I thought it was the patriot act that was so bad.

[Fieldmouse]

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/278133.php

Drip, Drip, Drip: Six Agencies Illegally Scoured Joe the Plumber's Records for Dirt, Including Office of the Attorney General, So That Information Could Be Turned Over to National Media
Wow! That "Sudden Fame Exception" to privacy wasn't known by many, but it sure seems to have been known by partisan Democratic Ohio bureaucrats!
[blockquote]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.
..
The [day after the third presidential debate], 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.
...
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.
[/blockquote]

Check out this spin: The claim is they wanted to ensure the media wasn't misreporting information about JtP's infamous thousand-dollar tax lien:
[blockquote]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.
''Wouldn't that have been a disaster if the lien had been paid,'' Kohlstrand said. ''The responsible thing for us to do would be to take prompt steps to make it right.''
[/blockquote]

God Bless You for your service.
[blockquote]''We are not aware of any inappropriate browsing of information by anyone in our department pertaining to Mr. Wurzelbacher,'' Kohlstrand said.[/blockquote]
Of course not. Thus the criminals abandon the "Sudden Fame Exception" to privacy laws, and offer a new rational: the "Searching Through Someone's Records to Make Sure He's Not Being Libeled by the Media Exception."
Um, couldn't Joe have requested such a service himself? And doesn't the law specify he's required to actually request that, before government snoops go digging through his files and sending them to the media?
They were protecting Joe from the media, you see. By passing them the fruits of illegal private-records searches.
To ensure he wasn't being maligned.
By confirming their previous smears on him.

[James B]

This kind of BS is fine as long as it is not done by a Republican. There couldn't be a double standard at work here. OR Could there?

[homers brother]

You know, it's entirely unlikely that none of this was accomplished under any kind of instruction from Senator Obama himself. However, it's entirely likely that an overzealous staffer or an overeager supporter initiated or suggested that it all be "looked into".

And people think that Vice President Cheney's an "evil" guy..... Geez, I don't think we've even seen the beginning of the depth of evil that will present itself in the determined desciples of an Obama Presidency. And sadly, at some point they'll go too far, an investigation will ensue that will further divide and divert this country, and any chances he will have had to make any REAL changes will have lost. Even sadder, many of these investigations could be initiated even prior to his taking office.

[Fieldmouse]

ORIGINAL: James B

This kind of BS is fine as long as it is not done by a Republican. There couldn't be a double standard at work here. OR Could there?

You are correct. Remember Chuck Schumer had his staff guy dig into Micheal Steele's financial records for dirt during the MD Senate Race.

[petasux]

govt employees going through govt records that are apparently a matter of public record anyway.Jeez, whats next, the IRS is going to start looking at my tax information.

[Buck Hunter 1]

petasux, you are right they are a matter of public record. But why pull the files aon a man who is questioning the future president ONLY? This was to my understanding a county valuation iniative, it was a direct message to Joe and us !! This is Clintonesque if you all remember . They were caught w/ FBI files (nothing happened from it) but the idea of you being investigated on any level sends a clear ,message ""keep your mouth shut".

[burniegoeasily]

ORIGINAL: James B

This kind of BS is fine as long as it is not done by a Republican. There couldn't be a double standard at work here. OR Could there?

Im no republican, but it does appear that way.

[etothepii]

It seems that as the Dems again attain power, they seek suppression of political speech, through intimidation(Make an example of the plumber) and law(efforts to institute a "Fairness Doctrine"), in order to keep that power. Free political speech is one of our most valuable assets in this country. I hate to see it go.

[burniegoeasily]

ORIGINAL: etothepii

It seems that as the Dems again attain power, they seek suppression of political speech, through intimidation(Make an example of the plumber) and law(efforts to institute a "Fairness Doctrine"), in order to keep that power. Free political speech is one of our most valuable assets in this country. I hate to see it go.

You hit the nail on the head as to one of my big concerns. Fairness Doctrine is nothing but political controle of media. Make the media spout your point of view. Screw the fact that liberal media has never made it in this country. Why is that? Yet Obama wants to force media corp. to report it. He sees the cards in the works. The media always needs a whipping boy. Every president has fit that bill. So I guess Obama wants to insure they dont get the chance at him.

[WillCz]

If he was part of the campaign and change talked about by McCain I think america had a right to know. Freedom of information.

His name was mentioned more than any other during the campaign.