Thread: State Employee Says She Was Ordered To Check Joe The Plumber

State employee says she was ordered to check out Joe the Plumber

Friday, October 31, 2008 8:56 PM
By Randy Ludlow

The Columbus Dispatch


Vanessa Niekamp said that when was asked to run a child-support check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16, she thought it routine. A supervisor told her the man had contacted the state agency about his case.

Niekamp didn't know she just had checked on "Joe the Plumber," who was elevated the night before to presidential politics prominence as Republican John McCain's example in a debate of an average American.

The senior manager would not learn about "Joe" for another week, when she said her boss informed her and directed her to write an e-mail stating her computer check was a legitimate inquiry.

The reason Niekamp said she was given for checking if there was a child-support case on Wurzelbacher does not match the reason given by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Director Helen Jones-Kelley said her agency checks people who are "thrust into the public spotlight," amid suggestions they may have come into money, to see if they owe support or are receiving undeserved public assistance.

Niekamp told The Dispatch she is unfamiliar with the practice of checking on the newly famous. "I've never done that before, I don't know of anybody in my office who does that and I don't remember anyone ever doing that," she said today.

Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland and Jones-Kelley, both supporters of Democrat Barack Obama, have denied political motives in checking on Wurzelbacher. The Toledo-area resident later endorsed McCain. State officials say any information on "Joe" is confidential and was not released.

Today, Strickland press secretary Keith Dailey said neither the governor's office nor Job and Family Services officials could comment due to an ongoing investigation by Ohio's inspector general.

Republican legislators have called the checks suspicious and Jones-Kelley's reason for them flimsy. They are demanding to know whether state computers were accessed in an attempt to dig up dirt on Wurzelbacher.

Jones-Kelley has revealed that her agency also checked to see if Wurzelbacher was receiving welfare assistance or owed unemployment compensation taxes. "Joe the Plumber" has said he is not involved in a child-support case.

About 3 p.m. on Oct. 16, Niekamp said Carrie Brown, assistant deputy director for child support, asked her to run Wurzelbacher through the computer. Citing privacy laws, Niekamp would not say what, if anything, was found on "Joe."

On Oct. 23, Niekamp said Doug Thompson, deputy director for child support, told her she had checked on "Joe the Plumber." Thompson "literally demanded" that she write an e-mail to the agency's chief privacy officer stating she checked the case for child-support purposes, she said.

Thompson told her that Jones-Kelley said Wurzelbacher might buy a plumbing business and could owe support. Thompson said he replied that he "would check him out."

Niekamp, 38, a senior child-support manager, said she never heard any discussion of politics amid what her supervisors told her about the checks on Wurzelbacher.

Worried about her $69,000-a-year job and potential criminal charges, the 15-year state employee said she went to Inspector General Thomas P. Charles on Oct. 24. She has seen employees fired, and dismissed one herself, for illegally accessing personal information in support cases. Niekamp, a registered Republican, said politics played no role in what she told investigators.

The e-mail that Niekamp said she wrote was not among records provided today to The Dispatch in response to a public-records request. Nor did the agency, as required by state law, say it withheld any records.

Strickland spokesman Dailey later said one e-mail was withheld from The Dispatch because its release is prohibited by federal or state law. He did not explain under what specific law the e-mail was withheld.





http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/co ... ml?sid=101

Interesting they made a REPUBLICAN employee check into Joe.

Director Helen Jones-Kelley said her agency checks people who are "thrust into the public spotlight," amid suggestions they may have come into money, to see if they owe support or are receiving undeserved public assistance.

Really? Then what about the illegal aliens who show up whining on TV? She checking to make sure they're not getting "undeserved" public assistance?

I would not be surprised if Obama is elected that they will be investigating people who post on these boards.

If Obama is elected boards like Alipac will be tooken off the internet. Obama will kill freedom of speech.

Hitler did the same things. We must never forget.

Originally Posted by miguelina

Hitler did the same things. We must never forget.

Obama and the Dems seem to be behaving rather like another extreme leftist - Joseph Stalin!!! We shouldn't forget what he did either.

I just received the monthly newsletter from Englishfirst.org
It doesn't have it listed on the board yet, but here is a little of what it said.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin, a Bush appointee, actually convened an official FCC hearing on broadcast localism at the Chicago headquarters of Rev. Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH!

Also testifying in favor of LOCALISM proposals was Barak Obama. Obama even wrote to Chairman Martin in October, 2007, saying:

Minority-owned and operated newspapers and radio stations play a critical role in the African-American and latino communities and bring minority issues to the forefront of our national discussions. However, the commision has failed to further the goals of diversity in the media and promote LOCALISM.

The LOCALISM regulation Obama, Jackson and La Raza are demanding was issued in preliminary form in Feb. 2008. Under the rules, the FCC can issue a final rule at any moment.

We have to move quickly to stop this final ruling. La Raza hates talk radio because people listen and learn from talk radio and take action to defeat La Raza's anti-American agenda.

Most members of Congress do not understand LOCALISM issue.
The link to the English first site has a free email to send Congress to tell them to defeat localism.

http://www.englishfirst.org/


Here is a related thread to a free capwiz fax to tell Congress No to LOCALISM.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-135997-localism.html