The organization takes some time away from defending terrorists to defend Joe the Plumber. The ACLU is pushing Ohio officials to protect the private information kept in state databases following the use of the databases to do research by Obama supporters on Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio recently called on Gov. Ted Strickland and other officials to enact regulations protecting private information kept in state databases.

The ACLU first pressed for reform after it was revealed officials at Ohio’s Department of Job & Family Services conducted a search of private information on Joseph Wurzelbacher, also known as “Joe the Plumber,” and that such searches of those in news headlines were common protocol for the office.

As Ed Morrissey notes, the first comment the ACLU actually gave was by its executive director on October 29th. His comment was simply that they appeared to “be picking on this fellow”. Wow. Seeing their reaction to the detention of terrorists at Gitmo, not really too much of an effort went into protecting the privacy of citizens at first.

I give them credit for pushing now, but why not weeks ago? Why not prior to the election? Probably because the Ohio Democratic government’s actions could’ve impacted the public’s decision on Election Day, considering as Obama wasn’t too upset about the violation of Wurzelbacher’s privacy. It was done to help him.