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We all know that Kelley’s staff took a peek at Joe’s entries in their databases, but correct me if I’m wrong — isn’t that information public?  Granted, they didn’t go about it the right way — they could have called a journalist and asked them to do a public records request – but what’s Joe stand to gain?

Oh, that’s right, money.  There he is, one of  Republicanland’s standard bearers engaging in frivolously lawsuiting.  Didn’t Joe get the Republican talking points on use of the legal system?  The legal system is only for large, multi-national corporations wishing to avoid paying taxes.  It’s not for regular Joes.

Here’s what the AP reported:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — “Joe the Plumber” is suing three former state officials in Ohio, saying they violated his privacy when they gathered his personal information in a records search.

Samuel J. Wurzelbacher says in the federal lawsuit filed Thursday that he suffered emotional distress, harassment, humiliation and embarrassment as a result of their actions. He’s seeking unspecified punitive damages.

The lawsuit names Helen Jones-Kelley, who resigned in December as director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, and two assistants.

Ohio’s inspector general found that Jones-Kelley improperly used state computers to find personal information on Wurzelbacher, a Toledo-area man who rose to fame during the presidential campaign after asking Barack Obama about his tax plan.

The bill, which passed the Ohio House last week, originally would have had the state retro-fitting hundreds of software applications so that they would create an electronic record each time a record was accessed.  Any time you change one part of a piece of software, especially the way in which it stores, gathers or retrieves data, you’re talking a major project.  Thousands or tens of thousands of lines of code could be involved.  The people that do this sort of work are generally contractors to the state who make between $100 -250 per hour. 

The Strickland Administration hurriedly conducted a study of state agencies and their major software apps and determined that the bill could cost the state $100 million.  Remember, as wrong as Helen Jones Kelley’s and her staff’s actions were, there is no evidence that the state of Ohio has a broad problem with state employees misusing state data.  The study was conducted in a hurry because House and Senate Republicans are hell-bent to make some political hay on the Joe the Plumber data fiasco.

The Plain Dealer editorial takes the Cleveland House delegation and Strickland to task for not supporting the bill.  That’s fine if the editorial board or writer has come to an informed opinion.  On this one, it doesn’t appear that is the case.

There is no mention of why the Administration did a “less than three-day” study – the demands of a partisan, lame duck legislature.  The PD uses terms like “suspect math” to describe the Administration’s numbers.  In order to do justice to the issues of IT management which the hastily composed bill addresses, most businesses the size of the state of Ohio would take weeks or months to assess each of the hundreds of software apps.

Finally is this:

Consider one questionable example: According to the LSC, the survey reported that the pertinent computers are accessed 1.3 million times a day and that 120,000 people, including state contractors, “have access to this information.” Although the LSC didn’t say so, those 1.3 million data queries include checks generated by standard police traffic stops. 

The LSC refers to the Legislative Services Commission, a non-partisan, over-worked and under-funded group that does research and analysis for legislators.  The number 120,000 jumped off the page at me because I know there are only around 60,000 state employees, the majority of which don’t have access to taxpayers’ sensitive data.

I did some checking.  The LSC was provided the data collected by the Administration.  Many of the state’s software apps were listed with the number of users.  For instance, OAKS – the state’s accounting and payroll software – has a state employee interface so that employees can request leave, check their paychecks and make benefits selections.  Every single state employee has access to their own record.  So in the user column, a number around 60,000 was listed.  Department by department applications were listed.  Employees were counted more than once because they were represented as a user for each application they have rights to use. 

The LSC was told there wasn’t time to clean duplicates out of the data, nor was there time to take employees who don’t have access to sensitive data out of the numbers for OAKS users.  Apparently the LSC forgot to tell the math whiz at the PD’s editorial desk. 

What the PD has done has added yet more useless noise and misinformation to a human resources issue that has become a political issue.  I know the Op-Ed page is a place for opinion, too bad it’s not a place at the PD for informed opinion on this issue.

