Crush Liberalism

UPDATE: Government officials snoop on Joe the Plumber’s records

UPDATES KEEP ON COMING, BELOW.

Absolutely shameful.  From Columbus:

“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.

Paul Lindsay, Ohio spokesman for the McCain campaign, attempted to portray the inquiries as politically motivated. “It’s outrageous to see how quickly Barack Obama’s allies would abuse government power in an attempt to smear a private citizen who dared to ask a legitimate question,” he said. …

The moral of the story?  Don’t ask questions of public officials…they and their surrogates will make your life a living Hell.

BTW, it looks like Ace beat the C-bus fishwrap to the story.  Kudos, Ace.

UPDATE (10/28/2008 – 07:20 A.M. EST): Well, well, well!  It looks like the initiator of this brownshirt snoop job is none other than the OH Secretary of Job and Family Services…a Democrat who just so happened to donate the max amount to Barry O and who, as sheer luck would have it, initiated the search right after the third debate whereby Joe’s name was invoked against The One.  But the governor of OH, who just so happens to be a Democrat, is satisfied there’s no political motive here.  Well, isn’t that reassuring?

The left gets bent about Bush snooping on al Qaeda phone calls, but on American citizens who ask leaders questions?  Not so much.

UPDATE (10/28/2008 – 08:50 P.M. EST): Joe the Plumber’s got himself an attorney.  Plus, the snooping has come from three different government agencies in Ohio.  One is the aforementioned Secretary of Job and Family Services.  Another is an outside contractor with access to the Attorney General’s test account.  Then there is the Toledo Police Dept., and a clerk there has been charged for it.

UPDATE (10/30/2008 – 07:55 A.M. EST): More extensive than we thought.  Big Brother ‘Bama ought to be a hoot when he’s officially running the Snoop show, eh?

October 30, 2008 - Posted by crushliberalism | Obama, privacy, shameful