Partial vindication for Joe Wurzelbacher:
COLUMBUS, Ohio—The director of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services has resigned, according to a statement released by Gov. Strickland’s office.
According to the statement, Director Helen Jones-Kelley said, in part, “…It is with sadness and clarity that I have decided to resign my position as director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The decision comes after having 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.“
It seems that Jones-Kelly still hasn’t learned her lesson. She’s not sorry that she violated Plumber Joe’s privacy, which apparently had to be sacrificed on the altar of The One. She’s only sorry that she didn’t get to control how her story was used politically. You can bet, though, that had she found anything even the least bit incriminating against Wurzelbacher, she would have used it as “a political postscript” without a moment’s thought. Her behavior is reprehensible and I hope she never finds herself in another position where she can put her partisan politics over the privacy rights of any other human being.
There are conflicting stories about the professional fates of the other two involved in improperly accessing Wurzelbacher’s records. The story I linked above says that Deputy Director of Child Support Doug Thompson got a four-week suspension on Friday and Assistant Director Fred Williams drew a two-week suspension. This story, however, says that Thompson was fired and Williams turned in his resignation effective at the end of January.
It’s likely that the housecleaning was occasioned by the public testimony of Vanessa Niekamp. She claimed that Thompson, who ordered her to perform the checks, later ordered her to cover up what he had done and threatened her job if she didn’t. It seems that her story was pretty credible after all.
Given that Jones-Kelly led about the reason for the checks (as did her underlings), I’m willing to bet that there’s a lawsuit in the works right now. Plumber Joe ought to do pretty well when the suit is settled – well enough that Barack Obama really will be able to spread his wealth. Hopefully, part of his award is a genuine apology from Jones-Kelly. He deserves one.
Tags: Barack Obama, Corruption, Joe Wurzelbacher
Helen Jones-Kelley’s fate illustrates the unprecedented transparency that technology is bringing to society. Just as (allegedly) Plumber Joe’s privacy was breached, access logs in Ohio’s information systems show when his data was accessed and from which particular government offices. That’s powerful stuff. Data logs enable a deep investigation into precisely who made the access and whether it was legal. If people acted illegally, the digital evidence can lead to their punishment. Such transparency represents a big trend in society http://hack-igations.blogspot......abuse.html –Ben