Not even a wrist slap for snoop who violated Joe the Plumber’s privacy
Ho hum. Government contractor abuses access to citizen’s confidential info. Left shrugs. Privacy invader gets a slap on the wrist. Crickets chirp:
A year ago tonight, “Joe the Plumber” entered America’s political consciousness.
Republican Sen. John McCain’s mention of the Toledo-area man during a presidential debate ultimately led to the downfall of an Ohio cabinet director for snooping in state computers for confidential information on “Joe.”Nearly a year later, a former contractor for the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police has been charged with rummaging through a police computer network to retrieve personal information about Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher.
Brett A. Gerke, 52, of 2329 Woodcreek Place on the Far North Side, is charged with attempted unauthorized use of property, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Gerke entered a diversion program Oct. 2, which typically results in the dismissal of a criminal charge. He has not entered a plea.
Hat tip: JWF
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: Joe The Plumber
Legal Insurrection
» Yes, It Really Is That Bad
Riehl World View
» Some Priceless Prose From BerkeleyAmSpecBlog
» Presto! Alarmist Emails Not Such a Big DealNewsBusters.org
» NYT: New Consensus Sees Stimulus Package as WorkingJustOneMinute
» An Inconvenient Hackprotein wisdom
» ObamaCare — it really wasn’t ever about “health” [Darleen Click]
Accessing a controled data base for nefarious purposes should be more than a misdeamenor. The fact the information was leaked (to discredit a person’s character) should make it a felony.
What say you that are members of the bar?
I’m just guessing that if someone hacked into a liberal’s personal information there would be hell to pay.
Hypocrites.
I am afraid we on the conservative side are going to have to stop playing nicely. No matter what we do the MSM paints us as the bad guy- might as well start dishing it out as it comes. When it comes to my freedom and liberty, and make no mistake that is what is in jeopardy, I would rather be feared than respected. Congress neither fears nor respects us. It is time for a change. A REAL change.
“Don’t make me angry. You won’t like me when I’m angry.”
The left claimed they were all in a tizzy that someone might find out what books people get from the library.
Red herring.
Conservatives do not deserve civil rights. They are not “right-minded.”
Everyone is equal; some are mmore equal than others.
Exactly.
Oderint dum metuant.
http://www.sacklunch.net/Latin/O/oderintdummetuant.html
Absolutely correct.
Of Course NOT….hasn’t anybody noticed?….there are different laws and different enforcement for liberals?….Why in the world would anyone expect anything else?…read all about it in the new york times the only fair news paper…be sure to tune into cnn for TV coverage….be shocked each and every time…….snort…..
The ends justify the means.
With the democrats in control , does this come as a surprise? I think not!
Are there not 2 laws broken?
One for specifically accessing Joe’s personal info, (the current charge)?
And:
Another for using government computers for personal/malicious/unauthorized reasons?
Maybe this guy isn’t off the hook yet??
HEY! I’m a Snooper!
Errah, somewhere Sandy Burger is laughing!
I wonder if Hannah and James will receive such “jolly” treatment? Doubt it!
Didn’t someone get caught trying to access Obama’s drivers license info??
Errah, will the Russians also get a slap on the wrists for any photos or stolen top secret information they obtain during their tour of our nuclear sites. Hope someone at State can find an appropriately sized tour guide pants suit for Hillary? Is the fifth horse of the apocalypse “Stupidity”??!!
Absolutely!
At the same time, IMO we should start focusing on the big issues, the ones that are the rawest examples of the traitorous workings of Osama Obama and Congress.
And we should begin calling for Obama’s impeachment, loudly and often.
Sadly, it is probably too late to give Gerke the punishment he deserves. But if we can “get in their faces” (as the Chicago Jesus admonished his toadies to do) perhaps we can force Congress to start acting as the protectors of the Constitution and people they all swore oaths to be.
It’s too late to make Obama see reason. He needs to be gone, as soon as possible. He is the Enabler-in-Chief for the worst of the corruption and — as in the JTP case, intimidation by the Black Panthers, ACORN, SEIU, et. al. — lawlessness.
Speaking of…whatever happened to the kid that hacked Palin’s private email?
Wow. That didn’t just make my day, it made, like, my whole week.
The “conservative side” haven’t “played nicely” since 1994. You are reaping what you sowed for 16 years: you acted like a$$holes; you’re being treated accordingly, by those in power and by a majority in the electorate. How long did that Moses guy wander in the desert? Anyway, hope you all filled your water bottles and packed some sunscreen; it’s going to a while before you’re trusted to be in charge of anything again.
On a related note, whatever happened to the little nerd who cracked upon Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account?
Unauthorized use!!? For crying out loud. Unauthorized use is when a 16 year-old takes his aunt’s car without permission.
As a former civilian member of the law-enforcement community who was actually authorized to use that system, I would have been charged with a felony for accessing it for purposes other than say, law enforcement! The fact that the OACP is/was attached to this creep makes me vomit.
Novel use of “unauthorized use”, I say.
Errah,OMU my canteen is good for three more years! I may dump some water out in 2010 though.
Another person suffering from a strange kind of amnesia that blots out the years 2001-2008.
I’m just waiting for Mr. Gerke to be named Privacy Czar in 3,2,1…
And by that you hope to accomplish… what, exactly?
