Vanessa Niekamp, a 15-year state employee, wants to know why she was ordered by political appointees to dig for dirt on Joe the Plumber in government databases, and then cover it up. She told an Ohio House committee yesterday that she doesn’t understand.
The dirt, as it turns out, is in the Strickland Administration. The Columbus Dispatch has done a great job covering this story, and reports new details that came out during Niekamp’s testimony Thursday before the House State Government and Elections Committee. Those details provide the answer to the question of “why?”
The political appointee who actually conveyed the order to snoop in the database is named Carri Brown. Doug Thompson was the one who dictated the cover-up email that the Inspector General described as deceptive. But here’s the odd thing: Niekamp told the committee that both of them had access to the databases, and could have conducted the search themselves.
So, why order a lower level employee to do the search?
Because most government databases track who accesses them. And although political appointees have access, they do not spend their days and nights toiling over individual case files. It sticks out like sneakers at a wedding when a top bureaucrat accesses a file.
If it’s just business, then checking a file is no big deal. But the datadive on Joe the Plumber wasn’t business – it was pure political dirty tricks. To keep the search under the radar, it had to be done by someone who wouldn’t look like an Obama supporter. Let’s see, 15 years ago, when Niekamp was hired, the governor was… George Voinoich, a Republican.
And both Thomson and Brown knew what they were doing was wrong. Niekamp said that Brown claimed Joe the Plumber had contacted the child support agency about a dispute about how much child support he owed. (He didn’t, and Director Jones-Kelley later claimed she ordered the search because it was routine practice for the suddenly famous – which the Inspector General found was also untrue.)
And Thompson, Niekamp said Thursday, was “shaking,” and his neck was “bright red,” and he closed the door before dictating the cover-up email to her.
According to Ohio’s Greatest Home Newspaper:
"He then told me that we needed to make sure that we answer questions about what happened the same way, so that our versions were not different from each other. Before he said that, he reminded me that I was an unclassified employee -- which, as you may know, is someone who can be fired without cause."
The dirt, as it turns out, is in the Strickland Administration. The Columbus Dispatch has done a great job covering this story, and reports new details that came out during Niekamp’s testimony Thursday before the House State Government and Elections Committee. Those details provide the answer to the question of “why?”
The political appointee who actually conveyed the order to snoop in the database is named Carri Brown. Doug Thompson was the one who dictated the cover-up email that the Inspector General described as deceptive. But here’s the odd thing: Niekamp told the committee that both of them had access to the databases, and could have conducted the search themselves.
So, why order a lower level employee to do the search?
Because most government databases track who accesses them. And although political appointees have access, they do not spend their days and nights toiling over individual case files. It sticks out like sneakers at a wedding when a top bureaucrat accesses a file.
If it’s just business, then checking a file is no big deal. But the datadive on Joe the Plumber wasn’t business – it was pure political dirty tricks. To keep the search under the radar, it had to be done by someone who wouldn’t look like an Obama supporter. Let’s see, 15 years ago, when Niekamp was hired, the governor was… George Voinoich, a Republican.
And both Thomson and Brown knew what they were doing was wrong. Niekamp said that Brown claimed Joe the Plumber had contacted the child support agency about a dispute about how much child support he owed. (He didn’t, and Director Jones-Kelley later claimed she ordered the search because it was routine practice for the suddenly famous – which the Inspector General found was also untrue.)
And Thompson, Niekamp said Thursday, was “shaking,” and his neck was “bright red,” and he closed the door before dictating the cover-up email to her.
According to Ohio’s Greatest Home Newspaper:
"He then told me that we needed to make sure that we answer questions about what happened the same way, so that our versions were not different from each other. Before he said that, he reminded me that I was an unclassified employee -- which, as you may know, is someone who can be fired without cause."
On the street, it’s called getting your story straight. Ohio deserves better than this.
3 comments:
I was Chief of Internal Security (Internal investigations) for the former Ohio Bureau of Employment services which was eventually merged with the Dept of Administrative Services to make what is now Jones-Kelley's Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
While at that post, I had access to state databases including criminal records. I worked in that capacity under both Republican and Democratic administrations. It was made abundantly clear to me that we were to NEVER access any records databases for reasons not DIRECTLY related to an ongoing investigation. The penalty for doing so.... immediate termination, no questions asked.
I know of Columbus Police Detectives who have been terminated for accessing the LEADS (State Law Enforcement Criminal Database)for personal reasons, or for friends and were terminated, instantly losing their pensions.
Now we have Jones-Kelley who didn't have the nerve to run a check on Joe the Plumber herself, but was (so she thought) smart enough to have her staff do her dirty work for her so she could plead ignorance if caught. I believe that, depending on which databases were accessed, he actions border on criminal and to be protected by the Governor and to receive a slap on the wrist is reprehensible. (I'm not sure she is too far off on the ignorance plea for what it's worth).
Jones-Kelley should be terminated. Her actions were politically motivated and her power abused. For what? So she could position herself to sit at the right hand of Obama at a Dayton appearance. A photo op for which she apparently paid.
Appointed positions require integrity, a quality clearly lacking in Jones-Kelley. The Governor needs to step up here and terminate this employee and all others who knew they were accessing data illegally or improperly.
I guarantee you that had I accessed data in this manner under previous administrations, the door would have hit me on the keister on the way out. No questions asked!
Terry Clayton
I was Chief of Internal Security (Internal investigations) for the former Ohio Bureau of Employment services which was eventually merged with the Dept of Administrative Services to make what is now Jones-Kelley's Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
While at that post, I had access to state databases including criminal records. I worked in that capacity under both Republican and Democratic administrations. It was made abundantly clear to me that we were to NEVER access any records databases for reasons not DIRECTLY related to an ongoing investigation. The penalty for doing so.... immediate termination, no questions asked.
I know of Columbus Police Detectives who have been terminated for accessing the LEADS (State Law Enforcement Criminal Database)for personal reasons, or for friends and were terminated, instantly losing their pensions.
Now we have Jones-Kelley who didn't have the nerve to run a check on Joe the Plumber herself, but was (so she thought) smart enough to have her staff do her dirty work for her so she could plead ignorance if caught. I believe that, depending on which databases were accessed, he actions border on criminal and to be protected by the Governor and to receive a slap on the wrist is reprehensible. (I'm not sure she is too far off on the ignorance plea for what it's worth).
Jones-Kelley should be terminated. Her actions were politically motivated and her power abused. For what? So she could position herself to sit at the right hand of Obama at a Dayton appearance. A photo op for which she apparently paid.
Appointed positions require integrity, a quality clearly lacking in Jones-Kelley. The Governor needs to step up here and terminate this employee and all others who knew they were accessing data illegally or improperly.
I guarantee you that had I accessed data in this manner under previous administrations, the door would have hit me on the keister on the way out. No questions asked!
Now that Jones-Kelley is resigning I want to know who made a new position for her and what it is? It's for darned sure they got her a new job. So what is it? I assume it is just as remunerative as the one she's leaving.
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