Why The Strickland Administration Excuse Doesn't Hold Water on Joe the Plumber

There’s a hole in the argument about Joe the Plumber.

Joe, of course, was the subject of an impromptu investigation by the Strickland Administration. Government employees – at the direction of a cabinet officer! – took a look-see into government databases for dirt on Joe.

They looked at the CSEA dbase, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles dbase, and the records over in what used to be called the welfare department. Make no mistake: you can't get into those databases on your own. You have to have clearance, and then there are strict rules about your access that basically add up to this: official business only. You can't check up on your ex-girlfriend, or your daughter's new friends... or what your poltical opponents might be up to.

The cabinet officer who order the investigation of Joe the Plumber, Helen Jones-Kelly, is the director of Ohio Job and Family Services, the state's largest agency. She said it’s not unusual for your government to check up on people who are “suddenly” in the news. She pointed out the example of lottery winners as justification.

But here’s the hole in the argument: lottery winners have money. Lots of money. So, if they owe back child support, the CSEA should get some of it. And if they’re on welfare, the checks and foodstamps should stop.

But Joe the Plumber didn’t win the lottery. There was no new money to go after. So why where they looking at his personal information? Either Helen Jones-Kelly is really badly logic-impaired …. Or there was another reason for her order.

So, here’s a couple of facts… According to her own website, Director Jones Kelly earned her juris doctor at the University of Dayton. She’s a lawyer, and an experienced executive.

The Akron Beacon-Journal reported that she contributed $2,300 to the campaign of Barack Obama, the maximum contribution allowed by law for an individual.

My guess is she’s not logic-impaired. My guess is she thinks we are.