'Joe the Plumber' Fallout Widens

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 21 -- Two more senior managers at the Ohio agency where computers were used to dig up information about "Joe the Plumber" have been suspended without pay for their roles in the searches, an official at the agency said Friday.

Fred Williams, assistant director of the Department of Job and Family Services, will be placed on two weeks of unpaid suspension beginning Monday, spokeswoman Scarlett Bouder said in a statement. Doug Thompson, the department's deputy director of child support, is to serve a four-week unpaid suspension, also starting Monday.

Two other agency employees will be disciplined based on conclusions reached Thursday by Ohio's government watchdog, Bouder said.

The department's director, Helen Jones-Kelley, improperly ordered staff members to look up records on Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, the Toledo area man who became a household name in the final weeks of the presidential campaign, Ohio Inspector General Thomas Charles said in a report.

After reviewing the report's findings, Gov. Ted Strickland (D) immediately ordered that Jones-Kelley be placed on a one-month unpaid suspension.

Charles's report also outlines roles played by Williams and Thompson in the searches, as well as Paul Fraunholtz, deputy director of family stability, and Judi Cicatiello, deputy director of unemployment compensation.

Fraunholtz and Cicatiello will receive written reprimands, and all four employees must undergo ethics training on handling confidential data, Bouder said.