Federal court in Ohio dismisses Joe the Plumber’s lawsuit against former state employees
By APWednesday, August 4, 2010
Ohio court dismisses Joe the Plumber’s fed lawsuit
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal court in Ohio has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed former state employees violated the constitutional rights of a man Republicans dubbed Joe the Plumber by illegally accessing his personal information.
The GOP hailed suburban Toledo resident Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher (WUR’-zuhl-bah-kur) in 2008 as an example of the middle-class worker who would be hurt economically by a Barack Obama presidency.
Wurzelbacher sued Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley and two other department officials. He claimed they were retaliating against him for speaking out against Obama and violated his privacy.
Jones-Kelley and one official resigned. The other official lost his job.
The U.S. District Court said Wednesday the retaliation claims weren’t concrete enough and the privacy claims didn’t amount to constitutional violations.
