From the Akron Beacon Journal
The election is over, but the Joe the Plumber case is not.Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles said his office is now looking at a half-dozen agencies that accessed state records on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher.
The Beacon Journal has learned that, in addition to the Department of Job and Family Services, two other state offices — the Ohio Department of Taxation and Ohio Attorney General Nancy Rogers — conducted database searches of Joe the Plumber.
Wurzelbacher became an instant celebrity after he asked Barack Obama a series of questions in his Toledo driveway about the Democrat's tax policies.
In the third debate between Obama and Republican John McCain on Oct. 15, the candidates referred to Joe the Plumber more than 20 times.
The next day, the taxation department conducted two separate searches of a database of liens for unpaid taxes that were certified to the Ohio Attorney General's Office for collection.
John Kohlstrand, a taxation department spokesman, said he is prohibited from talking about individual taxpayers, but he confirmed that the databases were checked.
The searches were done to determine whether a lien placed against the individual was appropriate and whether it remained unpaid or not, Kohlstrand said.
The department's first search of the day was unsuccessful because of incorrect information about the individual, Kohlstrand said. Ohio Attorney General Nancy Rogers' office then contacted taxation because it was having difficulty accessing the database, Kohlstrand said. After the two agencies talked, taxation completed a successful search.
It's been called to my attention that I'm a chicken shit for not putting my true name on this blog.
But Joe the Plumber isn't the only person who's had to deal with this kind of dreck.
Let me give you some history.
I am an accountant. Part of what I do is represent clients who have tax issues before the IRS, the State of Ohio, ODJFS, Worker's comp, etc.
I didn't have this blog up two weeks when a representative from one of the above agencies told me, "I read your blog...... it's interesting". I didn't receive this comment as a compliment, I received it as a threat towards my client because I'm an anti tax guy.
I was told that this unit, as part of their investigation, does web searches of the taxpayer involved as part of their due diligence .
"You do those on their representatives as well?", I asked.
"Yes, if we suspect that there may be a case of a representative selling a fraudulent tax scheme."
Given that this was a trust fund tax issue from 28 years ago ( I should have told her that I was a liberal back then), I thought this was pretty damn lame.
So when Midas wanted to keep his identity anonymous because of work issues, it sounded like a great opportunity for me to do the same.
Therefore, if you really want to know who I am, you can figure it out very easily from the information on the first page of this blog. If you are a dumb ass, you won't be able to. Otherwise, I think I'll just keep me name out of any potential google searches for the protection of my family and clients. I don't want my clients being "Plumbered" because of my political beliefs.
For the record, when I submit to the Ohio Carnival I use my real name. If you communicate through the email address at the top I use my real name. I'm not hiding from anyone.
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
1 comment:
Great point Gordon. I too like to stay anonymous when posting opinions on the web, for the very same reason. I've been called gutless for posting anonymously here. But...
It's a little known fact that if you publicly take a controversial position and you work for a private employer, your employer has just about every legal right to fire you on just about any grounds.
I will add my own take on this, and that is, if your controversial position is anywhere right of center, your odds of getting fired are about 50 times higher than if your position is left of center.
"Eric" complained earlier about people that use an anonymous handle. Easy for Eric to say. His positions are basically that he hates being around his neighbors because they are apparently not very progressive. I doubt his job is in jeopardy because no one will make a big stink about someone who hates living near conservatives. Lets face it; it's hip to hate conservatives, it's cool to diss republicans. Plus, conservatives are generally not concerned with people who hate them, much to their detriment at times.
But as a conservative, if I post under my real name something like, "I don't want to live in a high tax, high crime, war zone.", it can and will be deemed a racial opinion (even though it's not intended to be), particulary when it suits someone with an agenda.
There's nothing to stop the ACLU or some ambulance chaser with a lot of time on their hands to go a google search and use that against me in a civil suit 5 years down the road.
Anonymity is a right! And as long as one is legal, one should not feel guilty about using it. Thanks to the PC speech police, it's one of the most effective ways for conservative ideas to get into the public forum. That's why it really bothers the libs on this blog when they can't get to your name.
BTW. I tried to see how much info "Eric" was willing to reveal about himself on his profile. Apparently he's brave enough to reveal "Eric". That's about it. Seemed pretty anonymous to me.
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