hillary’s “enemies list” and the FBI files??
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet — they can, and will, come after you.....
Especially since ethics don't seem to be part of the job requirement.
Don't do it or end up with a public flogging.
As for Joe the Plumber, I hope he decides to use an entire team of lawyers.
Two things are scary about this invstigation of Joe the Plumber. First, if the Obama campaign had anything to do with this, it just proves the thug reputation was right. Second, if the Obama campaign had nothing to do with this, (just perhaps insinuated it wanted to be rid of this pesky commoner) it proves the absolute insanity of those who wanted him elected and will, as another article pointed out, follow him into the fires of Hell and these were government officials who were ordering or authorizing this and yet it is the same thing as those thugs standing outside the Pennsylvania voting precinct with a billy club.
“He said the national media did not have reporters in Toledo, so the attorney general’s office was helping them out with public records.”
I’m sure the AG office “helps” people (read the media) all the time with public records... What a load of BS!
If one reads the article closely, there are some problems.
First of all, the OH AG mentioned that “they were trying to help the media in Toledo “ but then later in the article, the ‘Rats are bending over backwards to say “we cannot comment on a ongoing tax investigation”
Which is it? And what about the employee who the DHHS director ordered to conduct the search, why aren’t they included in the story?
Lawyers suing other lawyers; that never goes well for the aggrieved.
The personal life.
Some people should start covering their tracks now, because after 4 years in the White House, the 0 administration will have quite a hit list by 2012.
Not so fast with the broad brush!
FrogDad is a government employee. He works for DoD. After 24 years of honorable active duty in the military, they pay him to teach his area of expertise to young soldiers. Who better to do that?
There ARE valuable Civil Servants.
What's that all about?
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