Investigation into records check on “Joe the Plumber”

Investigators in Ohio haven’t been able to determine if politics was involved when the head of a state agency improperly used state computers to find personal information on “Joe the Plumber.“

A government watchdog says there was no legitimate business purpose for the head of Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services to order staff members to look up the records.

But the report says there’s no evidence to show it was done “in an effort to support any political activity or agenda.“

The agency’s director, Helen Jones-Kelley, was already on leave, over separate allegations that a state computer or e-mail account was used to help in political fundraising for the Obama campaign.

The report looked into 18 background checks into the Toledo-area man who became known as Joe the Plumber after confronting Barack Obama over his tax plan.

In the last weeks of his presidential campaign, John McCain used Joe the Plumber as a symbol of the middle class.

Jones-Kelley has said the information search was part of routine checks her agency conducts when someone suddenly emerges in the limelight.