In 2007, they unanimously passed a budget through both houses, something which had eluded them in recent memory – even with a Republican governor.  Strickland, very often the only adult in the room at the state capitol, dragged them into an energy bill that ended up being good legislation and great public policy – making everyone happy.  He has fostered a sense of comity between the executive and legislative branches – a divide that could have grown deeper under the control of different parties – by meeting regularly with Senate President Bill Harris and House Speaker Jon Husted.  In short, Strickland has lived up to his promise to work in a bipartisan manner with the leglislators to get the business of the people done.

How do they repay him?  Let’s take two examples from the current lame duck session, also known as the death throes of the blow-dry Jonny Husted Republican House.

First is the long-simmering debate and bill to give veterans a bonus.  In years past, Ohio has rewarded its veterans of foreign wars and other conflicts with a cash payment or bonus.  These bonuses were paid for through the issuance of bonds so as to not draw on current state cash resources which are normally scarce.

The issue has come up again and would generally reward veterans of the first Gulf War and current Iraq and Afghanistan vets with a $1,000 bonus for their service.  Husted was against the idea from the start, but Harris supported it.  A bill passed the Senate which would fund the bonuses through bonds.  Strickland said he would sign the legislation.

Now, as a last exercise of power for the sake of exercising it, Husted is pushing a bill through the House which would fund the bonuses through the state’s rainy day fund.  Doesn’t sound real smart when we face a $7 billion budget gap moving into the next biennium, does it?  Strickland, again the adult in the room, said it would be irresponsible to tap the rainy day fund for anything short of dealing with the economic storm we are entering.  It’s obvious that all Jon Husted wants to do is create a situation where Strickland will have to veto a veterans bill.  Let’s hope Ohio’s veterans see this petty political act for what it is.

Next is House Bill 648, aka The Joe the Plumber Bill.  Courtesy of ODJFS and the misstep of a handful of public servants, the savants in the Republican legislature have decided to bring down the blunt instrument of ill-conceived legislation on the privacy issue.

Put simply, the bill would require state agencies to retool hundreds of software systems to individually track and record every single transaction of a state employee accessing a computerized record.  Since the Republican Senate and House Caucuses pulled this legislation from their collective ass, there was no study of the fiscal impact.  In the few days that the Administration has had to look at the issue, the price tag for retooling these systems is estimated to begin at around $100 million.

What the Republicans are mad about is the two or three instances when Joe Wurzelbacher’s state records were accessed for no other reason than prurient political interest.  There’s no evidence that state employees are running rampant through the files of citizens for no good reason.  There was this instance which was dealt with by disciplining several people.

There is still time before next week to correct course on both of these bills.  If the legislature doesn’t, then they will be left with the legacy of screwing up a veterans bonus and costing the taxpayers millions of dollars to make a political point.

• Long lines – yes; longer hours – maybe
  
• GOP gets earful for answers on survey
  
• Mailers are making the TV ads look lame
  
• Boehner demands monitors at polls
  
• GOP volunteers steer up votes
  
• Paper ballot must be offered if poll is busy
  
• Biden, Clinton visit Southern Ohio
  
• Governator stumps for McCain
  
• Worker who checked on ‘Joe’ speaks
  

The Plain Dealer

• McCain predicts comeback victory; Obama advisers skeptical
  
• Multiple absentee ballots sent to some Ohio voters
  
• Op-Ed, Joe Frolik: Election Day Primer
  
• Op-Ed, Kevin O’Brien: Obama a Socialist
  

(Editor’s Note: Op-Ed, Pelikan: Kevin O’Brien is a douche bag)

Youngstown Vindicator

• Most at YSU couldn’t see or hear McCain
  

Dayton Daily News

• Biden derides McCain in Kettering
  
• Boehner’s name-calling desperate: Obama Aide
  
• McCain keeps up attacks on Obama
  

Akron Beacon Journal

• Race to finish in search of votes
• Voters make up minds to try something new
• Editorial: Plumbing for Answers
• Editorial: Lying about his record
• Op-Ed, Steve Hoffman: Why wait for Tuesday? Here’s the deal …

