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Home Front: Politix
4 more punished over 'Joe the Plumber' searches
2008-11-23
Two more senior managers at the Ohio agency where computers were used to dig up information about "Joe the Plumber" have been suspended without pay for their roles in the searches, an official at the agency said Friday.
Let's consider this: suppose someone had confronted John McCain during a tour of a swing state, one that's controlled by Republicans. How about Indiana. Now suppose that officials in Indiana abused their positions to toss the files of said individual. And now suppose the Republican governor had passed out 2 and 4 week suspensions for the guilty officials.

Now ask: how do you think the MSM would have handled it?
Fred Williams, the Department of Job and Family Services' assistant director, will be placed on two weeks unpaid suspension beginning Monday, spokeswoman Scarlett Bouder said in a statement. Doug Thompson, the department's deputy director of child support, is facing a four-week unpaid suspension, also starting on Monday. Two other agency employees are facing disciplinary action based on conclusions reached Thursday by Ohio's government watchdog, she said.

The department's director, Helen Jones-Kelley, improperly ordered staff to look up records on Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, the Toledo-area man who became a household name in the final weeks of the presidential campaign, Ohio Inspector General Thomas Charles said in a report. Gov. Ted Strickland immediately ordered Jones-Kelley be placed on a one-month unpaid suspension after reviewing the report's findings.

Charles' report also outlines roles played by Williams and Thompson in the searches, as well as Paul Fraunholtz, the deputy director of family stability, and Judi Cicatiello, the deputy director of unemployment compensation.

Fraunholtz and Cicatiello will receive written reprimands, and all four employees must undergo ethics training on handling confidential data, Bouder said.
Posted by:Fred

#14  Any plaintiff's attorney's reading this, here's a question.

If nothing else, could Joe construct a claim of damages with a floor amount of the value of all the "unpaid" leaves and suspensions and vacations which are piling up? It seems the state is admitting damage to at least that extent. Now, the rest of his claims could be the damages above and beyond that, but the state as kindly started digging the hole their in.
Posted by: Jeremiah Thaise1218   2008-11-23 21:34  

#13  They could have at least used a clean sock.
Posted by: SteveS   2008-11-23 13:48  

#12  Now ask: how do you think the MSM Donk party propaganda organs would have handled it?

I believe its now been pretty well established that the MSM is simply the sock puppet of one party in the vast majority's perspective. The mask is off.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2008-11-23 11:39  

#11  As a state gov emply... a vacation now might have been hard to schedule with other staff .. so a mandated one simplifies the pleasure.
Posted by: 3dc   2008-11-23 11:34  

#10  We threw Taft out because the dumb ass couldn't say "No" to lobbists buying him golf outings. Strickland ran on the idea that he was the ethical candidate.

Plain as day, Strickland shows us that, in his mind, abuse of the public trust is no big deal.

Irony is so ironic - isn't it?
Posted by: GORT   2008-11-23 09:22  

#9  The election is over, but Joe the Plumber continues to root out evil in Ohio government. Hip, hip horray for Joe!
Posted by: Richard of Oregon   2008-11-23 08:46  

#8  And the somewhat clandestine 'Joe the Plumber' illegal gov't investigation went up the chain of command exactly how far? I smell more smelly fish in that pond.
Posted by: Besoeker   2008-11-23 08:12  

#7  Bet you, once the attention dies, they all get promoted.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2008-11-23 07:49  

#6  You notice that at first they were trying to blame the clerk that actually was ordered to do the search. Glad the blame is going in the direction of the Supervisors that actually ordered the search.
Posted by: tipover   2008-11-23 02:55  

#5  Legal recourse? Anyone can sue Bush, Cheney or Rove any time for anything. Joe probably can't get the time of day from the legal system on this mess...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2008-11-23 02:04  

#4  Does Joe have any legal recourse?
Posted by: One Eyed Mike N.   2008-11-23 01:56  

#3  Fred is right. If this had been republicans, the MSM would have gobe into a feeding frenzy.
Posted by: Mike N.   2008-11-23 01:54  

#2  If they'd been seaching medical records, it'd be a federal beef. As it is, it looks like RICO should apply here...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2008-11-23 01:07  

#1  Abuse of power.
Posted by: newc   2008-11-23 00:57  

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