Loose Ends: Joe the Plumber's Records-Searcher Punished

The only crime for which Administrator Helen Jones-Kelly is guilty: is that she didn't do a more complete record search on all the political plants in all aspects of Ohio government and media and donors and bloggers.

I cannot believe that she still has her job! And not once has she even apologized or admitted doing any wrong. Regardless of parties or politics, how can this type of behavior be excused? And why isn't the media all over this instead of just 2 and 3 paragraphs on the internet?

There are two kinds of people. Those who want to be Right all the time and those who want to be Correct. We all run into those people who want to be Right all the
time. We just blow them off. The only people they fool is themselves. People who want to be Correct don't mind being corrected. It makes you more humble and more of a whole person. Truth certainly sets us all free. Lets stop trying to be Right and look for the truth together. After all, we're all in this together and either can lose a lot together, or, can take back our country together.

Obama was born of an american mother.
he was born in america 50th state Hawaii
that makes him a citizen.

poor old alan keyes,he really should find something to do that would be of a real help to someone else-other than himself. the work he does, especially in this area must be very disturbing to his spirit.

This is a empeachable offense, but Obama will NEVER be president anyway.

Have you heard? ALL of Californias electoral votes MUST be awarded to Ambasadoor Alan Keyes! The reason is that California law requires the president to be a "natural born" citizen.

Obama did not have a natural birth, so he is out. McCain was born in Panama, so the California Secretary of State cannot award the votes to him. This leaves Ambasador Keyes as the remaining one on the ballot.

This is a HUGE loose of electoral votes for Obama. We may yet have the first black president, but it will be KEYES, NOT OBAMA!

Hold on to your hats my friends. This ELECTION IS NOT OVER YET!

Whistleblowers of all party stripes should be encuraged and rewarded. Let's always be on the lokout for the truth. Maybe we could find it easier if we could just look it up with our own access to records and databases.

We'd all be better off if we as a nation, became stakeholders in the pursuit of the truth. Let's demand access to all records. Make all information records be free, open and available to us all.

Wouldn't if be grand to be able to confirm the truth behind rumours if they're true and reject all those nasty lies, suspicions and slander with just a click of the mouse. All records should be available to everyone online for free so that alll citizens can see what is true and what is manipulated and who is saying what about who for what purpose.

Funny how Republican partisans now want the Ohio Administrator punished because her revelations seemed to be in favor of candidate Obama, but they long ago praised the revelations coming from Whitehouse Administrator Linda Tripp when her revelations exposed former President Clinton's misdeeds with Monica Lewinsky. Should both these events be treated as "a breach of privacy"?

Truth it seems is in the eye of the beholders and patriotic justification is always relative.

What seems to be lost is the notion of who works for whom.

Does Strickland and H-J-K work for Obama or the people of Ohio?

30-days unpaid leave for helping BHO? That's a new bulleted item on her resume!!!

The shallow partisan commentaries here
show the impact of a failed public school system. The real issue here is that for the first time, a common citizen's rights and privacy were trampled on for the sake of a campaign for someone who wants a job working for us. a total of 4 public servants so far have been implicated (all managers). If this issue is allowed to pass, we all can wait for that knock on the door in the middle of the night.

Maybe the ACLU knows more than you all about Joe Wurzelplumber and his background, and they don't want to ruin their credibility by getting involved with a political plant. There are suspicious associations, coincidences, and contradictions involved that point to him being just that.

I think that immediately after Joe the Plumber becomes a law-abiding licensed plumber, he should go about his celebrity.

I hope somebody takes a collection for the woman that exposed Joe the Plumber and and also helped win this election for Obama.

DL
I agree. Her employer can make a judgement call but Joe should pursue this in court.

Democrat here. I would sue her.

Get over it all you guys and gals that
voted. Obama won the election. Joe the
plumber doesn't matter at this point.

It's amazing to hear all these democrats here who have been screaming about Bush wiretaps and Bush peering into their private lives over the last eight years flip on a dime and now advocate a policy of -zero privacy for anyone- simply because their man is in office.

OH:

I find it most often happens that 'right wingers' come here, bring up race and then accuse others of throwing racism in their faces.

That's the truth of the ploy . . . and you've demonstrated it yet again.

"If it came out that Obama had a half-aunt that was here illegally - and that info was public (as was Joe's), I'd consider it a very important fact about our nation's potential leader."

