Happy Halloween. I’m glad to read from you again!

Jill

rafflaw,

I like puns, even really bad ones and I admit BamBOO qualifies as “really bad”.

State employee says she was ordered to check out Joe the Plumber
Friday, October 31, 2008 10:21 PM
By Randy Ludlow

The Columbus Dispatch
Vanessa Niekamp said that when she was asked to run a child-support check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16, she thought it routine. A supervisor told her the man had contacted the state agency about his case.

Niekamp didn’t know she just had checked on “Joe the Plumber,” who was elevated the night before to presidential politics prominence as Republican John McCain’s example in a debate of an average American.

The senior manager would not learn about “Joe” for another week, when she said her boss informed her and directed her to write an e-mail stating her computer check was a legitimate inquiry.

The reason Niekamp said she was given for checking if there was a child-support case on Wurzelbacher does not match the reason given by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Director Helen Jones-Kelley said her agency checks people who are “thrust into the public spotlight,” amid suggestions they may have come into money, to see if they owe support or are receiving undeserved public assistance.

Niekamp told The Dispatch she is unfamiliar with the practice of checking on the newly famous. “I’ve never done that before, I don’t know of anybody in my office who does that and I don’t remember anyone ever doing that,” she said today.

Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland and Jones-Kelley, both supporters of Democrat Barack Obama, have denied political motives in checking on Wurzelbacher. The Toledo-area resident later endorsed McCain. State officials say any information on “Joe” is confidential and was not released.

Today, Strickland press secretary Keith Dailey said neither the governor’s office nor Job and Family Services officials could comment due to an ongoing investigation by Ohio’s inspector general.

Republican legislators have called the checks suspicious and Jones-Kelley’s reason for them flimsy. They are demanding to know whether state computers were accessed in an attempt to dig up dirt on Wurzelbacher.

Jones-Kelley has revealed that her agency also checked to see if Wurzelbacher was receiving welfare assistance or owed unemployment compensation taxes. “Joe the Plumber” has said he is not involved in a child-support case.

About 3 p.m. on Oct. 16, Niekamp said Carrie Brown, assistant deputy director for child support, asked her to run Wurzelbacher through the computer. Citing privacy laws, Niekamp would not say what, if anything, was found on “Joe.”

On Oct. 23, Niekamp said Doug Thompson, deputy director for child support, told her she had checked on “Joe the Plumber.” Thompson “literally demanded” that she write an e-mail to the agency’s chief privacy officer stating she checked the case for child-support purposes, she said.

Thompson told her that Jones-Kelley said Wurzelbacher might buy a plumbing business and could owe support. Thompson said he replied that he “would check him out.”

Niekamp, 38, a senior child-support manager, said she never heard any discussion of politics amid what her supervisors told her about the checks on Wurzelbacher.

Worried about her $69,000-a-year job and potential criminal charges, the 15-year state employee said she went to Inspector General Thomas P. Charles on Oct. 24. She has seen employees fired, and dismissed one herself, for illegally accessing personal information in support cases. Niekamp, a registered Republican, said politics played no role in what she told investigators.

The e-mail that Niekamp said she wrote was not among records provided today to The Dispatch in response to a public-records request. Nor did the agency, as required by state law, say it withheld any records.

Strickland spokesman Dailey later said one e-mail was withheld from The Dispatch because its release is prohibited by federal or state laws that forbid the release of information on the state’s child-support system. Daily said he was neither confirming nor denying the existence of a case on Wurzelbacher.

Oct 31 06:55 PM US/Eastern
By BEN FELLER
Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) – Democrat Barack Obama got annoyed with the media Friday as he tried to walk down a Chicago street with his 7-year-old daughter, Sasha, who was dressed up in a shiny costume for Halloween.
A pool of national photographers, reporters and a video crew traveling with Obama quickly covered the spontaneous moment.

“All right guys, that’s enough,” said Obama, wearing a casual outfit and sunglasses in the early evening.

He and his daughter were walking right toward the media on a public street.

“You got a shot,” he told the photographers. “Leave us alone. Come on, guys.”

He told the media to get back on the bus, referring to the vehicle where the traveling press pool often waits for him.

Obama then crossed the street with Sasha. At least one video cameraman who was not part of Obama’s traveling press corps followed him for a while. Obama grew visibly irritated.

He and his daughter then began jogging, and even running, to get away from the media.

McCain: ‘We’re Coming Back Strong’… after consulting Smiling Bob, the natural male enhancement hawker…
Pollsters weigh in on potential ‘election day surprises’… Gracie Allen, Surprise party candidate, reprises her 1940 roll…
AP poll: 1 in 6 voters still persuadable… AP can see Russia from Washington Bureau…
POLITICO: New Dead heats in 5 key swing states… Alabama, Mississippi, Louisana, Texas, and the Real parts of Virginia…
ABCNEWS: Obama’s New Attack on Those Who Don’t Want Higher Taxes: ‘Selfishness’… top 2% in tax bracket horrified they may have to help pay for Republican war…
Author warns of ‘Second American Civil War’ if Obama loses: “Blood will run in the streets.” …as McCain addresses the Nation, “My fellow prisoners.”
OBAMA WARNS: IT’S GOING TO GET NASTY…as Alaska Independence Party recalls Palin…

There is a long history of involvement between lawyers and gnomes. It’s gruesome but below is part of that sordid tale.

JT, These were great cases!

For the kids interested in gee-gnomics here–What do you get when you cross Bambi with a stylish flooring recommended for “green homes”?

BamBOO

http://jonathanturley.org/2008/08/20/gnome-de-guerre-pennsylvania-man-convicte

I did not realize such traits were genomic!

Further evidence that the “law” and lawyers get into everything.

(With all “due” respect)