Joe The Plumber’s “Big Brother” Resigns

Posted by: Tristan

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley resigned Wednesday after a finding that she improperly used state computers to dig up personal information on Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher after he asked Barack Obama about his tax plan.

Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley said in a statement accompanying her resignation that she won’t allow her reputation to be disparaged and that she is concerned for her family’s safety.

“This decision comes after a time of pause, in which I realize that I continue to be used as a political postscript, providing a distraction from urgent state priorities,” she said in her statement.

She could not be reached for additional comment Wednesday night.

Gov. Ted Strickland suspended Jones-Kelley for a month without pay after the Ohio Inspector General’s office found in November that she improperly used state computers to find personal information on Samuel Wurzelbacher. The investigation also found that she conducted improper political fundraising activity for now President-elect Barack Obama.

“The governor values Helen Jones-Kelley’s years of public service as a dedicated advocate for the most vulnerable among us,” Strickland’s spokesman Keith Dailey said Wednesday. “He understands her decision and accepts her resignation.”

So Jones-Kelley violates Joe the Plumber’s civil rights, abuses her government powers and she claims she’s the one worried about having her reputation disparaged and her family’s safety?  That’s pretty ripe.

Jones-Kelley wasn’t the only state employee caught snooping through Wurzelbacher’s past.

Two other officials who were suspended from their positions for their role in the computer search will not be returning to their jobs, an agency spokeswoman said…

Two top-level members of Jones-Kelley’s staff also will be leaving the department, said agency spokeswoman Scarlett Bouder.

Fred Williams, the department’s assistant director, will resign effective Jan. 31 and the agency is revoking Doug Thompson’s position as deputy director of child support effective Dec. 22, she said.

Both had been suspended from their positions after being implicated in the computer records search.

So the good news, at the end of the day, is that there are three fewer douchebags working in the Ohio government…and there has been a “chilling” effect on others who would abuse their government powers to attack their political opponents.