That information did come out but was broken by a foreign news service since american media is completely biased. Looking up private records for her would be no better than doing it for any private citizen.

It really is odd that there is such outrage about this lady. "Fire her?". Sheesh, she's just some worked up woman who was sure that this guy was a total fake.

Pretty sad. And, as a republican, I've got to say, after listening to the shrieking children on the right desperate for some consolation prize, I'm looking for a different party.

Posted by: Dan

First off I seriously doubt you are a republican. Judging how you say it is "patriotic" to look up an average citizen and not Obama gives this away. It sounds like you are one of the angry liberals who are mad that an average citizen could pull Obama out of his shell and reveal some of his true intentions.

If you are a republican please do find another party.

It really is odd that there is such outrage about this lady. "Fire her?". Sheesh, she's just some worked up woman who was sure that this guy was a total fake. Personally, I'm pleased that we have obvious evidence that the GOP was using this guy as a tool to fool the rest of the nation. Moreover, is this how McCain would have led? Validating his theories and policies on liars?
If it came out that Obama had a half-aunt that was here illegally - and that info was public (as was Joe's), I'd consider it a very important fact about our nation's potential leader. Facts in a race like this seemed to be far and few between. I'd consider the person looking that up to be "responsible" and someone who is truly patriotic. She did some wrong, and deserves some punishment... perhaps, but this is no different than someone who catches a mugger and then get's arrested for punching him too hard.

My favorite argument is, "If the GOP had done this heads would roll!!". True or false, it is this attitude that is constantly excusing politicians from idiotic actions. Rather than dealing with the actual problem, they choose to deal with some fantasy result that didn't actually happen.... IF it benefits their argument of the day.

Pretty sad. And, as a republican, I've got to say, after listening to the shrieking children on the right desperate for some consolation prize, I'm looking for a different party.

Let's throw open all the databases. I say: Open Records for all. If a piece of information is recorded, it should be open for examination by all. There are plenty of examples of false and flawed information in records. There are plenty of examples of misbegotten wealth, priviledge and position based on lies, falsehoods, exagerations and unverifiable claims. Let's all trust...but verify and put ALL information in the hands of the PEOPLE.

Kudos to the democrats on this board who are advocating fairness. There are many good conservatives and liberals who do believe in things like fair treatment under the law and they see the hyprocrisy. I am a conservative (not neo-con, not religious, actual conservative) and am smart enough to recognize both parties have been hijacked.

Just as hopefully the GOPs loss will force some of the neocons out and spring real conservative leadership I hope that the sane minded democrats can oust the extremist left that has taken over the democratic party.

To the democrats on the board who are saying probing a private citizens record is ok you are total hypocrites. You might as well not EVER say anything about the patriot act, or ANY invasion of privacy issue.

It's sad that the ACLU and other privacy groups have become so blatently biased along with the MSM. Regardless of your political affiliations america is losing out fast. An unethical and biased media can turn on anyone they please. Hopefully levelheaded democrats can see this obvious bias and we can all figure out a way to try to avoid the complete decimation of any credible media left in the US.

It's sad when I have to go to reuters or another foreign news source to get a more accurate picture of US events.

I think the Governor's decision was very fair and sent a much needed message.

In my state, all personal property records are online for the public and easy to search. Joe's not paying his personal property taxes would have shown on the state web server for the world to see.

If his ex had file a case for the unpaid child support that information would also be available for the world to see.

I cringe when Obama and others talk about one database for all health care history to make it cheaper for insurance and the medical profession. Working in the computer security area, I know how easy it can be to access the information. There are usually a large numbr of IT staff with access to 100 percent. In addition, the initial cost for one database will be huge and likely to fail from being to complex.

Think how many people in the Bush administration would be on unpaid punishment. Are the people at immigrations going to be punished for breaking a law by releasing private information about Obama's half-aunt? The head person is leaving because a Democrat was elected and because she is already very unpopular with the Democrats in Congress. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) tried to hold up her appointment. McCaskill kept asking her for a list of businesses that had been fined for hiring illegals. After considerable stalling the answer was none. Typical Republican go after the little people but not the big companies that save money by hiring illegals.

The amount of what should be private information is now easily available.

My state has a huge amount of information on a public web site. It can be a good dating tool - check how much a person's personal property is worth, all court cases.