Government computers used to find information on Joe the Plumber
Investigators trying to determine whether access was illegal
“State and local officials are investigating if state and law-enforcement computer systems were illegally accessed when they were tapped for personal information about “Joe the Plumber.”
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher became part of the national political lexicon Oct. 15 when Republican presidential candidate John McCain mentioned him frequently during his final debate with Democrat Barack Obama.
The 34-year-old from the Toledo suburb of Holland is held out by McCain as an example of an American who would be harmed by Obama’s tax proposals.
Public records requested by The Dispatch disclose that information on Wurzelbacher’s driver’s license or his sport-utility vehicle was pulled from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles database three times shortly after the debate.
Information on Wurzelbacher was accessed by accounts assigned to the office of Ohio Attorney General Nancy H. Rogers, the Cuyahoga County Child Support Enforcement Agency and the Toledo Police Department.
It has not been determined who checked on Wurzelbacher, or why. Direct access to driver’s license and vehicle registration information from BMV computers is restricted to legitimate law enforcement and government business.
Even if it is legal, it is still a gross invasion of privacy and a clear violation of the spirit of our laws which require government officials to have some compelling evidence of the need for personal information as it relates to professional duties. Digging up dirt for the Obama campaign doesn’t rise to the level of “professional duties”.
What is really disgusting here? The party which screamed bloody murder about the government tapping into enemy communications has no problem with the government tapping into irrelevant personal information for partisan, political ends. Hypocrisy, thy name is Democrat.
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