Previously I had posted about government snooping on Joe the Plumber here. Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles has now reported that no fewer than six governmental agencies, including the office of the Attorney General of the State of Ohio, and the Ohio Department of Taxation, accessed state records on Joe Wurzelbacher. The lesson is obvious: ask an inconvenient question of President Obama and agencies that your tax dollars support will be used as a weapon against you.
The War on Joe the Plumber-Update
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 41 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Perhaps you could do some pro bomum work to defend the poor fellow, Mr. McClarey… ;
pro bonum…pro bono…U2 rules, btw…
Pro bono? Surely you jest? The taxpayers of Ohio will pay heavily for the zeal of Democrat public officials in the cause of Obama. If I lived in Ohio I would unhesitatingly take this case on a contingent fee faster than an Obama supporter can say “Yes, we can!” This case is tailor-made for large punitive damages. Joe will have attorneys standing in line. The discovery portion of the case will be a hoot too, since that will give Joe’s attorney ample opportunity to determine if there was collusion between the Ohio snoopers and the Obama campaign. Oh, and the free publicity is something that few trial attorneys would be adverse to.
This story 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 can probably enable a deeper 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.com/2007/12/people-in-authority-sometimes-abuse.html –Ben