Cincinnati Enquirer

• CT man voted here
  
• Political fliers at churches slammed
  
• Down to the wire, Obama, Palin coming
  

Toledo Blade

• MI woman heads south to door knock
  
• Bus tour rolls into Bowling Green
  
• Boehner appears in Perrysburg
  
• ‘Terminator’ Rallies McCain Faithful
  
• Biden denounces Bush legacy in Lima
  
• Op-Ed, Reg Henry: We’re all runners in this race

• McCain camp sees gap tightening in battleground states
  
• Clinton talks up Obama in Youngstown
  
• In So. Ohio Hillary says Nation needs Obama
  
• Obama army blankets Ohio
  
• Editorial: Sex, Lies and Gifts
  
• The Arnold heading to Columbus
  
• GOP says sorry to House Democrat
  
• Obama likes Clinton vet to serve as CoS
  

Cleveland Plain Dealer

• Clinton, Strickland stump for Obama
  
• McCain ends bus trip with muscle
  
• Springsteen campaigns for Obama this weekend in Cleveland
  
• McCain’s third stop leaves open field
  
• McCain gives shout out to ‘Joe the Plumber’ relatives
  

Dayton Daily News

• Election Board to probe Husted’s Residency
  
• Boehner calls Obama barnyard name
  
• Biden calls McCain Bush’s Sidekick in Kettering
  
• McCain, ‘Joe the Plumber’ draw crowds across Ohio
  
• Judge throws out suit to take Obama off Ohio ballots

• Clinton boosts Obama with Ohio appearances
  
• Obama dips but still has comfortable lead
  
• Down in polls, McCain tells Ohio crowd he’s coming back

• Feds won’t make Brunner reveal voter mismatches
• Schwarzenegger says McCain in uphill battle
• Palin revs up Chillicothe
• Local pastors emphasize duty to vote
• Agency head defends ‘Joe’ searches
  

Recent Coverage by Cleveland Plain Dealer

• Day of the Plumber
  
• FAQ on Casino question
  
• ‘Joe the Plumber’ joins McCain roadshow in Sandusky
  
• Secy State cancels cross-checking of Ohio’s voters
  
• McCain in Defiance, Ohio reverts to name calling
  

Recent Coverage by Toledo Blade

• McCain tells Defiance crowd he’ll cut taxes
  
• Rush Limbaugh blasts Kaptur
  
• Palin joins ‘Joe’ in Bowling Green
  
• Ohio elections chief: Scrap voter database
  

Recent Coverage by Dayton Daily News

• Ben Stiller ‘Rocks the Vote’ at UD
• Judge to rule Friday on Ohio man’s attempt to kick Obama off Ohio ballot
• Payday Lending pays over $3 million for signatures
• Joe the Plumber hires Nashville publicity team

• Endorsement: Obama for President – The Plain Dealer
• Endorsement: McCain for President – Columbus Dispatch
• Presidential campaigns get in voters’ heads – Columbus Dispatch
• Husted: Just where does he live? – Dayton Daily News
• Husteds taking property tax breaks in two places – Dayton Daily News
• New suit over voter registrations goes to Ohio’s top court
  – Dayton Daily News
• Plenty of puzzles in Ohio voter registration data – Cincinnati Enquirer
• McCain returns to Ohio with Joe on his mind
  – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Barring unforeseen, Ohio won’t be key to White House – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: With plenty of ugliness to go, let’s get this over with – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Ohio should beat casinos to the punch – The Plain Dealer

Toledo Blade Special Report: State of Distress

Homepage for Day 1 of 3: Job losses, poverty sting Ohio over last 8 years

What follows is some of the news coverage of the man, the myth, and soon to be legend of Joe the Plumber. The only bigger jackass in all of this John McCain for holding The Plumber up as the very picture of hard-working, American virtue who just wants a fair shake. You see, Joe doesn’t have a plumbing license. Oh, and there’s this other little thing, Joe owes the state of Ohio around $1,200 in back taxes. When good ole, bootstrappin’ Joe engaged Barack Obama on the campaign trail, he’d already made his mind up. He doesn’t want to pay any taxes.

Joe the Plumber News Coverage

• ‘Joe the Plumber’ isn’t licensed – The Toledo Blade
• Is ‘Joe the Plumber’ a plumber? – Associated Press
• Forget Palin, McCain needs Joe the Plumber – Christian Science Monitor
• Joe and the American vernacular – Washington Post
• For McCain it’s all about Plumber Joe
  – New York Times