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Friday, November 21, 2008
Four more workers disciplined in “Joe the Plumber” snooping case
Four more senior staffers in the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services got taken to the state woodshed on Friday, Nov. 21 in the “Joe the Plumber” snooping case. Two were suspended without pay - one for four weeks, a second for two weeks.
The action comes a day after Gov. Ted Strickland suspended department director Helen Jones-Kelley of Clayton for a month without pay. Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles found that Jones-Kelley improperly authorized searches of state databases to get information on Samuel Jospeh - “Joe the Plumber” - Wurzelbacher and improperly used her state e-mail account to raise money for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
The staffers and their punishment, handed out by Jan Allen, acting department director:
*Fred Williams, assistant director
Two weeks unpaid suspension
Specific professional development counseling
Agency-wide ethics training
*Doug Thompson, deputy director of child support
Four weeks unpaid suspension
Specific professional development counseling
Agency-wide ethics training
Paul Fraunholtz, deputy director of family stability
Written reprimand
Specific professional development counseling
Agency-wide ethics training
Judi Cicatiello, deputy director of unemployment compensation
Written reprimand
Specific professional development counseling
Agency-wide ethics training
In his report, Inspector General Charles said that Williams and Thompson, who like Jones-Kelley formerly worked in Montgomery County, met with Kelley before she decided to authorize searches on child support, unemployment compensation and public assistance.
Thompson also “orchestrated” and e-mail to the department chief privacy officer in an attempt “to deceive as there was no agency function or purpose for accessing Wurzelbacher’s records,” the report said.
Fraunholtz and Cicatiello oversaw two of the confidential databases accessed to collect information on Wurzelbacher, the report said, and were responsible for “ensuring that access to these databases is limited to the furtherance of the agency’s functions or purposes.”
State Rep. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, who is preparing legislation to clamp down on government snooping, said Williams and Thompson should be fired.
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Auditor Mary Taylor calls for dismissal of Jones-Kelley
State Auditor Mary Taylor, the top-ranking nonjudicial Republican in Ohio, has called for Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland to fire or ask for the resignation of Helen Jones-Kelley, the embattled director of the Department of Job and Family Services.
Taylor on Thursday, Nov. 20, joined two other top Republicans - House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, and Senate President Bill Harris - in calling for Strickland to dismiss Jones-Kelley, 57, of Clayton.
Strickland suspended Jones-Kelley for a month without pay on Thursday after a State Inspector General’s report found that she improperly authorized searches on state databases on Samuel Joseph - “Joe the Plumber” - Wurzelbacher - and also improperly used her state e-mail account for political purposes.
“We need to restore accountability and transparency in government and send a message to Ohioans that the misuse and abuse of personal information will not be tolerated,” Taylor said in a press release. “Government leaders need to be responsible for the actions of their employees…”
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