Welfare Head, Joe Plumber Spy Resigns
From a heartbroken Associated Press:
Agency Director Resigns After Spying on ‘Joe the Plumber’ on State Computers
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley quit after accusations arose that she improperly used state computers to access personal information on "Joe the Plumber."
CINCINNATI — An Ohio agency director resigned Wednesday in the wake of a finding that she improperly used state computers to access personal information on the man who became known as "Joe the Plumber" during the presidential campaign…
Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley said in a statement accompanying her resignation that she won’t allow her reputation to be disparaged and that she is concerned for her family’s safety.
"This decision comes after a time of pause, in which I realize that I continue to be used as a political postscript, providing a distraction from urgent state priorities," she said in her statement…
Gov. Ted Strickland suspended Jones-Kelley for a month without pay after the Ohio Inspector General’s office found in November that she improperly used state computers to find personal information on Samuel Wurzelbacher. The investigation also found that she conducted improper political fundraising activity for now President-elect Barack Obama…
Investigators could not confirm that Jones-Kelley accessed the records of Wurzelbacher with political gain in mind. His report did indicate that she had used her personal Blackberry to send the Obama fundraising requests — though it was synched up to state equipment…
Two top-level members of Jones-Kelley’s staff also will be leaving the department, said agency spokeswoman Scarlett Bouder.
Fred Williams, the department’s assistant director, will resign effective Jan. 31 and the agency is revoking Doug Thompson’s position as deputy director of child support effective Dec. 22, she said.
Both had been suspended from their positions after being implicated in the computer records search.
Ohio lawmakers are expected to pass a bill Thursday that requires state agencies to determine proper circumstances for records to be checked and to authorize only specific individuals to perform those checks.
Unsurprisingly, this AP report actually plays down the extent to which Ms. Jones-Kelley suffered from Obama-mania.
Besides contributing the maximum amount to his run, Ms. Jones-Kelley also sent the campaign a list of potential contributors, before their visit to the area.
She also offered to host a party for the wondrous Michelle. – All via the state’s computers.
(Indeed, one wonders where she got the list of potential contributors.)
And of course, on top of that, she had used the state computers and employees to do opposition research on Mr. Wurzelbacher – for his crime of asking a question to the Anointed One.
Yet she was not fired. She has decided to resign. To protect her reputation and family.
And probably to pave the way for an even higher paying job in the Obama administration.
Well that’s the best news I’ve head all day but she should have been sacked. She should be going to jail. LOSER.
I love this: She is resigning in order to protect her reputation of high standards and ethics, and “that she is concerned for her family’s safety.”
What a cheap, typical, reaction of low-class people like her. Not enough integrity in her to simply, “take it like a man”, and admit wrongdoings, is there? Same kind of low-rent trash mentality of the Illinois governor right now. He can’t be a man, and admit his errors in judgement and deed.
These people exist in a different world than how I was raised. Where I come from, if you do something wrong, then get caught, then you have NO ONE ELSE to blame but yourself, and must admit your crimes. When you’re a regular man you end up jail for much less than what Jones-Kelly and Blagojevich have done. We can’t get away with trying to “flip the script” on society (the poor thing was suffering from all of those backwards Ohio racists who were assaulting her saintly reputation, plus “threatening” her family) with the kind of legal defense we can afford.
Both of these Democrats should be prosecuted.
And you’re right, Admin–she’ll probably end up in the Clinton, er, I mean, Obama politburo.
The fact she clearly violated Joe W’s 1st amendment rights and possibly 4th and arguably 5th.. it is something which needs to be approached as a heavy penalty situation. I think charges are appropriate, and at the very least a civil suit against the agency for an exorbitant amount to prevent such happenings in the future.
I am a pretty activist type of person.. If I had an inkling someone was perusing my “private” government records, I would be very clear in my attempts to penalize those who assume such activities are OK.