Six different Ohio agencies investigated Joe the Plumber after he was mentioned at the Presidential debate:
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. . .
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.
(Via Ace, via Instapundit.)
The search was done for the express purpose of releasing the information to the media:
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.
Kohlstrand said that the AG’s office wanted access to the records so they could turn over to the national media lien information that was a public record in Lucas County. He said the national media did not have reporters in Toledo, so the attorney general’s office was helping them out with public records.
On the day following the two searches, the taxation department conducted a search of another in-house database that tracks cases and correspondence between taxpayers and the department before the liens being certified and turned over to the attorney general for collection. . . [Rick] Anthony said the database searches on both days were conducted to ensure that the information in Lucas County was being properly reported by the media.
That’s a new one. They had to investigate him, you see, to ensure that the media reports were accurate. And to save them the trouble of going to Toledo.
POSTSCRIPT: Nancy Rogers, incidentally, was appointed by Democratic Governor Ted Strickland.
POST-POSTSCRIPT: The Beacon Journal says six, but I’m only aware of five: the Attorney General, the Department of Taxation, the Department of Job and Family Services, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and the Toledo Police. What’s the sixth?
Internet Scofflaw 