Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and former head of that department in Montgomery County, has been put on paid leave by Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio.

Jones-Kelley is suspected of having ordered a background check into Joe ‘the Plumber’ Wurzelbacher, the man who played a central role in the last weeks of the campaign after he asked president-elect Barack Obama whether his tax plan would mean he, Joe, would have to pay higher taxes.

“It’s not that I want to punish you for your success,” Obama answered, “it’s just that I, we believe that spreading the wealth around is good everybody.”

Obama’s answer was used by his critic as evidence of his Social Democratic tendencies, and Wurzelbacher was interviewed by many news channels such as CNN, MSNBC and Fox.

During the last presidential debate, Sen. John McCain used the exchange between Obama and Wurzelbacher to his advantage. He mentioned the plumber 20 times or so, in his attempt to convince voters that Obama would raise taxes on most of them before the end of his term in order to “spread the wealth around,” meaning giving money made by those who work to those who do not.

Immediately after the debate, reports were published everywhere that Wurzelbacher did not earn $200,000 or more – Obama said during the campaign that he would only raise taxes on individuals earning $200,000 or more and on businesses making $250,000 a year or more – and that he had yet to pay taxes over his income. He had a tax lien, reports said. Not only that, but “Joe the Plumber” did not even have a licence to plumb, media reported breathlessly.

It was clear that someone within the Ohio government had done an illegal background check on Wurzelbacher and shared this private and sensitive information with reporters. An investigation was launched which resulted in the decision of Gov. Strickland to send Jones-Kelley on a paid leave.

Meanwhile, Joe Wurzelbacher had become a hero to fiscal conservatives who feared that Obama would indeed try to spread the wealth around as president. He was a much praised figure in the conservative blogosphere. Some encouraged him to run for Congress, others said he may record a CD.

Wurzelbacher’s story is a strange one; the story of a normal plumber, who asked a presidential candidate to which that candidate gave an honest – and very telling answer – after which the plumber was destroyed by that candidate’s allies in the media and politics. It is the story of a man asking a heartfelt question, which resulted in a massive witch hunt and abuse of power seldom seen before in modern U.S. history.