A Republican congress barely impeached and couldn’t convict Clinton when he’d committed a felony on videotape. A Democratic congress never impeached Bush, despite the loud calls from the left to do so and despite Bush’s deep unpopularity. I can’t imagine what Obama would have to be caught doing before a democratic Congress moved against him.
Calling for Obama’s impeachment based on what boils down to policy differences will only help to marginalize us, it will do nothing more.
Your first realistic chance to do that is November of 2012. Until then our energy is better spent on things we can actually do, like digging as many incumbents as possible out of Congress.
Spake OneMonkeysUncle:
How long did that Moses guy wander in the desert? Anyway, hope you all filled your water bottles and packed some sunscreen; it’s going to a while before you’re trusted to be in charge of anything again.
Thirteen months isn’t that long, though it will seem like an eternity!
I can’t see those words ever coming back to haunt you.
His spittle projecting rants are quite humorous, though. He never quite makes a real point.
Salt,
Thanks for the mental image!
I sitll say the Joe the Plumber should sue them for all he can get then use the money to run against a Dem in that state.
He was hired by the White House snitch brigade…..LOL
Criminal offenses notwithstanding, the parties involved are probably still subject to disciplinary action if they are still employed by the state. It is well known to all parties with access to these databases that such improper use will likely have them in hot water, so the offender has really no excuse unless he was possibly duped into running Joe’s records.
This is gonna be viewed as a nothing event in the future.
Once Democratic chronies gets access to the IRS, the new financial and medical Obamacare record systems, every item about ANY POLITICAL TARGET will be plastered onto the internet for the immediate persecution of the offending political opponent.
Look for teaparty organizers, and associated protesters, to be taken care of by the white house.
So Ohio should be base camp for finding Obama’s school records
I don’t like you now!
Just kidding! I’ve waited a long time for someone to say/write “you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” so I could use that line.
It’s actually something Nancy Pelosi did that hasn’t been brought to light that is likely to bring him down.
Keep your eyes and ears open for it.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
On the contrary, I was thinking specifically of the Chimpy McChimperson era… He was bad; “conservatives” were worse, because they were his enablers. The largest national debt in American history, and it happened on YOUR watch. You should be begging America’s forgiveness, not pining for your squandered opportunities. You can blame President Obama all you want for the relative effect of the “stimulus,” but you can not escape responsibility for allowing him to create the NEED for it in the first place…
You guys need to stop complaining about the Democrat Party’s On the Job training program. This man is almost guaranteed a job in the Obama Network after his diversion is completed. Remember, they have the snitch website in the White House basement, a perfect spot for a government
henchmancontractor employed by Axlerod, Jarrett, and Emanuel.Hey, it was about someone who was critical of Obama, so that’s OK with the authorities. There’s no real crime when seeking to assist Obama. We have many documented examples of this sort of thing.
I’d like be able to use /sarc-off but in this case, there is no sarcasm. This is the way it is.
Punishment? Are you kidding? We should consider ourselves fortunate that he’s not getting some award like the one that Helen Thomas conferred on Katie Couric for “saving the country” after cold-cocking Sarah Palin in that interview.
For all the left’s fire and brimstone about the Bush’s violations of privacy rights, and the use of publicly available databases for screening airline passengers – they all stand mute when liberals in Washington DC press forward with amassing our most personal data into a single massive government controlled medical database.
I pity future citizens – especially those who either run against liberals for office, or oppose them. Their sensitive medical secrets will be grabbed and divulged to a media eager to spread them far and wide. Whether they suffer from cancer or once had STDs or have AIDS will all be used as weapons.
Glad such a strong precedent was set in how to handle government employee snooping…
How many CONFIDENTIAL FBI files did the Hillary have in her private papers?
How many papers did Sandy Berger ACCIDENTALLY stuff down his pants?
How many matters of National Security has the NY Times published?
How many times have I told you … it is only evil if the Conservative Right does it?!
does anyone remember a couple of years ago two of Sen. Schummer’s staffers got Micheal Steele’s social security number and nothing was done
I can only imagine the trouble I could have gotten into if I used my police computer access to look up my ex-wife or ex-fiancee’ from my superiors-
Can you say Summary Courts-Martial?
GSP
I seem to recall that when someone went snooping through Obama’s passport files, there were much more serious consequences.
I’d love to see what his passport records say about his past travel to Indonesia and Pakistan.
For the eight Bush/Cheney years the Patriot Act was evil and the privacy of terrorists was sacrosanct. Now in the Obamanation era the privacy of American citizens is worthless.
I’m not sure. And whatever happened to the lib’s kid who hacked into Palin’s email. Nothing? That’s what I’d bet if I were a betting Tigerlady.
There was hell to pay from the libs when the targets were terrorists.
That precedent was set some time ago wasn’t it?
Didn’t Duh Jug Eared Won release his opponents sealed divorce records to run him out of the race for Senate?
So now that the ‘rats are easily well on the way to topping that record, assuming they haven’t done so already, are you ready to get on your knees and beg?
So when Obambi doubles the unemployment rate, and triples (or is it quadruple now?) the deficit, in a mere 9 months, mind you, you, as an “objective” observer, are equally critical?
And lest we forget: there is a distinct correlation between the Democrat’s control of the Congress in 2006 (and thus, the purse strings of the government) and the decline of the economy.
But why let the facts get in the way of a good hallucination about “Chimpy McChimperson”?